On the eve of his departure from New Zealand, leading rugby coach Robbie Deans was interviewed on his success as a sporting coach. Many of the key messages are also relevant to effective business and leadership coaching. Here are some of them:
Self analysis
”I took a break from the NPC and did some research which was the best thing to happen to me. I started looking at other ways of running the group and started to challenge my own thinking and realised there was a whole lot out there that I was missing.”
Motivation
“My personal motivation, in the back of my mind, I keep asking myself, am I making a difference here? Am I adding any value? If not then you need to consider what you do as it pertains to the people you work with.”
Listening skills
“There is no doubt I was more of a teller - I am a better listener now. I was a bit inflexible - if players couldn’t do something I used to make them go harder. That was how it was done. I have changed a great deal. I thought it was all about knowledge and what the coach wanted and then driving that through but that method is a short-term fix.”
Working individually with team members
”I treated the team and people generically, for example they would all get flogged at training for the benefit of a few. Now the work is far more customised, much more individual.”
The coach’s role in managing stress
“Look, you go in at the break, points down and you are struggling or it is not going too well. There is no point in getting them agitated. You are frustrated and the team is probably frustrated and you go in and rant and rave and tell them what they already know. All you’re doing is making yourself feel better and that is only temporary. You have got to help them find solutions. If you don’t have one you have to talk to them because they may have one, collectively you’ve got to find one.”
Positive thinking
“Through those (bad) times we had to consider what we had all contributed to that demise.”
Companies interested in enhancing their leadership and team performances often engage the services of business consultants as facilitators.
When Blue Chip Coaching’s business consultants work in the area of leadership team development, they start with a gap analysis exercise. They then act as facilitators to assist the team to look honestly at where they are, where they want to be and how they will committ to getting there. The awareness that comes from this honest gap analysis assessment is critical in providing a foundation for team development and effectiveness.
Key stakeholders are involved in the process and they are encouraged to provide open and honest feedback and assessment. Hearing respective views, even when they at variance, is critical to building team unity and committment. The team is then encouraged to use the information to plot their future path, agree how they can best work together, build more effective relationships and in some cases develop new leadership skills. Teams often have some level of dysfunction because team members lack relationships or trust, or because different agendas are in play. Further developing the relationships, trust and team unity can make a significant difference to the way people interact, the way they perform and the results they achieve. This generally starts with open and honest dialogue and can often benefit from an outside facilitator.
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Find out more about Blue Chip Coaching’s business consultants and the facilitation process.
To address dysfunction in a leadership team (or to capitalize on its existing functionality) it is first necessary to identify what the dynamic is.
Only the team members can do that. An executive coach telling a team that they appear to be dysfunctional or not operating at full capacity will not work.
Blue Chip Coaching’s approach is to start with a gap analysis process involving all members of the leadership team and designed to provide evidence to the team (based on their own honest, confidential feedback) of the current dynamic.
When the team can see the whole picture (not just their individual take on it) the platform is there for change. For example, if the gap analysis indicates a lack of accountability between the executive team members this can result from trust issues and/or a lack of clarity around expectations in respect of accountability.
Examples of improved executive team function and performance resulting from our leadership team development programmes include:
An executive team openly tabling and agreeing how to resolve trust issues
- Agreement around the robust debate of issues critical to the leadership team and the business
- Agreed behaviours within and outside the leadership team environment
- Debate and agreement on the nature of the strategic contribution required from each member of the executive team
- Agreement on responsibilities and accountabilities of all leadership team members
A high performing executive team is critical to the ability of an organisation to drive results and execute the company strategy in a sustainable way. Therefore developing your leadership team is vital.
It is critical that, at this level, the leadership team members are each committed to achieving the organisational results and not just those of their own divisions or functions. Frequently leaders are faced with silo type behaviour that threatens the ability of the executive team to operate at its most effective level.
As a team comprises a group of individuals, the dynamic and effectiveness of the team will be highly dependant on the way the individuals in the team relate with one another. If there is a fundamental executive team dysfunction, such as a low level of trust or openness as between team members, the ability of the team to perform at a highly effective level is seriously reduced.
Equally, if a top performing leadership team is aware of what drives its positive team dynamic, measures can be taken to ensure this is protected even when some team members leave and new team members join.
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Read more about how dysfunction within a team can be addressed and how leadership team development can be integrated into your company.
Leadership performance is driven by a number of factors including the leader’s ability to influence and get buy in and commitment from others in the team or organisation.
The ability to influence other people at a leadership level is driven by several factors including the leader’s proven technical or industry capability and effective leadership skills.
These leadership skills include some of the core emotional intelligence skills such as:
- self awareness (knowing yourself)
- self management (the ability to manage yourself)
- managing relationships with others
- having empathy and the ability to see the big picture, not just your own perspective.
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Find out more about how leaders’ performance can be improved through coaching.
