If success is defined as business or personal growth, then the energy that the business or individual team member actively seeks to draw from their place of work, to achieve that growth, needs to be significantly greater than the energy it takes to simply maintain either one or the other. In working with business owners, teams and organisations we simply need to focus on increasing the energy of the parts, or the whole, and decreasing the drains. The net effect of such an approach is top line and bottom line performance. Furthermore, energy flows from the inside-out. It therefore begins with every individual and every member of the team. The whole business is made up of each individual part and it is here that we need to look, when supporting and challenging businesses to be better.
It is a fact that high performing teams are critical to the success of any business. Unfortunately, too many teams are characterized, to a greater or lesser extent, by a lack of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability or a sufficient inattention to results. Where progress is being seen however, and results are being achieved, how many of these teams are genuinely functioning at more than the sum of their parts? Global statistics show that in Western Europe only 14% of employees are fully engaged with the mission of their organisation with the consequent impact on the business being lower profitability, weaker retention of staff and a greater pressure on business owners, as team members passively wait for instruction and direction.
There is a new approach to promoting collaboration in business today and it is called Team Coaching. Whether it is at Senior or Middle Leadership levels or around Project Based or Departmental Teams, the need for groups and teams to work more effectively together is obvious. The current challenges we face in business today require us to find new ways of working together and achieving even stronger outcomes. Team Coaching approaches create group members who relate well to each other and genuinely collaborate so accelerating business performance. Team Coaching approaches harness the power of groups to achieve change whilst also fostering feelings of connection and common purpose. Team Coaching taps into the wisdom of groups and emphasises the importance of co-learning, so generating new possibilities and directions and even transforming businesses.
The value of Team Coaching approaches is that not only are inter-personal skills developed for the individual but also that people feel more connected to the objectives of the business through the team, leading members to work harder and stay longer. Team members own sense of self-esteem is boosted as they become fully engaged in overcoming the challenges faced by the business whilst the Team Coaching process supports individuals to understand their own strengths and areas for development through the quiet comparison of themselves to others. When Team Coaching approaches are also allied with one to one coaching sessions the impact on both the individual and the business can be profound and the bottom line results astonishing.
