Let us use the working assumption that a team is a group of individuals unified by a common purpose or goal. Team dynamics is the complex movement which occurs in the relationships between members of a team, affecting their communication, coordination and collaboration. This movement may be visible in the actions and words used or may be invisible in the thoughts, attitudes and psychology of individual members or the team as an entity. As the term implies, this movement changes, sometimes because of time passing, situations changing or changing team members. Factors that affect team dynamics include size, composition, goals, and culture. Productivity and performance can be hostages to the fortunes of team dynamics in organisations.
This article will use the term executive and leader interchangeably in the belief that an executive is expected to lead and not just manage the team. The leader of a team is a member of the team, despite common language which sometimes suggests that the leader is outside of the team, looking in. A team could also be the executive team where all members are leaders of their teams.
- The journey of a thousand miles starts with step one, self-preparation. Self-leadership is indeed the first step in credible authentic leadership. Executive coaching therefore starts by getting the leader to look inwards for this leadership & gaining insight into the executive’s own impact on their team. This may involve completing exercises to identify personal values, a personal and career vision, as well as their strengths, habit profile, personality, relationship-building, decision-making & leadership styles. Does the leader really value and want a top-performing team? How aligned are these to the executive being part of a top-performing team? A 360-degree exercise completed by key stakeholders can contribute self-knowledge data from external sources.
- An executive coach can help the leader to understand where the team is at in its development. Understanding where their team can be captured by Tuckman’s (1965 & revised 1977) model which isolated the stages of Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and Adjourning. Thinking through and seeking evidence, with the support of executive coaching, would strengthen the leader’s knowledge of their team as a baseline for improving performance.
- Equipped with more knowledge about the team, the leaders would have to explore methods to develop the team at whichever stage they are at. Executive coaching would support a leader who desires top performance in the team, from creating a vision, setting the team culture in the overall context of the organisation’s vision, decisions on recruitment, training, team building, team coaching and measurement. Related but different from executive coaching, the impact of Team coaching includes the ability to develop a unified focus in dealing with current, wider organisational and business sector challenges, learning from the past or preparing for future growth, amidst competition and uncertainty.
- By its very nature team dynamics will generate conflict. Such conflict could be ignored, suppressed or embraced by the team, often modelled on the conflict-resolution behaviour of their leader. Executive coaching can help the leader to understand their own conflict behaviour and its impact on the team dynamics. Specifically, it can help the leader to explore their expectation of the outcome of conflict. If this is negative, how more likely are they to avoid or suppress conflict? Those who anticipate a positive outcome to conflict tend to embrace, even encourage healthy conflict. The question would be, how much can the team handle in its current state of development and remain productive, building towards top performance? Executive coaching can strengthen a leader’s courage and compassion in managing conflict in the team, with a knock-on impact on team culture, psychological safety and resilience.
- Finally, and flowing from the previous four points, executive coaching can help a leader to visualise the possibility of a healthy team culture in an uncertain general and business environment, as we currently have. Where do matters of Trust, Kindness, delegation and collaboration sit in alignment with the leader and team’s values? It can also support the leader to strategise on how best to achieve such a culture, building on their strengths and managing their weaknesses and learned behaviours.
In conclusion, paying attention to oneself with curiosity enables paying attention to the team, tuning into its dynamics and acting with vision, courage and compassion. Executive coaching is exactly suited to supporting any executive in navigating these aspects of leadership.
Joseph Ogbonna
An executive and leadership Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credentialed by the International Coach Federation (ICF), with excellent supporting skills in strategic thinking, accessing inner wisdom, mindfulness, organisational development, project and programme management.
