So often problems in teams are blamed on the behaviour of certain individuals – a team member, the team leader – or a tension between certain contrasting personalities. These factors may play a part, but they are rarely the whole story. In my view, the roots of team conflict and underperformance are far more likely to be found in a lack of shared clarity in the team about what the world needs of it and how it should respond to that demand.
Teams do not exist as islands – they are created to lead change in their external environment, and they, in turn, are subject to the multiple and often conflicting demands of that environment. This means that as the context changes so do the pressures on the team, impacting the whole purpose of the team, the clarity of its strategy and goals the relationship dynamic between team members. This is why team coaching needs to take a systemic approach – requiring a team to look at itself ‘Outside-In’, developing a shared view of what the business environment needs of it, now and in the future, and adapting its purpose and vision, its strategy and goals, shared and individual accountabilities and its ways of working in line with this.
In the story above, the business context now demanded a different type of leadership from the one needed at its inception. It now needed to facilitate the integration of new businesses and the development of innovative new products – quite different from its turnaround role six years previously. It needed to create a different relationship to the board, embracing strategic leadership and engaging the board in this, and it needed to use its time differently – increasing time on creative strategy and decreasing collective oversight of operational data.
Once we, as systemic team coaches started engaging the team in exploring its stakeholder needs, its purpose and its new strategic direction, the difficult dynamics disappeared: the team was now actively engaged in work that was of value to the business and rewarding to them personally. They now felt heard, valued and inspired to provide the collective leadership that the business – and their clients – needed.
