This week I was in London to run a team coaching workshop for the senior leadership of a 350-year-old institution.
The brief: help the team understand how they could communicate and collaborate better with each other – in one day.
After a period of significant change, this team of passionate and well-intentioned leaders had begun to notice tensions they couldn’t quite explain. Was it the recent changes? The fast pace? The many projects? Some even wondered if it had to do with the team being all-female.
I couldn’t possibly know. But this team demonstrated the courage to tackle the issue head-on. And if you know me, you can probably guess what we did next to figure it out 😊
We slowed down.
We sat together and spent the day in meaningful discussion and mutual learning. Until we hit a crux.
The issue wasn’t that this team didn’t know how to communicate. But we began to notice a pattern: every time I asked a question, the conversation quickly veered off into organisational projects, solutions, actions, ideas. It wasn’t until I shared my own sense of overwhelm that everyone else saw it too.
This was a highly creative and engaged team where every conversation sparked ideas and actions like an explosion of confetti. In the face of complex tasks requiring fast action, conversations had slipped into becoming transactional. This felt frustrating for everyone. It was time to rebuild the habit of listening.
Once we had identified the issue, the solution was simple. Though not easy. This week marks the start of a journey.
(Incidentally, this week another London-based client told me that their team has kept up the coaching habit since I ran a workshop for them three months ago. They meet every Friday for one hour to practice listening to and coaching each other. It works!)
Feeling inspired? Drop me a line to schedule a chat. You may be surprised by what your team is capable of.
True Horizon Coaching 