This document outlines a presentation on team coaching in a complex world. It discusses how focusing solely on performance can undermine team effectiveness and that team coaching requires continued investment, honest dialogue and support. It also provides practical tools and tips for coaching teams. Some key points include: complexity and chaos are increasing in the business world; teams need continued coaching beyond just forming; and high performing teams focus on both performance and health through discovery processes, clear goals and mutual accountability.

1. Team Coaching in a
Chaotic World
Phillip Ralph
Melbourne 26th June 2013

2. What we’re going to cover...
• How focusing solely on improving
performance can actually undermine
team effectiveness.
• Team coaching needs continued
investment, honest dialogue and
support to make it a success.support to make it a success.
• Practical tools and tips to coach your
team (or the teams you are
responsible for) to new levels by
focussing on the drivers of exceptional
performance.

3. What we’re not going to cover...
• Ten easy steps to ‘team heaven’!
• Magic bullet
• Thousands of studies on teams that don’t help us• Thousands of studies on teams that don’t help us
understand how to coach them
• Mind boggling and confusing models

4. Agenda
Complexity and Chaos in our World
Discovery Processes3333
Teams in Context2222
1111
Discovery Processes3333
Team Coaching and Core Models/Principles Used4444
Wrap and Questions5555

5. Significant Upheaval
Complexity Kills Profits – CEOs need to simplify their businesses, Collinson
and Joy, The European Business Review, 2013.
Source: Capitalising on Complexity: Insights from the Global Chief Executive Officer Study, IBM Global Business Services, 2010.

6. Our Context –
Complexity and Chaos
Source: Capitalising on Complexity: Insights from the Global Chief Executive Officer Study, IBM
Global Business Services, 2010.

7. The Widening Gap
CEOs view
• 59% expect to grow their business
• 67% expect increased cost pressures
• They think only 29% of their staff operating at
peak productivity
• They need a 20% improvement in
performance across the board to meet
business objectives
Source: CEB survey of 23,339
business objectives
Employees view
• 80% experienced increases in workload in
the last 3 years and 56% worked more hours
• "I cannot handle the stress of my job for
much longer" 55% agreed

8. Complexity Kills Profits
Complexity Kills Profits – CEOs need to simplify their businesses, Collinson
and Joy, The European Business Review, 2013.
Complexity Kills Profits – CEOs need to simplify their businesses, Collinson and Joy, The
European Business Review, 2013.

9. Management Behaviour Creates Complexity
Complexity Kills Profits – CEOs need to simplify their businesses, Collinson and Joy, The
European Business Review, 2013.

10. The Myth of the ‘Hero CEO’

11. Model for High Performance in the New
Work Environment
CEB, CLC Human Resources High Performance Survey, 2010.

12. Enterprise Contribution
CEB, CLC Human Resources High Performance Survey, 2010.

13. The Magic of the ‘and’
Sustainable Excellence = Performance + Health
Performance: what an enterprise delivers in financial and operational terms
(vision, strategic objectives, initiatives, execution, continuous improvement).
Health: an organisation/team’s ability to align, execute, and renew itself (root
cause mindsets that drive organisational health through a discovery process,
reshape the workplace to develop healthy mindsets, creating a change engine,reshape the workplace to develop healthy mindsets, creating a change engine,
leadership).
Focus on performance and health simultaneously = 2 x successful (than those that
focused on health alone) and nearly 3 x as successful (as those that focused on
performance alone).
2010 Study - Scott Keller and Colin Price, Beyond Performance, 2011.

14. Agenda
Complexity and Chaos in our World
3333
Teams in Context
1111
2222
Discovery Processes3333
Team Coaching and Core Models/Principles Used4444
Wrap and Questions5555

15. Pease stand up
if this is your
(usual/normal)(usual/normal)
experience of
team?

16. Or is this more typical...?

17. The Myth of the Spontaneous and
Self-Sustaining Team
Assumption:
Put a group of experienced executives/leaders together and
they will make a great leadership team.
Answer:
False.

18. Teams in a Chaotic World
“What we know about individuals, no matter how rich the details,
will never give us the ability to predict how they will behave as a
system. Once individuals link together they become something
different. Relationships change us, reveal us, evoke more from us.
Only when we join with others do our gifts become visible, even toOnly when we join with others do our gifts become visible, even to
ourselves.”
Margaret Wheatley and Myron Kellner-Rogers, A Simpler Way, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.; 1996, Margaret J. Wheatley & Myron
Kellner-Rogers

19. Types of Team
The Wisdom of Crowds, By: Katzenbach, Jon R., Smith, Douglas K..

20. Work Group
Pseudo
Team
Potential
Team
Real Team
High
Performance
Team
• Collection of
individuals
• Could be a significant
performance need or
• There is a clear,
significant performance
• A small number of
people (probably less
• Group meets all the
conditions of real
What type of team do you need?What type of team do you need?
individuals
• No common
performance goals
• No real need to be a
team
• Share information to
help individual
members perform
better
• No common work
products that call for
collective skills and
mutual accountability.
• No common purpose
or need for one
performance need or
opportunity
• No focus on collective
performance (nor do
they want it)
• No common purpose
• No common
performance goals
• May call themselves a
team (even though
they’re not)
• Concerned about
togetherness, not
performance.
• Weakest structure in
terms of contributing to
organisations’ goals
significant performance
need
• Members trying to
improve their
performance impact
• Typically, however,
they lack clarity about
purpose, goals, or joint
work-products
• Often lack discipline to
reach a common
working approach
• They don’t have
mutual accountability
people (probably less
than 10)
• Possess
complementary skills
• Members are equally
committed to a
common purpose,
goals, and working
approach
• Hold themselves
mutually accountable
conditions of real
teams
• Members are also
deeply committed,
even beyond the team
setting, to one
another's personal
growth and success
• The high-performance
team significantly
outperforms not only
all other teams but also
all reasonable
expectations, given its
membership
Adapted from: WHY TEAMS MATTER , By: Katzenbach, Jon R., Smith, Douglas K., McKinsey Quarterly,
00475394, 1992, Issue 3

21. Key Functions
Adapted from: WHY TEAMS MATTER , By: Katzenbach, Jon R., Smith, Douglas K., McKinsey Quarterly,
00475394, 1992, Issue 3

22. Agenda
Complexity and Chaos in our World
Teams in Context2222
3333
1111
Discovery Processes
Team Coaching and Core Models/Principles Used4444
Wrap and Questions5555
3333

23. Three Elements of HPT
Source: Teamwork at the Top, Erika Herb, Keith Leslie, Colin Price, McK Q, 2001.

24. Current Vs Aspiration

25. Test/Re-Test (2011-2013)

26. Discovery Questions
Q1. What is the purpose of the team?
Q2. What are the strengths of the team?
Q3. What are the development areas of the team? What’s holding the
team back?team back?
Q4. What are the ‘undiscussible’ issues in the team?

27. ‘Undiscussibles’

28. Discovery Questions
Q5. Of the seven elements that you have now rated, which one or two do you
think are most important for the team to focus on improving in the next 12
months? And Why?
Q6. Thinking 12 months into the future – imagine that your team is now a high
performing team. You are smashing targets; team members are energised;
they are truly collaborating; and their contribution to the organization is
significant:
• What type of team would you see?
• What would you hear?
• How would it feel to be part of it?
• What behaviors would you see people exhibiting?
• What would other people in the business be saying about your team?
• How would it feel to be leading a team like this?
Q7. What is a small step/bold step you can take to move towards this ideal
picture?

29. Thinking 12 months in to the future…

30. Agenda
Complexity and Chaos in our World
Teams in Context2222
3333
1111
Discovery Processes
Team Coaching and Core Models/Principles Used
Wrap and Questions5555
3333
4444

31. Accelerated Team Development Model©
Leadership Focus
Supportive
Context
Structure
High
Performance
Team Coaching
Supportive
Context
Structure
Performance
Team
Source: Adapted from Senior Leadership Teams, What it Takes to Make Them Great. Wageman, R. Nunes,
D.A., Burruss, J.A., Hackman, J.R. Harvard Business School Press, 2008.

32. Content and Process are Important

33. Team Coaching
• Holding a mirror up to reflect collective behaviours that hinder
or advance teamwork.
• Making interventions about how a team interacts.
• Enabling a discussion about team processes.
• Enabling the team to develop a ‘template’ of interaction.
• About the work they must achieve together.
• Clarifying team boundaries.• Clarifying team boundaries.
• Creating or clarifying behavioural norms.
• Calling out team members when they violate a norm.
• Teaching members how to listen for the key concerns being
expressed.
• Teaching members how to listen.
* Source: Senior Leadership Teams, What it Takes to Make Them Great. Wageman, R. Nunes, D.A.,
Burruss, J.A., Hackman, J.R. Harvard Business School Press, 2008.

34. Real Dialogue
Source: ON-Brand Partners.

35. Process Skills
What How
Asking good questions Open versus closed
Testing hypothesis
‘Why’ before ‘how
Influencing Focus on others
Use connecting words
Finding common ground
Managing resistance The Faces of Resistance:Managing resistance The Faces of Resistance:
• ‘Give me more detail’; Time; Impracticality
• Silence
• Confusion
• Intellectualising
Demonstrate mutual purpose and respect
Avoid the ‘sucker’s choice’ (will I win or will
you?)
Make is safe

36. What How
Observational Skills Adopting a ‘helicopter mindset’ (slow down –
stop, look and listen)
Framework: Observation – Interpretation –
Intervention
Content – Process – Relationship – Self
Listening Listening beyond the words (understand
another’s mental map)
Listen my way to common ground
People often switch off based on what they
Process Skills
People often switch off based on what they
see – (they are looking for conviction,
credibility and evidence of character)
Summarising and clarifying Seek to understand, then be understood
Make your communication simple/simplify
issues
Be the one to summarise and clarify

37. What How
Being present and authentic Focus on being present and nowhere else
Be yourself – with skill
Be congruent – what you say and do are in
alignment
When you get stuck – AMPP it up Ask to get things rolling
Mirror to confirm feelings
Paraphrase to acknowledge the story
Prime when you’re getting nowhere
Process Skills
Remember your ABCs Agree when you agree – don’t turn it in to an
argument
Build – if you agree with what has been said
but you feel it is incomplete, then say so and
build on the point.
Compare – rather than right and wrong –
agree that you see things differently. “I think
I see things differently, let me describe how.”

38. Process Skills
What How
Move to action At the beginning you need safety, at the end
closure.
A great conversation can be ruined at the
end because of violated expectations or
failure to follow up.
Move to action: who, what, when, and how.
Keep, Stop, Start Helps get things moving.
Avoids naming and blaming
Provides structureProvides structure

39. Core Principles – Three Lens
Traditional Future
Personal Systemic
Benign Conflictual
Technical Adaptive

40. Core Principles – Technical Vs Adaptive
Technical Adaptive
Problem is clear Problem requires learning
Solution is clear Solution requires learning
Knowledge, skills resident in organisation May need to learn new skills and approaches
Work often sits with authority Work sits with stakeholders
Generally linear/cause and effect Non-linear, can be unpredictable
We’ve done it before May be a new situation/scenarioWe’ve done it before May be a new situation/scenario
Success is usually resolution or finite Success is often just about making progress – may
never be solved
No change in values, beliefs, loyalties or priorities
necessary
Values, beliefs, loyalties and priorities may need to
shift

41. Effective/Ineffecive Behaviour
Effective Behaviour in Groups Ineffective Behaviour
TASK INTERACTION INDIVIDUAL
Initiating
Proposing goals or actions: defining
problems; suggesting a procedure
Information giving
Offering facts; giving an opinion
Clarifying
Interpreting ideas or suggestions;
defining terms; clarifying issues before
the group; ensuring people’s comments
are understood
Harmonizing
Attempting to reconcile disagreements;
reducing tension; getting people to explore
differences
Gate keeping
Helping to keep communication channels
open; facilitating the participation of others;
suggesting procedures that permit sharing
ideas.
Consensus testing
Checking to see if a groups is nearing a
Displaying aggression
Deflating others’ status; attacking the group
for its values; joking in a barbed or semi-
concealed way
Blocking
Disagreeing and opposing beyond reason;
resisting stubbornly the groups wish;
pursuing a personal agenda
Dominating
Asserting authority to manipulate the group;
valuing own contributions more than
are understood
Summarising
Pulling together related ideas; restating
suggestions; offering a decision or
conclusion for the group to consider
Reality testing
Making a critical analysis of the idea;
testing an idea against some data
Checking to see if a groups is nearing a
decision; sending up a trial balloon to test a
possible conclusion
Encouraging
Being friendly, warm and responsive to
others; indication by facial expression or
remark the acceptance of others’
contributions
Compromising
Offering an alternative that yields status;
admitting error; modifying in interest of
group cohesion or progress
Feedback
Providing feedback in real time
valuing own contributions more than
others’; interruption contributions of others;
controlling through flattery or other
patronising behaviour
Abandoning
Displaying openly one’s lack of
involvement; tuning out; seeking recognition
in ways not relevant to the group’s task
Avoidance
Pursuing special interests not related to the
task; staying off the subject to avoid
commitment; preventing the group from
facing up to controversy

42. Spinning Dancer

43. • Events and patterns
around you
• Different
interpretations of the
same event
• Need to make
observing as objective
as possible
• Get on the balcony
• More challenging than
observing
• Make hypotheses
• Make interpretations before
jumping into action
• To what degree are people
interpreting this as a technical
problem rather than adaptive
• Those skilled at adaptive
leadership can hold multiple
interpretations at the same
time
Coaching Teams to ‘See’ Differently
System
• Get on the balcony
• Behaviours? Who is
speaking/not
speaking?
Relationships?
History of the
problem? What do
people stand to lose?
Patterns of
behaviour?
• Should reflect your hypothesis
• Should be considered an
experiment in service of a
shared purpose or task
• Practice interventions that are
outside your own comfort zone
• Take risks smartly
• Engage above/below the neck
• Connect to purpose

44. Limit of tolerance
Productive Zone
Disequilibrium
Fight Flight
Destructive behaviour
Freeze
Turning the Heat Up to Do ‘Real Work’
Productive Zone
of Disequilibrium
Disequilibrium
Threshold of change
Work
Avoidance
Time
Source: Adapted from The Leader’s Change Handbook, Heifetz and Laurie, 1998.
Comfort Zone
No challenge
Low
innovation
Complacency

45. Responses to Chaos and Change
Planned
Proactive/
Lead
Real
leadership
Value
Creation
Energiser
Partofthe
Solution
Needs to be
done ‘yesterday’
Competing
priorities
Above the Line
Below the Line
↑ Moral
↑ Engagement
↑ Energy
↑ Focus
↑ Results
CHOICE
Urgent
Reactive/
Follow
Counterfeit
leadership
Value
Destruction
Vampite’
Drainer
‘Energy
Vampite’
Victim
priorities
Upsets
Below the Line
What keeps us stuck ‘below the line’?
What is the impact?
↓ Moral
↓ Engagement
↓ Energy
↓ Focus
↓ Results
CHOICE

46. Decision Making
PROCESS OF DIVISION PROCESS OF CONSENSUS
Need = power Need = achievement
Individual strength tested Strength united through consensus
Group divided Differences shared
Commitment assured
• Concern for others
• Listening
• Identifying and using resources
• Testing consensus and disagreements
• Discussing underlying assumptions and logic
• Process orientation

47. Make it Sustainable

48. Building the Next Generation of Employees
The 10 employee competencies that differentiate those best able to perform in the new
work environment:
1. Prioritization
2. Teamwork
3. Organizational awareness
4. Problem solving
5. Self-awareness
6. Proactivity
7. Influence
8. Decision making
9. Learning agility
10. Technical expertise
CEB, CLC Human Resources High Performance Survey top 10 out of 32 competencies driving employee performance (n = 23,339) in
EXECUTIVE GUIDANCE FOR 2013, Breakthrough Performance in the New Work Environment: Identifying and Enabling the New High
Performer, 2010.

49. Keys to Driving Performance in the Future
Enterprise
Contributor
Connector Contributor
EXECUTIVE GUIDANCE FOR 2013, Breakthrough Performance in the New Work
Environment: Identifying and Enabling the New High Performer, 2010.
Consumer

50. Final Thoughts
Complexity and chaos kill profits
Essentials and Enablers: Focus on the essentials of
purpose, people, being a real team and having the right
behaviours as well as the enablers of structure, leadership,
supportive context and team coaching.
Process: Focus on process within the context of the workProcess: Focus on process within the context of the work
the team needs to do (bias towards health over
performance).
Dialogue: Quality of team conversations is everything.
Team coaching is a continual investment.
Benefits = Clarity + Energy + Synergy + Results.

51. Agenda
Complexity and Chaos in our World
Teams in Context2222
3333
1111
Discovery Processes
Team Coaching and Core Models/Principles Used
Wrap and Questions
3333
4444
5555

52. Contact Details
The Leadership Sphere
Phillip Ralph
454 Collins Street
Melbourne Vic 3000Melbourne Vic 3000
Phone: 1300 100 857
Email: phillipr@theleadershipsphere.com.au
www.theleadershipsphere.com.au