My customer – a hotel – told me that the collaboration between two teams doesn’t work. There are a lot of disputes and discussions between kitchen and service teams. It went so far, as they also discussed in front of the guests. So the guests didn’t feel very comfortable. A team coaching should help in order to improve the situation.

Single coachings

I start with single coaching interviews with each team member. It helps in order to understand the situation better. The reactions to these interviews are different as also the personalities are different. It happens that I am listening to many different point of views, like for example “our collaboration works perfectly”. On the other hand someone mentions “Collaboration? Something like this doesn’t exist in this company!”. And as well: “the whole situation is terrible!”.

Also the emotional reactions are more than different. I can see on the one side absolute indifference and on the other side there are team members that start to cry. But the most important part of these single interviews is that people can talk about their worries. In operative daily business there isn’t hardly the time for a situation like this. Just talking about it can be very helpful. The immedeate willingness of the team members to talk about their worries shows, that they trust me. As an external person I am not part of the system. It would be much harder talking with a superior about the bad things.

Team session

After concluding the single interviews, I start the team session, the main part of the team coaching with all team members. In this situation it isn’t that easy talking about problems. Step by step with different mehtods I get it to make them talk about the current and their desired situation. I accompany the team in finding their agreement for a good collaboration. There find out a lot of possiblities in order to improve.

In the end they agree on few concrete points. I write down each single agreement only when each of them accepts it. All of them sign. Afterwards the team presents the agreement proudly to their superior. I can see their eyes shining. They created something together.

Results for the team and for each member

The output of the team coaching is a concrete agreement. The team agrees to stick together to these rules. They define consequences if there is someone who doesn’t comply with the rules. It supports their collaboration, reduces conflicts and makes the daily business more smoothly. A citation of one team coaching: “our day could be so smooth and easy if we wouldn’t argue whole day!”. The team members will be in a better mood while starting there day and maybe also think less about changing their employer.

Results for the company

For you as a leader a working team signifies faster results and working more efficiently. Satisfied teams without conflicts are automatically more satisfied with their employer and make a positive external effect. This positive external effect has an influence on customers but also on potential new employees.

Sustainability of team coaching

Obviously one day of team coaching can not make disappear all problems. But it makes a profound basis for a good collaboration. It can signify a restart  for teams with conflicts. Good leadership and an appreciative superior can’t be replaced by a team coaching. In order to receive sustainable results coaching should be continued regularly as part of personell development within the company.