Over the past year, we have intentionally asked leaders this simple question: “How are you developing your team?” Their responses led us on a journey of modernizing our approach to Team Development at The People Side. In this article, I will share some of the insights we gained during our expedition and explain how we have enriched our approach to the development of high-performing teams going forward.

1. Teams tend to gather for isolated team-building experiences or strategic planning meetings, with minimal focus on improving team dynamics outside of those events. 

2. Team Leaders plan for the development of individual team members, but not the team as a collective.

3. Many Team Leaders are overwhelmed and feel guilty for not investing time in the development of their team.

While there is a recognition of how valuable high-performing teams are, there are many limitations that prevent companies from effectively developing them. Existing solutions feel disjointed, highlighting the need for more integrative and sustainable approaches.

Why Conventional Methods Fall Short

The need for impactful team development is rapidly accelerating as the workplace becomes increasingly decentralized. Misalignment at a team level creates tension, leading to interpersonal dysfunction and disappointing results. Since teams aren’t transforming, neither are organizations.  

Team transformation takes time. New solutions should encourage teams to be on a continuous learning journey and develop their collective capability in the flow of work. An event-driven approach limits the ability for ongoing and continuous dialogue, shortcuts the learning process, and fails to fully impact a team’s performance.

Just as individual coaching has become a core component of an organization’s development strategy, we believe using a “coach approach” with teams will become increasingly valuable and commonplace. Team Coaching is not about building skills - it is about evolving mindsets, noticing team & organizational dynamics, and deepening a group's awareness so they can continuously learn and adapt to the complexities of a modern workplace while maintaining a shared identity.

As we delved deeper, the potential for team coaching to be a strategic gamechanger became increasingly clear. When the collective performance of a group is being coached, emerging conflict or business announcements (adding new team members, corporate re-organizations, performance issues) can be addressed real-time instead of festering until the next team offsite.

Finally, most team development solutions concentrate solely on improving internal team dynamics, overlooking the impact of external dynamics on a group’s performance (changes in the market, culture, stakeholder expectations, etc). By taking a more systemic perspective, teams can become aware of their collective reputation and understand their value to the business. This inside/outside view provides a more comprehensive understanding of a team’s true performance and often reveals additional development opportunities. We believe taking a broader perspective allows us to deliver more encompassing development solutions.

The Importance of Alignment and Connection

One key body of work we discovered in our exploration was Dr. Peter Hawkins' systemic team coaching model. We appreciated that he took a broader perspective of team performance, which inspired us to create our own model and approach. The concept of improving a team’s “alignment” and “connection” emerged in our research and became central to our understanding of team performance. In fact, these two words have become the compass coordinates for how we now assess and support a team’s development at The People Side:

• Alignment: Alignment is about improving a team’s ways of working together. These solutions elevate clarity and align people to a shared sense of purpose, goals, roles, and processes in order to foster an efficient work environment.

• Connection: Connection is about improving a team’s ways of being together. These solutions build trust and foster a culture of feedback and collaboration. Elevating connection is crucial when navigating change and challenges because it creates an environment of psychological safety.

Introducing the Team Discovery 360 Assessment

To support a team’s journey of transformation, we developed a new assessment called the Team Discovery 360. This assessment provides a team with a clear picture of their strengths and areas for growth, focusing on alignment and connection across four quadrants. It also provides us with evidence-based direction to shape a “development roadmap” that is as unique as the team we are working with. For example, one team thought they needed help aligning on shared goals, but our assessment revealed that they were struggling with trust and communication issues as well. This insight shifted our approach and the conversation we had was exponentially more valuable to them.

Forging a New Path: Team Development Journeys

The People Side offers comprehensive Team Development Journeys that blend Team Coaching with targeted development experiences over a period of several months. Our suite of solutions include in-person team experiences, individual coaching sessions, virtual Team Touchpoints, meeting observations, and more. We provide a dedicated Team Coach to each Team Leader we work with – the Team Coach is focused on elevating the team’s awareness and supporting the group’s ongoing development goals. The Team Coach deeply understands the dynamics at an individual, group, and organizational level and objectively observes the group’s interactions to provoke development through well placed questions and thoughtfully designed experiences. We piloted this comprehensive approach with a handful of large multi-national and mid-sized companies, and were extremely encouraged by what they experienced and the impact it had on their team’s performance!

Elevate Your Team with Us

As we continue on this journey, our commitment remains steadfast: to transform organizations, one team at a time. If you're looking to elevate your team’s performance in 2024, let’s start a conversation. Discover how Team Coaching, and our Team Development Journeys, can be a catalyst for meaningful change and elevate the level of alignment and connection within your organization this year.