I was once working with two teams in a company, whose leaders were in conflict. They were going through a lot of change and asked for my help to clarify roles, and responsibilities to collaborate better. The focus was on who should do what.
As an organisational coach, I was partnering with teams and leaders challenging their behaviour, their actions, their interactions and their outcomes. This seemed no different.
I had been an Agile Coach for quite some time and was familiar with the objective of improving how we “DO” things.
As we explored these teams’ experience and challenges, it soon became clear that this was just the tip of the iceberg. The lack of alignment at the top was cascaded to these teams. They were lacking a vision, something to work together towards.
Feeling part of ONE leadership team would have enabled better synergies. During our sessions, we went deeper and deeper: we discussed values, working agreements, how they wanted to be together and how to make things work when it is challenging. My job was to help them see under the surface, explore the underwater part of the iceberg – so they could find out “WHO THEY WERE”.
This made me realise that, in conversation with any leader I coached, it was easy to focus my attention on what they did or didn’t do to achieve their goals. But that was just the tip of the iceberg! Underwater I could explore their thinking, their habits, their beliefs and their emotions. And if we went even deeper, we could shift our attention to the values that drove their choices, who they were and how they wanted to be different. The deeper the coaching conversation, the greater the impact.
What helps you go under the surface?
More to come in the upcoming weeks… stay tuned!
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