Common scenarios faced by team coaches

Common scenarios faced by team coaches	Scenario Comments
The team leader has a hidden agenda.	Hidden agendas are often more transparent than the leader thinks. The primary issues here tend to relate to trust. Useful questions – How can the team coach ensure s/he has an honest conversation with the team leader about his or her motivations? – When the team leader is unable to share the hidden agenda (e.g. because of instructions from above), is it ethical for the team coach to continue? – Is it possible to build trust and be authentic in the presence of hidden agendas? Useful approaches -“What if?” scenarios
The team has a new manager, replacing one, who was removed for being ineffective. Some or all of the team got on well with the former manager.	The article in the Handouts by Roger Schwarz Taking over from an incompetent team leader is good background reading for the team and the new manager alike. The team coach’s role is to assist the team to have the dialogue it needs to: – – Accept and come to terms with what has happened in the past and in the process of appointing a new leader – Start the new “leader-member exchange” with honesty and commitment to continue to be open with each other – Agree how the team and its new leader will work together to create a better working environment, build team reputation and performance Some useful questions: – What kind of inner conversations might the team be having? (Fears, frustrations, hopes etc) – – What kind of problems might await the new manager? – What conversation, if any, would you have with the new team leader, alone? – What conversations, if any, would you have with the team and without the team leader? – If some or most of the previous manager’s problem was contextual (e.g. lack of support from their own manager, how can the team and the new manager ensure that the same problems don’t play out again? Useful approaches: – Emotional mapping Conflict management
Dominant Leader/ Weak Leader	This is one of the most difficult areas for a team coach to address. It’s one of the reasons why pre-work with the team is so important. If you don’t identify the dynamics of a dominant or weak leader (or a dominant group), the team coaching is almost certain to fail. Having identified the issue, the critical question is: To what extent are the leader and the team willing to acknowledge and address it? If they are not, team coaching is not viable. If they are, then there has to be a contract where you will work both with the team as a whole and with the leader and where there is a shared behaviour change plan for both. It will be important to sit in on various kinds of meetings (collective and one-to-one) and help them practice these agreed behaviours.
The only thing that unites the team is blaming you!	It’s often easier for a team to avoid facing up to difficult internal issues by finding a scapegoat. Because as a team coach, you are facilitating them in facing up to some hard truths, the easiest and nearest scapegoat may be you. The key to managing this scenario is to recognise it early in the process – for example, when one person makes a defensive or barbed comment, which is not challenged by others. This passive acceptance can quickly turn into aggressive deflection. Having recognised it, you can intervene to make the team aware of the process that is unfolding. So, for example: – I’m curious that no-one responded to Geoff’s concerns. What’s the underlying issue that is uncomfortable to talk about? – Can we take a moment to reflect on what’s going on in the room right now. What’s the dominant emotion for each of you? Having brought concerns into the open, you can prevent responsibility being pushed back onto your shoulders by asking And what can you together do to resolve this? If necessary, you may also refer them back to the contract between you and the team and between the members of the team and each other.

© David Clutterbuck, 2015