– Because he doesn’t deserve it! The moment my client uttered these taboo words the problem was basically solved. The course of events that had led me to this point caused me to reflect on how I view leadership development and coaching. For the most part I consider my role is not to tell the client anything new. Instead my contribution is more often than not to identify restraining forces. And that’s because when the client understands what is holding them back they can start

How does boosting management team performance by 20 – 25 per cent with just 18 minutes of reflection sound to you? These appealing figures appear in the article Team Development Interventions: Evidence-Based Approaches for Improving Teamwork, an article which I once again want to dive into. The method, Team debrief, is described as follows in the article: “During a Team debrief, team members reflect on a performance episode or experience. They discuss what happened during the

“We have a hard time generating energy in our virtual meetings.” This statement came up in a coaching session I was holding and it resonated with similar stories I have heard from other managers I have been working with in recent months. I will approach the solution to this problem by addressing something that readers who have worked with me in management team development will undoubtedly recognise. Among the first things I do when I start working with a team, is to discuss t

Ever wondered why individuals, teams, and perhaps the entire organisation once in a while behave in a way that none of the people involved really believes is functional? If so, then you have very likely seen systemic forces at play. Understanding them is a requisite for developing an organisation. Although on paper I suggest the general concept of systems theory is easy to understand, I want to use another type of paper – toilet paper – to illustrate my point. Let’s think bac

Imagine you are sitting on a motorcycle and revving the engine while applying the brakes on the front wheel. The rear wheel keeps spinning but the motorcycle is not going anywhere. To move forwards, would you keep the brakes on and rev the engine even more, or would you ease off the brakes? If you chose the latter option, you have just embraced the principles of force-field analysis. The method in a nutshell: In relation to a goal, there are driving forces and there are restr