6.2 THE SKILLS YOU NEED TO BE A GREAT BOSS: Improving Productivity by Improving Relationships

(EXTRACTION FROM TEAM MANAGEMENT: Coaching Your Team at http://www.mindtools.com)

 

Coaching is a useful way of developing people's skills and abilities, and of boosting performance.  It can also help deal with issues and challenges before they become major problems.  People are much more likely to engage with solutions that they have come up with themselves, rather than those that are forced upon them!  Coaching is considered to be a positive and proven approach for helping others explore their goals and ambitions, and then achieve them.

Teams are the force that drives most organizations.  When members of a team don't work well together, performance and productivity can suffer.  People must learn to work together and understand how to relate to one another.

Team coaching helps people understand how to work better with others.  To coach your team, focus on interpersonal skills and interactions instead of on individual development.  The way people act with their teammates, and the way they communicate with one another are important drivers of effective team performance.

Start team coaching by understanding the dynamics of the team.  Personality and behavior assessments are great tools for improving a team's understanding of its own dynamics, and they give team members a better understanding of why they react to their colleagues in certain ways.  With a greater level of understanding, team members begin to see one another differently.  This allows them to adjust their own behavior for better results, and they're able to interpret others' behavior with more insight and empathy.

Understanding other people's perspectives is a great way to improve relationships with them.  Developing a clear set of behavior and communication expectations is an important aspect of team coaching.  A great way to formalize these expectations is with a team charter.

People have competing values, and these create a major obstacle to team unity and effectiveness.  Identify the sources of competing values – and find ways to fix them.  Be supportive of individual development.