Week 4 – Meeting the Coach and Team Leader
Week 4
Meeting The Coach and Team Leader
The team have reached the one-month milestone of the 100-Day Sprint. This is a critical junction where momentum must be converted into sustained leadership support. Your mission this week is to help bridge the gap between the Team’s “on-the-ground” reality and the leadership’s “strategic” oversight.
Podcast
Click here to listen to a Challenge Strategist and Coache discussing the process for the one-month check-in.
Your Task This Week
Joint Progress Review
The team coach will set up a session with you and the Team Leader
The Partnership: The Coach will conduct this meeting jointly with the Team Leader. The Team Leader leads reporting on progress and obstacles, with support from the Coach.
The “Why”: This reinforces the Entrepreneurial Leadership of the Team Leader and builds their confidence in managing senior stakeholders. Regular briefings make it much easier to ask for high-level intervention later if the Team hits a bureaucratic “brick wall.”
High Impact Report
They can use this “Stop-Light” format to guide the discussion: it is an easy and fun way to report progress at review meetings and avoid long reports.
Here are some tips that can help in your progress review conversations:
Offer support and avoid offering solutions
Once the Team decides on a course of action, ask: “What support do you need?” It’s important to be honest about what you can and cannot do, and don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know but I will find out.” Then do so quickly!
Praise the 75% that is right, rather than point out the 25% that is wrong
It is more impactful to praise an idea’s positive aspects and ask the team to build on them than to focus on its negative aspects. Instead of being the place where ideas get buried, you can become the person the Team Leader comes to to bounce ideas off.
"How can I help?"
This is among the most powerful combinations of 4 words in the English language. You can use it in formal reviews or informal check-ins with the Team Leader or Coach. You can use this in conjunction with another simple but powerful phrase: “how are things going?”
The Human Factor
Discussing Team Members with the Coach
Being a Challenge Strategist can be the most powerful “tool” for managing team dynamics across different organisations.
- If a team member is not pulling their weight on the team, it is good to know that. A call from you inquiring how they are doing on the 100-day Challenge can create a gentle nudge to get more involved.
- If a team member is going over and above the call of duty, a recognition note or call from you take their enthusiasm to a whole new level. Also, an appreciation note or call from you to the supervisor of the Team member could have a great motivational impact.
- The “Gentle Nudge”: If a Team member is disengaged, ask the Strategist to make a casual inquiry into their progress. Often, knowing that a senior leader is watching is enough to refocus a participant.
- The “Amplified Cheer”: If a member is performing exceptionally, the Strategist should send a recognition note.
- The Multiplier Effect: Suggest that the Strategist send a commendation directly to the Team member’s manager. In a collaborative community project, this is the highest form of “currency” for a government official of civil society member.
