More on coaching

More on coaching

More on Coaching

Coaching Team Leaders (ALRIEN - LET'S ADD THIS TO COACHING TEAM LEADER IN LESSON 3, AND REMOVE FROM HERE)

EFRT (think Effort) is a 4-part diagnostic that you can use to engage with the Team Leader about how well the team is doing.

ENERGY

Conversation starters

How is the team doing? 

How is the team feeling? 

A great 100-Day team

Maintains spirit of the challenge; remains motivated; team members have fun

Warning signs

Team spirit lags; team loses its spark; attendance at meetings drops off; fear; anxiety

FOCUS

Conversation starters

What can we celebrate this week?

What are the numbers telling us? 

A great 100-Day team

Stays focused on the goal; addresses obstacles to achieving goals; uses data to track progress 

Warning signs

Non-essential activities consume time and energy of the team; no new ideas; feeling overwhelmed 

ROLES

Conversation starters

What is the level of contribution of each team member to the plan?

 How clear are people about your role? How clear are you about it? 

What is challenging for you as a team leader? And what else? And what is the real challenge for YOU?

A great 100-Day team

Each team member has a clear role, and they are clear about this and about the roles of others on the team

The Mentor and Team Leaders are especially clear about their respective roles

Warning signs

Role confusion; team members don’t have clear tasks; members don’t meet deadlines; people feel left out

TEAM DYNAMICS

Conversation starters

How are team members communicating? 

What are the tensions that are coming up? Which ones would be useful to talk about in team meetings, versus with the concerned members of the team? 

A great 100-Day team

Team members remind each other about their Team Agreement

Meetings are action-oriented and productive

There are strong relationships between team members

Team members talk about their disagreements without being disrespectful of each other  

Warning signs

Recurrent conflicts between team members 

Dominating behaviours

Team members avoid conflict

Team members feel like they are walking on egg shells when they are talking with one another

Download the notes and print as handy reference during discussions with a team leader.

Download

Coaching Mentors (ALRIEN - LET'S MAKE THIS A TOPIC IN WEEK 6)

Tips

Here are some tips you can offer the mentors during the 30-Day Challenge. Ideally, you can offer these tips in response to specific situations they describe or guidance they seek.  You can also offer these in anticipation of situations.

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!

It is more impactful to praise the positive aspects of an idea, and ask the team to build on it, than to focus on the negative aspects of the idea. Instead of being the place where ideas get buried, the Mentor can become the person the team comes to in order to bounce ideas off.

If there are multiple mentors for one team, help mentors split primary responsibilities for their tasks: one or two can be check in weekly with team leader(s), one can manage the communication and engagement process with the leadership stakeholders, and one can keep an eye and an ear on issues and ideas that can inform the sustainability plan at the end of the 100 days.

This is among the most powerful combinations of 4 words in the English language. Mentors can use it in their informal weekly or bi-weekly check-in calls or emails with team leaders. Along with another powerful phrase: “how are things going?” If this does not open the conversation up, mentors can use some of the follow up questions in the Coaching tool.

Organize a session at days 25 and 75 for the team or team leaders with the broader group of leadership stakeholders. This can touch briefly on progress against the goal and go deeper into lessons learned and implications for leadership. It could be a conversation about the following topics:

  • How are things going?
  • What lessons are emerging about the system we want to build?
  • What support does the team need?
  • What’s the experience of the team like? How can we help make it as powerful as possible?

Depending on the culture of the organization or system, Mentors could ask for periodic formal reviews with Team Leaders. These could be done weekly. Here’s an easy and fun format for these reviews. ANY CHANCE WE CAN CHAGE THE PICURE BELOW SO IT READS THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY. IT IS LIGHTER THAN GOOD, BAD, UGLY…

Thought starter reflection questions

Jot down thoughts on these questions – to the extent they are relevant to your experience at the session:
  • When did the mood in the event shift from “why are we here?” to “this could be interesting – I am excited to be part of this.” What triggered this shift? 
  • When did you have to go “off script” on the agenda or to change the agenda? What triggered this? What did you adjust? How did it go?
  • What was most surprising to you at the event?
  • What new insights did you gain about the issue at hand, and about the way leaders in the system interacted with each other?
  • Where did the conversation get stuck? What got it unstuck?
  • How would you characterise the level of trust among participants in the meeting? To what extent did this shift as the meeting progressed? To what do you attribute this shift, if indeed it happened?

Thought starter...

Reflection Questions 

Jot down thoughts on these questions – to the extent they are relevant to your experience at the session:

  • When did the mood in the event shift from “why are we here?” to “this could be interesting – I am excited to be part of this.” What triggered this shift? 
  • When did you have to go “off script” on the agenda or to change the agenda? What triggered this? What did you adjust? How did it go?
  • What was most surprising to you at the event?
  • What new insights did you gain about the issue at hand, and about the way leaders in the system interacted with each other?
  • Where did the conversation get stuck? What got it unstuck?
These are 100-Day Challenge Mentors. 

They did some work before you received the Challenge Note. This included:

  • Writing the Challenge Note, and making sure that the leaders of all the organisations represented on the team are comfortable with it – and committed to supporting the work of the team
  • Helping the leaders of these organisation recruit you and your colleagues to the team
  • Gathering some baseline data and other information that will help you and your teammates set your 100-Day goal and develop your plan.
  • Making sure all the preparations are made for a successful Lift-Off workshop, when you and your teammates will meet and get your 100-Day Challenge started. This includes venue, facilitation support, food, swags, comms, travel arrangements and whatever else is needed.

 

Mentors will participate in all or part of the Lift-Off Workshop, mostly at the start to provide context and answer questions, and at the end to give you and your teammates feedback about the goal and plan you develop.

During the 100 days following the Lift-Off Workshop, here’s what the Mentors will do:  

  • They will check in every two weeks with the team leaders to see how the team is doing and what support they and the team need.
  • They will keep other organisational leaders informed and engaged during the 100 days, and pull them in to help as needed.
  • They will participate in the last part of the Refuelling Workshop, halfway through the 100 days, to see what additional support the team needs, and to begin to plan with the team for sustainability and scale-up.
  • They will work with the team at the Sustainability Workshop to finalise recommendations on sustaining the results and building on the work of the team.