Chapter 14 - Developing behavioural agility - team coach

Question 1

Generally speaking, how can a co-sec operate as a team coach?

Answer 1

• become a behavioural process expert
• develop ‘softer social interactions’ and relationships competence in order to facilitate not only tasks but also the people who are performing those tasks

Question 2

What is a team coach and what are the different types?

Answer 2

‘team coach’ refers to the behavioural approach to supporting the board as a team, both as a group of individuals and collectively

Different types of coach:
* one-to-one coach
* mentor
* systemic team coach
* facilitator
* other supporting roles - supervisor, mediator, counsellor

Question 3

What did Ruth Wageman et al say about team coaches?

Answer 3

All teams need an expert team coach to become high-performing, especially when they get stuck and have difficulties in improving the ability to become more effective and make better decisions together

Question 4

Outline the case for coaching

Answer 4

The coaching leadership style, along with the visionary leadership style, significantly outperforms the more neutral and directive styles.

Lorinkova et al (2012)– experiment - At the early stage of team performance, the directive style wins, however, over time, the empowering style begins to catch-up and outperform the directive style

Google – Project Oxygen –
* what makes a good manager is one who is a good coach
* technical skills was the least important
* skill of coaching can be developed

Question 5

What is coaching?

Answer 5

Whitemore: Unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.

Question 6

What are the core skills of coaching? Think Joe Hudson

Answer 6

1. Building a trusting coaching relationship
2. Asking effective questions and listening to/noticing responses
3. Supportive effective goal-setting
4. Providing effective feedback

Question 7

What is a coaching mindset?

Answer 7

A coaching mindset refers to holding the belief in the potential of the person that we are coaching such that, with appropriate support and challenge, they will be able to find answers within themselves to the questions that they are asking, rather than be dependent on upon others – similar to growth mindset

Question 8

How can you build coaching relationships?

Answer 8

• Good starting point: trust - think Maister et al
• Time - research on successful therapeutic relationships between patient and client - time for success - treat people like human beings rather than human doings
• Timpsons Test
• Marcus Buckingham - frequent check-ins should be every week or every two weeks at most

Question 9

Give examples of coaching questions

Answer 9

• Open questions – default questions and most likely way a coachee will raise awareness of an issue – Have you thought about X?
• Closed questions – useful at certain times such as when checking – ‘Am I right in saying that these are your options’?
• ‘Why’ questions – useful to open people up – caution with doing too much as could feel like an interrogation
• ‘What’ questions – Swiss army knife of open coaching questions – help someone explore their current reality in detail and are a useful substitute for why questions
• ‘How’ questions – useful to move us forward to where we want to go and are therefore voiced in coaching when considering options and actions

Question 10

What did Deloitte’s research on mentoring find?

Answer 10

retention is 25% higher in companies that engage in mentoring

Question 11

What is mentoring?

Answer 11

David Clutterbuck: Offline help by a more experienced individual willing to share knowledge with someone less experienced in a relationship of mutual trust

Question 12

What is the difference between a mentor and a coach?

Answer 12

A mentor is more likely to make introductions and to develop a mentee’s networks – can explain organisational politics due to inside knowledge.

A coach is someone likely to provide feedback that is formalised and defined – therefore, more likely to be entering into a paid relationship i.e. external coaches

Question 13

What are the four types of mentor that a governance professional may find themselves with board members relating to facilitative and task expertise. BEAD

Answer 13

1. Buddy mentor: low need for facilitative expertise and low need for task expertise – someone who is useful for a settling-ins process i.e. during director induction – valuable during first few months
2. Expert mentor: low need to facilitate expertise and high need for task expertise – not to focus on personal issues but to be more technical and situation-specific
3. Attached mentor: high need for facilitative experience and high need for task experience – ‘knowledgeable friend’ – mentor will use their skill in asking questions to enable thinking, but also can provide organisational and subject matter knowledge if required to aid mentee’s thinking
4. Detached mentor: high need for facilitative expertise and low need for task experience – most nondirective and is similar to a classic coaching style – cosec supports directors with broad issues beyond the technical – they will use their experience and challenge and help the mentee to widen their perspective and explore options as they would using a coaching approach

Question 14

According to Leary-Joyce and Lines, what is systemic team coaching? Think EGC training days…

Answer 14

Leary-Joyce and Lines: A process of coaching the whole team both together and apart (i.e. one to one), over a designated period of time to enable it to:

• Align on common purpose
• Collaborate and learn across diversity
• Develop collective leadership
• Achieve performance outcomes
• Engage effectively with key stakeholders
• Jointly transform the wider business

Question 15

How would a co-sec play a role in ‘systemic board coaching’?

Answer 15

• This form of coaching takes over a period of time and co-sec usually has highest tenure
• ‘Boundary spanning’ – pay attention to what is happening outside of the team
• Coaching the team together and one-to-ones

Question 16

Hawkins came up with the systemic team coaching five disciplines model. The two dimensions are task/people and inside/outside the team. Outline the five disciplines model (i.e. 5 Cs)

Answer 16

• Discipline 1: Commissioning: task focus/outside of the team: focus is on what stakeholders expect: co-sec: stakeholder interviews, stakeholder mapping, role-play or focus groups to clarify their commission
• Discipline 2: Clarifying: task focus/inside the team: focus on clarifying internally: co-sec can develop team charter, SWOT analysis, vision/mission/values activities
• Discipline 3: Co-creating: people focus/inside the team: support team in working together through psychometric tools such as MBTI, Lencioni’s five dysfunctions of a team, Tuckman’s, etc
• Discipline 4: Connecting: people/focus/outside the team: engage with stkaeholders: similar to discipline 1 but people focus - stakeholder mapping, interviews, role-plays and empty-chair technique
• Discipline 5: Core learning: take a step back and reflect on its own performance to consolidate on successes and learn from mistakes. Co-sc can facilitate board evaluation, invite feedback from stakeholders and encourage honest conversations

Question 17

Outline the case for facilitation via the ICSA: the company secretary: building trust through governance by Kakabadse and Kakabadse

Answer 17

• more than 33% of top teams are divided on mission, purpose, vision and strategy of an organisation, leading to dysfunctional political behaviour at senior levels, which permeates the organisation and becomes part of the culture of the enterprise
• therefore, if a co-sec can provide independent and sensitive facilitation to tease out deep-rooted issues, such as nonpolitical truths, honest opinions and ideas, influence can be made to get people where they want to get to

Question 18

What is facilitation?

Answer 18

Facilitation can be defined as the process of designing and running a successful meeting.

Schwarz: a process in which a person who is acceptable to all members of a group, substantively neutral, and has no decision-making authority, intervenes to help a group improve the way it identifies and solves problems and makes decisions in order to increase the group’s effectiveness

Therefore, the independence and lack of decision-making, position a co-sec perfectly to play a continuously facilitating role between and during board meetings

Question 19

Outline Heron’s 6 intervention styles for facilitation: 3 are push and 3 are pull.

Answer 19

Push

2. Prescribing – giving direction, advice and recommendations.
3. Informing – give information and knowledge during a conversation or meeting.
4. Confronting – raising awareness and challenging assumptions.

Pull:
1. Cathartic - helping release emotions that block progress
2. Catalytic - one intervenes to promote expansive and self-directed conversations
3. Supporting - validating and building self-confidence and is useful when morale is low

Question 20

Give examples of facilitation styles

Answer 20

• Contracting - 3 Ps: Practicalities, Professional and Psychological
• Ground rules - decision-making rules
• Process breaks - gives team permission to speak and reduce stress and conflict
• Mindful meetings - performing a quick 30 secs check-in
• The check-in - going around the room asking people to confirm their name, role and what they are hoping to bring to the meeting

Question 21

Outline the three functions of supervision which a co-sec can offer

Answer 21

Proctor: three functions of supervision:
1. Normative: advise the supervisee on ethical behaviour
2. Formative: support a superviseee in learning in their particular field of practice
3. Restorative: provides emotional support

Question 22

How can a co-sec be a mediator?

Answer 22

Co-sec can be a mediator where there are personality and relationship conflicts - think Tyler and Akin, Les and Noel and Rene and Charlie

Question 23

How can a co-sec act as a counsellor?

Answer 23

build a trusting relationship, listen well and show empathy and be supportive and appropriately challenging

Question 24

Outline some recommendations for developing competence as a team coach

Answer 24

• Journalling to self-coach and reflect on one’s practice
• Employing one’s own coach, mentor or supervisor
• Learning more about the team coaching roles through literature, podcasts, research, etc
• Association of Executive Coaching qualification