Dialogue: A Foundation of Trust, Psychological Safety, and Collaboration
I’ve been ‘listening and talking’ for over 50 years.But I’ve only been learning and practising ‘dialogue’ for 2 years. I believe that dialogue is the most creative and important skill that I’ve ever learnt—and probably will ever learn. Here’s why: I work as a leadership coach and team coach in corporate environments, and everything I […]
Stop Fighting!
I’m travelling through Schiphol on the way to England to celebrate my Mum’s 80th birthday. It promises to be a day of family togetherness, eating cake, (already started,) sharing a couple of drinks and often these days reflecting on our life long memories. I picked up this book at the schiphol bookshop… it seems to […]
On Purpose
Did you do that ‘On Purpose”? When I was a kid, I was outside every day, playing football on the fields for hours. I’d fall, dive, slide tackle… and come home with muddy trousers and holes in the knees. At dusk, I’d run into the house, ready for dinner. Often, I’d forget to take off my muddy […]
Improving Decision Quality in Leadership Teams
A Case Study in Skillful Collaboration Executive Summary: Leadership teams often believe they collaborate well. Yet when important strategicdecisions arise, differences in perspective, communication styles, and unspokentensions can quickly surface, or maybe worse, stay hidden. This case study describes a one-day team development session with theleadership team of a successful AI solutions business. While the […]
Practicing Accountability in Teams
Accountability often appears in dramatic moments. In politics, a party loses an election and is voted out.In sports, the team keeps losing and the manager is fired.In business, a CEO misses the numbers again and is pushed out. These are the big moments when someone is held to account for results or performance. But these […]
From Me to We: Why Team Development Is L&D’s Missing Priority.
I recently came across a few annual reports from the field of Learning & Development. It’s that time of year again. The focus of these reports over the last few years has been the emergence of AI and this sits near the top of the priorities, alongside the complimentary themes of re-skilling, upskilling, and skills-based […]
Case Study – Practicing Skillful Conversations
Team of Teams Event – Growing the Human Skills of Collaboration Through Practice A couple of months ago I was invited to give an inspirational speech about Skillful Collaboration. The speech was to be part of a team event for an IT group of 50 people with the overall theme of “Partnering and Connecting with […]
Talking and Thinking Together
Do you and your team truly know how to talk and think together? I first learned to talk at about two years old and, for a few years, had problems with some sound pronunciations. My mum was recently smiling and reminiscing about how I would try to say “tadaban” when arriving at the caravan for […]
A Coaching Stance for Teams and their Leaders!
What is your stance when you’re coaching your team? An important competence of being a leader, and of leading a team, is the competence of coaching. According to the International Coaching Federation (ICF), coaching is: “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.” If […]
Team Development
I believe in the power of teams, and I believe in learning.These are two of my core principles as a team coach. They guide the way I work (and live) with teams and their leaders. I also believe that when I show up at my client organizations with a combination of these two beliefs — […]