Permacrisis, an extended period of instability, has become the defining term for the current era. As businesses adapt to hybrid working models, leaders are challenged to find ways to maintain productivity and innovation while addressing employee well-being. Our research shows that team coaching emerges as a valuable approach to help leaders navigate these turbulent times and build successful teams.
Our study of 20 C-suite leaders across various regions revealed three key trends: the importance of building leadership range, the shift towards team-focused approaches, and the emerging value of team coaching.
Building Leadership Range: Leaders have reported adjusting their styles to cope with virtual interactions and remote work. Many have focused on human-centred behaviours, such as listening, role-modelling vulnerability, showing empathy, and prioritising well-being. This new range of leadership behaviours fosters trust, authenticity, and care within their teams, enhancing team dynamics and effectiveness.
The Shift Towards the Team: Leaders are embracing the concept of servant leadership, prioritising psychological safety and shared purpose within their teams. This shift allows for collective problem-solving and boosts engagement and performance. Participatory decision-making and open dialogue help teams adapt to the challenges of the permacrisis, enhancing productivity and agility.
The Emerging Value of Team Coaching: Leaders recognise the value of external support in the form of team coaching. Team coaching assists in addressing challenges in team dynamics, building connections and relationships, clarifying roles and goals, and fostering a collective learning environment. This process leads to improved levels of accountability, systemic awareness, and knowledge transfer.
In these extraordinary times, team coaching offers a sustainable support system for leaders seeking to build resilient teams. By partnering with team coaches, leaders can create positive, productive, and lasting teams that thrive in the permacrisis. It's time for team coaches to step into the arena, provide valuable support to leaders, and contribute to building successful teams in these challenging times.
In conclusion, we'd like to extend our gratitude to our co-authors, Jo Hargreaves, Kerrin Miller, Lata Parbhoo and Cosmin Alexandru, for their invaluable contributions to this research. They work in a global context, coaching, lecturing, researching and writing on topics relating to leadership and teams in their own practices. They collaborated in this research group as a part of a team coaching programme across 2021 and 2022.
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