Forget team coaching if the setup isn't right!

In recent years, the situation has become even more complex

• Teams growing too quickly. In fast-growing companies in particular, teams are set up in no time at all and across continents. There is neither space nor time to get to know each other and find their feet as a team.
• Skills don't match. There are two main factors for this: insufficient care taken in team design and – even more often – the fact that there are no people on the market with exactly the right skill profiles.
• Boredom due to AI perhaps taking over part of the creativity.
• Lack of self-efficacy. Team members feel that they are losing control over their work and its results.
• Insufficient communication between team members, as much is now regulated via systems.
• Intercultural friction. We have all the technical means to staff teams across continents. However, this does not mean that intercultural understanding is equally present. On the contrary. Especially if too little space is given to the team launch, sooner or later conflicts will arise.

How can we do better?

• Job design: Clarity in the goals that the team should pursue, the tasks to be solved, the interfaces that need to be worked with, and the skills required for this lays the foundation for good job design. Classification within the company as a whole and cooperation with other teams is also crucial. Clarity prevents interface problems, duplication of work, and some conflicts. Job design must also take into account the new digital team members, the AI agents, as well as the provision of digital and non-digital tools.
• Team design: Team design can be created on the basis of job design. The skills required and the extent to which they are needed are worked out, as well as how the team should be structured in order to work optimally. During the team launch, the team can then clarify important questions for itself: How do we design our "way of working"? How do we deal with people outside the team (other teams, customers, partners, etc.)? How do we want to communicate and resolve conflicts? And more.
• Workplace design: The following questions must be answered: What does the team's workplace look like? Is it on site, virtual or hybrid? What rooms and furnishings are available – including digital equipment? How is access regulated? What time slots are important for teamwork? What support does the team receive, from whom, when and to what extent?
• Cultural design: A team's cultural environment has a greater influence on the work and behavior of team members than written standards. Therefore, the corporate culture should also be developed accordingly. Of course, this is not done for a single team, but for the entire company in the long term. To do this, tangible questions must be answered, such as: What does the company stand for? What is the long-term goal? How do we measure success? What is rewarded and what is not? Where do we draw clear boundaries? How do we promote psychological safety? How do we deal with people – customers, partners, suppliers, employees? etc.
• Leadership: Of course, managers must be sufficiently qualified to lead modern, self-managed teams. Empowerment is a contemporary and effective approach to this. However, managers should not be left alone after completing a qualification. It takes space and time to maintain and further develop the standard. Internal peer groups and external coaching are effective tools. Coaching really does have a leverage effect here, as improved leadership behavior has a significant impact on teams.
• Feedback mechanisms: Nowadays, work is not set in stone and then rigid forever. Every job and team design is basically trial and error, a response to a current requirement, and may need to be adjusted in a few weeks, months or years. It is often difficult to determine when this is the case. Since mistakes can occur and adjustment requirements can arise suddenly, it is useful to have a feedback channel through which team members can report problems. It should also offer the option of anonymous reporting.

Approach 1: Get it right from the start

• Team launch workshop: Team members get to know each other and learn what their tasks are, how they fit into the company and what support they receive from management and the company as a whole. This workshop can also be used to establish an understanding of the basic rules of working together. If possible, the workshop should take place on site.
• Team box: A real or virtual package containing work and training materials, helpful tools and playful elements. It is not only equipment for the team, but also an expression of appreciation.
• Time structure and learning journey: No team is 100% productive overnight. But it can happen very quickly. The team should be clear about what is expected of them, when they will go through which learning steps, and who they can turn to during this learning journey.
• Limited time support through coaching. Especially at the very beginning of a newly formed team, there is initially a lot of unrest. Tuckman called this phase "storming". Supporting the team through internal or external coaching and empowering leadership helps to get through this phase quickly and achieve productivity.
• Empowerment-oriented leadership: Teams mature and develop. They become increasingly competent at managing themselves and finding solutions independently. A leadership style that focuses on empowerment through a sense of meaningful work, experience of competence, genuine freedom of action and a tangible influence on results creates a working environment in which peak performance can flourish.

Approach 2: The team restart

• Analysis of the situation: It is best to have outsiders who have no emotional involvement and the appropriate qualifications analyze the team situation. To do this, team members, the manager, cooperating teams and, if necessary, other persons are interviewed.
• Job redesign: The job design is redesigned together with the manager and the team or selected representatives. It is helpful to use a green field approach, i.e. to design on the premise of "what if we were to start from scratch without any preconceptions". It is very helpful to exclude team design from this process, as emotions would run high. External moderation helps to ensure this.
• Team redesign / workplace redesign and leadership requirements: Based on the job redesign and the previous analysis, the people who previously worked on the job redesign now create the team design. Which individuals with which skills will be integrated into which structure? This step should be closely linked to the redesign of the working environment and contain clear requirements for managers and the rest of the organization. Key question: "What do we need to be successful?"
• Personnel decisions: In some cases, individuals will have to leave the team or new ones will join. These decisions are sensitive. They should be prepared and executed professionally by the human resources department together with the responsible manager. Team members should not have to inform their colleagues about such changes. A positive corporate culture and personnel development are characterized by the fact that in these situations there are no dismissals, demotions or accusations, but rather a team redesign is understood as a natural process that also offers new opportunities to those affected.
• Team relaunch workshop: Afterwards, a relaunch workshop can take place, similar to the one described above, but also allowing space for grief work if people have had to leave the team. When conducting the workshop, however, facilitators should ensure that the focus remains on the future and that the team does not get lost in recounting old stories.
• Leadership coaching: Managers can become a risk during a restart. It is difficult for everyone to let go of past experiences and see and promote new potential. Using accompanying leadership coaching in the first few months helps managers to optimally support the restart, recognize new opportunities and promote them.