Shaping collaboration.

Through our team coaching, we help teams strengthen their collaboration and achieve common goals. This may involve, for example, improving communication, resolving conflicts within the team, and joint decision-making.

The teams are as diverse as their topics. Nevertheless, there are of course topics and concerns that come up more frequently. Typical concerns are:

• Improving communication within the team
• Feedback within the team
• Conflicts and conflict management within the team
• Clarification of roles and responsibilities within the team
• Developing vision, goals, and roadmaps
• Taking stock: What is going well? What needs to change? What are the concrete steps to get there?

Team coaching can be helpful and useful in the various phases that a team goes through (cf. Tuckman, 1965). The Tuckman model describes the four phases that teams typically go through: forming, storming, norming, and performing. Team coaching can play an important role in each of these phases:

1. Forming: In this initial phase, team members get to know each other and the first structures begin to emerge. Team coaching can help to create a strong foundation for collaboration. The coach supports the team in defining common goals, clarifying roles, and developing an understanding of individual strengths and weaknesses.

2. Storming (Conflict phase): This phase is characterized by disagreements and conflicts, as team members fight for positions and different working styles clash. A team coach can act as a mediator during this phase, helping to resolve conflicts constructively, improve communication channels, and promote mutual understanding.

3. Norming: In this phase, the team begins to work together more effectively and common norms and working methods develop. Team coaching can help the team consolidate these processes, strengthen cooperation, and further improve team effectiveness.

4. Performing: In the final phase, the team works highly efficiently and independently. Here, the team coach can help maintain high performance levels, support the team in its continuous improvement, and prepare it for changes or new challenges.

Team coaching typically takes place in workshops and lasts one to three days.

We begin our team coaching sessions with check-ins to help participants settle in (mentally) and relax. This is followed—in line with the concept developed—by a mixture of (self-)reflection and exchange in small groups, input and impulses from the trainer, trying out and experiencing the new impulses, changing perspectives, resource orientation, and feedback rounds.

We end our team coaching sessions with concrete transfers, feedback, and check-outs.

Ideally, we offer a 1.5-hour digital follow-up after about 2 to 3 weeks to constructively reflect on and work through any potential hurdles and challenges in the implementation projects together.

When conducting workshops, we see ourselves as process facilitators who provide and maintain the space and framework. The participants are responsible for the content. We act as coaches, supporting the development and creation of content by asking systemic questions. If appropriate and desired, we offer ideas and input on specific topics as well as our own experiences.

The best way to get in touch is to send us an email or give us a call to arrange an initial meeting to get to know each other. This meeting will give you a better impression of us and allow us to learn about your concerns and the general framework.

Based on your key data, we will send you a quote.

Once you have accepted the quote, we will arrange a meeting to clarify the details of the assignment. Here we will discuss your concerns and needs in detail. Initial ideas for a suitable concept and approach for team coaching will emerge.

Based on your concerns, we will develop a rough concept for the workshop approach. We will present this rough concept to you and then incorporate your feedback before we start working out the final detailed concept.

With the detailed concept in hand, we will start the workshop or coaching. At the same time, we remain flexible and open to addressing any acute issues and tensions that may arise unpredictably during the workshop and to working with the participants to consider how to deal with these issues and the original schedule for the workshop.

After the workshop, there is usually a digital follow-up to reflect on the plans that emerged from the workshop and to work together on possible obstacles to implementation.

In contrast to team coaching, we often understand team development as a longer-term process with the goal of improving the efficiency and harmony of a team. This includes, among other things, analyzing the team structure, clarifying roles and responsibilities, and developing strategies to increase team performance. Team development enables teams to optimize their collaboration and create an environment in which innovation and creativity can flourish.

Both approaches, team coaching and team development, are essential for helping teams reach their full potential and achieve sustainable results. In fact, the boundaries between the two are fluid, and we use both terms synonymously.

Our approach to team development and team coaching consists of a combination of principles and attitudes from systems theory and agility. Among other things, the systemic approach allows us to look at the system and environment of the team, existing dynamics and dependencies within the team and with regard to interfaces outside or within the organization, explicit and implicit values and norms, a resource-oriented understanding of so-called “problems,” and an understanding of different constructions of reality.

By combining this with an agile attitude and working method, our workshops enable a high degree of self-management among team members, rapid and concrete results, efficient decision-making processes, working with imperfect solutions, and openness to trying out and iterating solution approaches.

All coaches who design and facilitate team coaching sessions are trained systemic coaches and have several years of experience working with teams.

Every six weeks, we discuss challenging situations from client projects in our intervision sessions and learn with and from each other. In addition, we regularly review our role and our projects with our experienced supervisor. Naturally, this is done confidentially without mentioning client names.

We love to learn and develop ourselves further, which is why we continuously participate in advanced training and further education.