Greetings and Happy 2014! Our research article this month, as well as our MasterClass and Teleclass, are all designed to help you answer that perennial question: how do we coach teams for optimal performance?
I happened to see the renowned Alan Gilbert conduct the New York Philharmonic recently and I couldn't help but wonder: how would a world class symphony sound without a conductor? Surely good, as the musicians are all professionals, but superb? Sublime? It struck me that despite doing what appears to be very little, the conductor's presence is crucial to extracting soaring sonorities from of the "team". Likewise, as coaches, we are often brought in to work with a leader and team that aspires towards excellence--high levels of alignment, focus and execution. But how does this come about?
High-performing teams are a complex constellation of talents/skills--and leadership--and in today's fast-paced business world, they can be challenging to coach. Fortunately, there is exciting new research from Amy Edmondson (one of our 2013 conference keynotes) and others that provide us with tools and frameworks designed to maximize the results of our client leaders/teams. We hope you’ll kick off your year by taking of advantage of these resources!
And speaking of teams, I want to share how excited I am to be joining the wonderful team at the Institute of Coaching. The IOC has been an invaluable resource for me as I've grown professionally as a coach, so I'm thrilled to do my part to help "raise the bar" on evidence-based coaching best practices.
Now I have no excuse for not tuning up my instrument and playing full out in 2014. How about you?