Team Development Thinking Partners Leadership Coach Houston

Team Development: Aligned Teams
Work Better Together

When teams are misaligned I hear frustrations like these:

“We talk about the same stuff every time and nothing gets done.”

“People don’t do what they said they would do.”

"I'm sick and tired of the same conflicts that go on and on.”

“It takes forever to get a decision here.”

“Everyone ‘plays nice’, then they do what they want.”

“I do just enough because it’s really risky here.”

“I’m irritated at that person who disrupts the team so often.”

Misalignment results in predictable bad results:

Attrition

Quality Issues

Cost and deliver over runs

Dissatisfied customers

Not only does this create an unpleasant work environment - the hard costs can be devastating:
employee turnover, failed projects, lost customers.

Get Better Results With Increased Trust,
Focus, And Collaboration

When you invest in team development, you can expect:

Deepened and supportive relationships amongst team members

Collaborative sharing and learning

Better decisions

Coordinated action

Increased effectiveness in achieving the organization’s goals

The result is the team will build trust; appreciate and leverage the team’s diversity; and create a workplace that is more fulfilling for everyone.

Leadership teams find they lead with more cohesion, compassion, and energetic focus.

When your teams work better together, they produce better results.

What is Alignment?
This is what aligned teams looks like

Rowing In The Same Direction

agreement on the mission, vision, values, strategy, and goals of the organization or team

Synchronized Effort

agreement on systems, processes, and the cadence for individuals and groups to coordinate their work

Engaged People

agreement on roles and responsibilities and how to create a workplace culture where everyone can thrive

We Seemed To Be Going In Circles. Our Work With Ken Had Immediate Results.

We brought Ken in because we had a challenge in our leadership team. We just seemed to be going in circles and could never come to a final agreement or landing point. Or there would be times when we thought we were aligned, but a few days later, we realized that we really weren’t.

Ken guided us through a series of exercises to help us work through decisions and attain alignment so that we could then go forward and not have to repeat the process unless we made a conscious decision to shift direction..

Our work with Ken had immediate results. We clarified a few important decisions and then that was the direction we went in!

Ken took a very personal approach to delivering the sessions and customizing them to both the people in the room & the specific projects we were working on. He made personal contact with each participant both ahead of time as well as during the session, so that everyone felt like they were included. He also followed up after the sessions to see how things were going.

In the past, we’ve had sessions where the facilitator’s personality just rubbed people the wrong way. Ken has a way that is welcoming and inviting – not off-putting in the least. He’s extremely open to everybody’s personality, recognizing that “everyone brings their own flavor to the
table.”

Afterwards, everyone agreed that working with Ken was a very worthwhile and good experience.

Roger Canann

Ken facilitated a daylong executive meeting for our global People & Culture leadership team.

Our objectives were to:
create a north star for our people and culture function identify strategic levers to get to our north star form a team charter with our leadership team
This was a challenging assignment due to the mix of different cultures. Ken also had to "play within the box" - working within a global strategy that was already set.

We were impressed with Ken's preparation and delivery - he made productive use of our limited time together. We appreciated his industry knowledge, along with his ability to listen and allow the team to brainstorm and generate their own ideas instead of coming in with his own agenda.

We met our objectives and our team left the meeting feeling aligned and committed to the decisions that we reached.
Nikhil Shahane

Ken functions as a sounding board for me.

It’s great to have a neutral third party who isn’t involved in the company dynamics to provide perspective and good, honest feedback.

Our work together is primarily around strengthening alignment and building and maintaining relationships with my peers.

In considering how to engage with others, I like to think through scenarios and evaluate different paths for how things might play out using logical if, then, else structures.

During these sessions, Ken might ask “have you thought about X or Y?” Or he may simply agree with my thinking. Either way, I find it helpful to have him validate that I am notionally headed in the right direction.

I appreciate that Ken always listens first. I’ve worked with other executive coaches in the past and it often seemed like they were following a script. Ken takes a more tailored approach. He asks questions to make sure that we’re going to focus on what is important and relevant to ME.

He’s also genuine. He walks his talk by embodying what he teaches.

I especially appreciate Ken’s high-quality feedback. It can be hard to find people who are neutral, candid, and skilled in this area. He’s also easy to connect with – which is important in a relationship like this.

Chris Olive