Simplicity is often found just the other side of complexity…

Life running a business whatever the size is tough – but at the moment it feels particularly so for those who find themselves in charge. When times are hard there are a number of ways you can choose to react & I am observing three from the conversations I am currently having:

1. Add additional activity in – because doing more ‘stuff’ when you are struggling to deliver the existing plan always works.
2. Remove resource – because creating turmoil & instability whilst handing those who were already floundering more to do, is a guaranteed winner.
3. Kick the can down the road – through the process of reforecasting, pushing everything into the final quarter & travelling in hope that things will come good…because that after all, is when miracles happen.

You may have a wry smile emerging on your face at this point, particularly if we have worked together in our past lives, I have been guilty of both initiating & delivering all three of the aforementioned solutions at one time or other, & take it from me – none of them will deliver the step change you desire – certainly not in the medium to long term anyway.

One thing that can work is to get someone to help you find a different perspective. By that I don’t mean someone who spends weeks on end immersed in the organisation & then at the last-minute asks to borrow your watch, before charging to tell you the time via a 143-slide deck!

What I am referring to is a ‘Team Coach,’ in a business setting this can take many forms:

• Someone facilitating a session or a series of them that allows the leader to be fully present & not have to wear two hats. So everyone can take a view on the function of the organisation as a whole.
• Someone who attends when you as a team collaborate to observe patterns of behaviour, guiding assumptions, the narrative that runs throughout & challenge accordingly.
• Someone who can stand back, spot the connections & how the wider system might be inhibiting progress
• Someone who collaborates with the team on a monthly basis but then coaches individual team members in the intervening period, which in turn provides a better chance of collective success.

So, before you resort to options 1,2 or 3 & add more difficulty into an already challenging situation, there is another way of thinking that lies just at the other side of complexity…the simplicity of a ‘team coach’.

If you want to explore how team coaching could work for you & your organisation, drop me a message at rupert@strongerhumans.com to talk some more.

#simplicity #teamcoaching #strongerhumans