Developing Behavioural Agility Flashcards
THE COMPANY SECRETARY AS TEAM COACH
The term ‘team coach’ is used to describe what?
A team coach has the agility to do what?
Why is a team coach important?
This general term is made up of a subset of various roles which the competent company secretary will also have the agility to shift between.
What are the 7 roles that make up the overall team coach competency?
describe the behavioural approach to supporting the board as a team, both as a group of individuals and collectively
the agility to shift from being a technical content expert to a more behavioural and relational process expert with a person focus
Wageman and colleagues (2007) found that all teams needed an expert team coach to become high-performing
being an expert:
(1) one-to-one coach
(2) board mentor
(3) systemic team coach
(4) board facilitator
(5) governance supervisor
(6) relationship mediator
(7) boardroom counsellor
ONE-TO-ONE COACH - WHAT IS COACHING?
How does Whitmore define coaching?
There are a number of generally recognised core skills and mindsets that underpin his definition.
What are the 4 core skills for coaching?
What is the coaching mindset?
One test to see if one is adopting a coaching mindset in any conversation is to notice what?
Coaching = unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them
(1) building a trusting coaching relationship
(2) asking effective questions and listening to/noticing responses
(3) supporting effective goal-setting
(4) providing effective feedback
coaching mindset = holds the belief in the potential of the person that we are coaching such that, with appropriate support and challenge, they will be able to find answers within themselves to the questions that they are asking, rather than be dependent on others
the percentage of open questions that one is asking (more = good)
ONE-TO-ONE COACH - BUILDING COACHING RELATIONSHIPS
What is a foundational skill to develop in a one-to-one coaching
relationship?
How is it possible to build a successful relationship, coaching or otherwise?
What is the Timpson Test?
Regardless of the quality of the relationship, there must also be an appropriate quantity of interactions for a relationship to be built.
How often should meaningful check-ins take place?
levels of relational intimacy = building trust through communicating from ritual and cliché, to facts and information, to discussing personal beliefs and attitudes, and disclosing one’s emotions and feelings
= spend time treating people like human beings = requires
empathy and spending time talking to people about what really matters to them
Timpson managers need to pass to stay in their role = requires a manager to know a range of personal details about every member of their team (partner/children’s name(s), hobbies, career history) = forces more trusting conversations and to empathise with staff
Buckingham (2016) = every week or every 2 weeks
ONE-TO-ONE COACH - EFFECTIVE COACHING QUESTIONS
Coaching should be 10% of the time telling and 90% asking.
What 5 types of question are there and how are these best utilised in a coaching conversation?
(1) Open questions = most likely to help a coachee raise awareness of their issue
(2) Closed questions = useful at certain points such as when checking, e.g. ‘Am I right in saying that these are your options?’, and at the end of coaching, e.g. ‘So, have you committed to this?’
(3) ‘Why’ questions = useful for opening people up to recognise the reasons for events being as they are
(BUT asking too many in a row = feel like an interrogation)
(4) ‘What’ questions = help someone explore their current reality in detail and are a useful substitute for why questions
(5) ‘How’ questions = useful to move forward to where we want to go so used when considering options and actions
ONE-TO-ONE COACH - EFFECTIVE COACHING QUESTIONS
Coaching has been described as a ‘conversation with a purpose’ and one useful coaching model that gives coaching direction is the GROW model.
What does GROW stand for and how does the model work?
(G)oal = e.g., ‘What do you want?’
(R)eality = e.g., ‘What is currently happening?’
(O)ptions = e.g., ‘What could you do?’
(W)ill = e.g., ‘What will you do / commit to?’
Model works in a cycle = spend the most time on goal questions, and then revisit them often, as coaching conversations will result in the goal shifting to something more meaningful as the coaching progresses
ONE-TO-ONE COACH - EFFECTIVE COACHING QUESTIONS
Stanier’s ‘Coaching Habit 7 Questions’ model suggests that coaching can be hugely effective in a 10-minute conversation using 7 questions.
What are the 7 questions?
(1) What’s on your mind? = enables a coach to get straight to business informally and non-aggressively
(2) And what else? = enable the coachee to develop more ideas and possibilities
(3) What’s the real challenge here for you? = enables the coach to help the coachee appreciate the underlying issue
(4) What do you want? = helps people voice their goal and empowers coachee
(5) How can I help? = shows support
(6) If you are saying yes to this, what are you saying no to? = lets people appreciate it is possible to say no to things = sense of relief
(7) What was most useful for you? = encourages coachee to identify real point of the conversation and provide constructive feedback on the process
ONE-TO-ONE COACH
What are the characteristics of an effective coach? (5)
An effective coach needs to combine:
(1) the skillsets of effective questions (potentially using open questions and a structure such as the GROW model)
(2) building trusting relationships (by listening well and being coachee-focused)
(3) supporting effective goal-setting
(4) providing effective feedback
(5) with the growth mindset of belief in a person’s potential
MENTOR - WHAT IS MENTORING?
What is mentoring according to Clutterbuck?
What is a mentor according to Clutterbuck?
What are the similarities between coaching and mentoring? (4)
What are the key differences? (3 and 3)
Mentoring = offline help by one person to another in making significant transitions in knowledge, work or thinking
Mentor = a more experienced individual willing to share knowledge with someone less experienced in a relationship of mutual trust
Similarities = both (1) focus on a learner’s thinking, (2) use experience to craft powerful questions, (3) see advice-giving as permissible, (3) have a duty of care, and (4) base communication on a mutually trusting relationship
Differences:
Mentor more likely to (1) develop a mentee’s network, (2) explain organisational politics, (3) be someone who has taken the same path and have inside knowledge
Coach more likely to (1) provide feedback, (2) engage in a short- or medium-term contract that is formalised and defined, (3) be entering into a paid relationship
MENTOR - WHAT IS MENTORING?
What are the 4 types of mentor according to Heath (2012) that a governance professional may find themselves enacting to support board members? (Matrix)
X axis = low or high need for facilitative expertise
Y axis = low or high need for task expertise
(1) Buddy mentor = low need for facilitative expertise/low need for task expertise = useful for a settling-ins process (e.g., cosec during a director induction)
*Mentoring role = teaching the buddy mentee things that are essential to transitioning into the new director role or new organisation
(2) Expert mentor = low need for facilitative expertise/high need for task expertise = mentor more technical and situation-specific (e.g., cosec teach a new director their responsibilities or share the appropriate governance response) = essentially a teaching role
(3) Attached mentor = high need for facilitative expertise/high need for task expertise = AKA ‘knowledgeable friend’ (e.g., cosec ask questions to enable thinking, but also provide knowledge if required) = advice will be offered when it is clear that the mentee cannot find their own solution
(4) Detached mentor = high need for facilitative expertise/low need for task expertise = similar to a classic coaching style (e.g., cosec support directors with broad issues beyond the technical = use experience to challenge and help mentee explore options) = facilitators of the mentee’s thinking
MENTOR - TRENDS IN MENTORING
What are the 2 trends in mentoring?
(1) mentoring being used more for personal and career development BUT women are over mentored and under sponsored = men’s mentors are more senior and there is a correlation between men having a mentor and getting promoted (no correlation for women)
(2) Reverse mentoring = younger and less senior employees mentor older and more senior leaders in a particular competency that they have, most commonly related to
technology and digital skills
SYSTEMIC TEAM COACH - WHAT IS SYSTEMIC TEAM COACHING?
What is systemic team coaching according to Hawkins and colleagues (2018)? (6)
A process of coaching the whole team both together and apart, over a designated period of time to enable it to:
(1) align on common purpose
(2) collaborate and learn across diversity
(3) develop collective leadership
(4) achieve performance outcomes
(5) engage effectively engage with their key stakeholders, key stakeholder groups
(6) jointly transform the wider business
SYSTEMIC TEAM COACH - WHAT IS SYSTEMIC TEAM COACHING?
What are the 7 important characteristics of systemic team coaching?
Systemic team coaching:
(1) happens over a period of time (cosec experiences the board over a continuous period of time)
(2) requires the core skills of a one-to-one coach (believe potential, build trust, ask Qs, listen well, provide feedback, support goal-setting) plus be an effective group facilitator and understand the dynamics of how people work in teams
(3) objectives need to be created by the team (=engagement and commitment to process)
(4) key client is the stakeholder system and wider community that the board is serving
(5) goes beyond improving internal boardroom dynamics (approach pays attention to what is happening outside the team)
(6) will involve coaching the board together and also one-to-ones (1-2-1 helps individuals identify how they can best contribute to board’s shared goal)
(7) can be useful at different moments in a team’s evolution depending upon their current challenge (e.g., a new board or a new chair)
SYSTEMIC TEAM COACH - SYSTEMIC TEAM COACHING DISCIPLINES & INTERVENTIONS
The systemic team coaching five disciplines model, developed by Hawkins (2014) captures a broad remit of what constitutes a high-performing team.
What are the 2 dimensions and 5 disciplines in the model?
X axis = Inside or outside the team
Y axis = Task or people function
(1) Commissioning discipline = task focus /outside team = requires team to contract with stakeholders on what the team is required to deliver/ expected of them (stakeholder interviews, stakeholder mapping, role-play, focus groups)
(2) Clarifying discipline = task focus / inside team = team jointly clarify, agree and commit to how it will execute expectation, e.g., VMOS, purpose, R&R, systems and processes (develop team charter, vision/mission/values activities, SWOT analysis)
(3) Co-creating discipline = people process focus / inside team = team works together to deliver their joint endeavour (psychometric tools and personality types = MBTI, Belbin team roles, Tuckman’s developmental model)
(4) Connecting discipline = people process focus / outside team = team engage with all key outside stakeholders and evolve into organisational and environmental culture (stakeholder mapping, interviews, role-plays, and empty-chair technique)
(5) Core learning discipline = team reflect on its performance to consolidate on successes and learn from mistakes (board evaluation, initiate feedback from key stakeholders, encourage honest conversation internally between board members)
FACILITATOR - WHAT IS FACILITATION?
How can facilitation be defined?
What are the 6 approaches and tools available that can guide and improve competency in facilitation?
= the act of making something easier. Facilitator acts as a trusted and neutral outside voice … a gentle guide, making it easier for the group to have that discussion
(1) Heron intervention styles
(2) Contracting and ground rules
(3) Process breaks
(4) Mindful meetings
(5) The check-in
(6) Positivity
FACILITATOR - FACILITATION SKILLS & INTERVENTIONS - HERON INTERVENTION STYLES
What are Heron’s 6 categories of intervention that a facilitator may choose to employ?
When is each one useful?
What are the skills required for each?
How are the 6 categories split?
(1) Prescribing = giving directions, advice and recommendations = useful if
expertise is asked for, when guidance is needed, if participant is unable to direct themselves or if there are ethical guidelines
(be clear in giving instructions, explain why, ensure individual’s intrinsic motivations are played to)
(2) Informing = giving information and knowledge = useful to show where to find extra help, to supply appropriate facts and data, to explain what is happening and to share one’s own experiences as appropriate
(present information clearly, check for understanding, invite and handle questions, and judge how much information to give)
(3) Confronting = raising awareness and challenging assumptions = useful to show consequences of actions, to challenge people to rethink assumptions, to raise awareness of stakeholders’ perceptions and to boost confidence by affirming success
(ask direct questions, give constructive feedback, challenge defensive excuses)
(4) Cathartic = helping release emotions that block progress =useful when meeting
participants are afraid of risk of failure, feel incompetent, frustrated etc.
(actively listen, use effective questions, show empathy, feed back)
(5) Catalytic = intervene to promote expansive and self-directed conversations = useful to help people achieve deeper understanding and broader discussion, to encourage people to take more responsibility and to promote motivation and commitment
(have a wide range of questions, reflect back and paraphrase, be comfortable with conversational silence)
(6) Supporting = validating and building self-confidence = useful when morale is low, to encourage risk-taking, to reward success and to validate people’s contributions in a conversation
(express appreciation, share own mistakes, and apologise when necessary)
Push = prescribing, informing and confronting
Pull = catalytic, cathartic, and supporting
