Developing Behavioural Agility Flashcards
THE COMPANY SECRETARY AS TEAM COACH
The term ‘team coach’ is used to describe 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
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 5 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
(5) Coaching mindset
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?
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 values and beliefs, to emotions and feelings
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 they shift 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
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? (5)
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, (4) have a duty of care, and (5) 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 and teaching the essentials)
(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) effectively engage with their key stakeholders 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 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? (matrix)
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, 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, 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, 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 is the benefit of using the company secretary as a facilitator? (2)
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
ISCA 2014 research:
(1) cosec is ideally placed to align interests, facilitate dialogue and negotiate at different organisational levels
(2) cosec can value-add in terms of facilitative skills, guiding the business through complexities
(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?
How are the 6 categories are split?
What is prescribing?
When is it useful? (3)
What are the skills required? (3)
Push = prescribing, informing and confronting
Pull = catalytic, cathartic, and supporting
(1) Prescribing = giving directions, advice and recommendations
- useful if expertise is asked for
- when guidance is needed
- if there are ethical guidelines
A. be clear in giving instructions
B. explain why
C. ensure individual’s motivations are played to
FACILITATOR - FACILITATION SKILLS & INTERVENTIONS - HERON INTERVENTION STYLES
What is informing?
When is it useful? (3)
What are the skills required? (3)
(2) Informing = giving information and knowledge
- useful to show where to find extra help
- to explain what is happening
- to share one’s own experiences or facts/data
A. present information clearly
B. check for understanding
C. invite and handle questions
FACILITATOR - FACILITATION SKILLS & INTERVENTIONS - HERON INTERVENTION STYLES
What is confronting?
When is it useful? (3)
What are the skills required? (3)
(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
A. ask direct questions
B. give constructive feedback
C. challenge defensive excuses
FACILITATOR - FACILITATION SKILLS & INTERVENTIONS - HERON INTERVENTION STYLES
What is cathartic?
When is it useful? (2)
What are the skills required? (3)
(4) Cathartic = helping release emotions that block progress
useful when meeting participants:
1. are afraid of risk of failure
2. feel incompetent, frustrated etc.
A. actively listen
B. show empathy
C. feed back
FACILITATOR - FACILITATION SKILLS & INTERVENTIONS - HERON INTERVENTION STYLES
What is catalytic?
When is it useful? (3)
What are the skills required? (3)
(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
- to promote motivation and commitment
A. have a wide range of questions
B. reflect back and paraphrase
C. be comfortable with conversational silence
FACILITATOR - FACILITATION SKILLS & INTERVENTIONS - HERON INTERVENTION STYLES
What is supporting?
When is it useful? (3)
What are the skills required? (3)
(6) Supporting = validating and building self-confidence
- useful when morale is low
- to encourage risk-taking
- to validate people’s contributions
A. express appreciation
B. share own mistakes
C. apologise when necessary
FACILITATOR - FACILITATION SKILLS & INTERVENTIONS - CONTRACTING & GROUND RULES
Meeting agreements, also known as contracting or ground rules, are a key tool in a facilitator’s armoury that can significantly influence the outcome of the meeting.
What is the 3 Ps framework?
What are Block’s 4 questions to meeting participants at the start of meetings, which encourage them to consider how they are going to choose to act?
a framework for effective contracting:
(1) Practicalities = provide participants with protection = start and end times; breaks; access to refreshments and toilet facilities; health and safety announcements; the wifi access etc.
(2) Professional aspects = create permission around what is (not) to be included in the meeting & may (not) be shared outside of the meeting = stakeholders’ expectations; levels of conversation confidentiality and transparency
(3) Psychological contract = how the group needs to be to work well together as a high-performing team = Block’s 4 questions:
(i) How valuable and experienced do you plan to be?
(ii) How engaged and active do you plan to be?
(iii) How much risk are you prepared to take?
(iv) How interested are you in other people’s experiences?
FACILITATOR - FACILITATION SKILLS & INTERVENTIONS - CONTRACTING - GROUND RULES
One of the most powerful tools to create a psychological contract is for meeting participants to agree on ground rules.
Schwarz suggests that ground rules are what?
He contends that good meetings will have what 5 core values?
a tool to set meeting culture by enacting a set of core values and assumptions to guide behaviour
(1) transparency
(2) curiosity
(3) accountability
(4) informed choice
(5) compassion
(all underpin 9 behavioural ground rules)
FACILITATOR - FACILITATION SKILLS & INTERVENTIONS - CONTRACTING - GROUND RULES
What are Schwarz 9 behavioural ground rules?
(1) State views and ask genuine questions
(2) Share all relevant information
(3) Use specific examples and agree on what important words mean
(4) Explain reasoning and intent
(5) Test assumptions and inferences
(6) Jointly design next steps
(7) Focus on interests, not positions
(8) Discuss undiscussable issues
(9) Use a decision-making rule that generates the level of commitment needed
FACILITATOR - FACILITATION SKILLS & INTERVENTIONS - PROCESS BREAKS
What is a process break?
Process breaks are especially useful with what?
This tool therefore gives teams permission to what?
They work best when the use of them is included in what?
Process breaks become less what?
= a moment of ‘time out’ during a meeting to review how well a group or team are working together to achieve their stated task
useful with highly task-focused teams, who may often get stuck due to unattended behavioural issues and conflicts
to speak about more attitudinal and emotional aspects of their dynamic = can build trust, reducing stress/ conflict
in the initial contract so that they do not come as a surprise
less required and less frequent once teams become more self-aware and can self-regulate
FACILITATOR - FACILITATION SKILLS & INTERVENTIONS - MINDFUL MEETINGS
What is the essence of a mindful meeting?
Mindful meetings may include set-piece moments such as what? (5)
= infusing mindfulness practices and emotional intelligence into an effective meeting structure in order to reduce interference and support better individual and team functioning
(1) encouraging individuals to do a mindful self-check before entering the meeting space (3 deep breaths)
(2) inviting everyone to take a minute to arrive (silent for one minute to gather thoughts, consider responsibilities etc.)
(3) performing a quick check-in of 30 seconds to see how people are feeling
(4) periodically asking questions = anything stopping being fully present?
(5) turn off phones
FACILITATOR - FACILITATION SKILLS & INTERVENTIONS
THE CHECK-IN
Organisations are now frequently beginning meetings with some kind of a ‘check-in’ e.g., ask people to confirm their name, their role or what they are hoping to bring to the meeting.
What does this short and simple process fulfil? (3)
POSITIVITY
Positive psychology advocates what when we are building on strengths and noticing what is working rather than what is not working?
In meetings, how can positivity be translated? (2)
CHECK-IN
(1) enables everybody to feel like they are part of the meeting (voice at start = more likely to voice something later)
(2) reduces the status hierarchies within the room as everybody has democratically been allotted equal time and space to voice something at the start of the meeting
(3) an appropriate tone can be set, to encourage a cohesive culture
POSITIVITY
people are more creative, less stressed, more confident, make better decisions and in general perform better both individually and in teams
Facilitator (1) ask ‘What are your best hopes for this meeting?’ or (2) include in the check-in a request for each person to share a highlight or something they are proud of since they last met
OTHER SUPPORTING ROLES - SUPERVISOR
In the company secretary’s case, supervision can be defined as what?
What are the 3 functions of supervision according to Proctor (1987)?
Supervision = a structured formal process to improve quality of governance, grow governance capacity, and support governance practice
Proctor (1987)
(1) normative function = supervisor advises on ethical behaviour
(2) formative function = supervisor supports learning in particular field of practice
(3) restorative function = supervisor provides emotional support
OTHER SUPPORTING ROLES - MEDIATOR
Why may a company secretary be ideally positioned to help mediate?
The skillset of mediation is similar to that required for coaching, mentoring and facilitation, but the structure is what and may require what?
Mediate due to independence
the structure is more formal and may require some training to enable competence or external mediation if the issue is beyond cosec’s comfort zone
OTHER SUPPORTING ROLES - COUNSELLOR
Because of the company secretary’s trusted position in an organisation, individual directors may what?
may seek out their support and advice on issues that go beyond the technical (conversations may border on counselling conversations = work or non-work related)
