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Cohort

Why Leadership is a Craft that Requires Investment and Growth

How are you doing? And how are you feeling about how you are doing? Are you not just adjusting to a “new normal” but thriving?  We sure hope you are.

We are now halfway through 2021 and the changes we saw happening in our work environment back in 2020 are still evolving: we are at a critical juncture in our organizations. 

A global pandemic has shifted much of our teamwork online, but this change has only compounded the challenges already facing organizations that rely on constant innovation. In order to survive in a rapidly changing environment, agility is table stakes.

A comprehensive cultural shift is needed for organizations to create sustainable change. The key to keeping up in a rapidly changing work environment and global marketplace is to scale leadership – and scale in new ways! 

Growing Leadership Competency is a Game Changer

Growing leadership competency is a cornerstone of creating organizational change

Increased performance outcomes are the direct result of the fact that the competencies of individual coaching, team coaching, mentoring, training, and facilitation help leaders build their range of leadership. 

At TeamCatapult, we call this “leadership range.” It refers to the ability of individuals to lead from the front and set a clear direction. It also refers to their ability to lead from behind, empowering others to make the move and understanding how to support ideas and create space for all voices to be heard.

Competency Development — How It Actually Works

Competency development means recognizing that becoming an agile team coach requires people to examine and challenge their existing beliefs so that they can experience new, more productive ones.

What we have found and implemented through the Coaching Agility from Within™ program is that there are specific competencies essential to effective leadership. 

Collectively, these competencies signal that a collective leadership culture begins with how individual leaders show up. It’s about how they engage with and impact their teams, and it’s about the self-awareness that it takes to know our impact and make choices that align with our intentions.

Awareness Precedes Choice, Precedes Change — The Road to Leadership

Anyone can call themselves an agile coach. What sets a truly agile leader apart, however, is someone who has a demonstrated proficiency in agile team coaching. After all, adaptive challenges do not come with roadmaps, they require new ways of engaging and leading through the process of dialogue. 

At TeamCatapult, we have adopted and refined The Agile Team Coaching Competency Model, originally created by Lyssa Adkins and Michael Spayd. This competency model is aligned with the ICAgile Agile Coaching Competencies and serves as a metric and guide for the learning journey that we provide as part of our longtime alignment with the mission of ICAgile. 

Leadership Competency Development is a Winding Road Best Navigated in a Cohort.

In every learning process, the journey from “getting started” to “proficiency” is neither quick nor straightforward. As our case study highlights, we have found that a program designed for an 8 to 12-month period is most successful. 

How to Increase Leadership Effectiveness and Team Performance

TeamCatupult’s Coaching Agility from Within™ program is a cohort-based leadership development initiative. Its design encompasses two models. The first is an 8-month program that brings leaders together from different organizations to deepen and expand their ability to lead effective teams. 

This program is designed to guide agile coaches along the pathway to proficiency in each leadership competency, providing key solutions for teams needing sustainable, systemic change. 

It offers insight into best practices for how to move leadership forward by:

  • Growing your own, internal leadership 
  • Growing leadership at all levels 
  • Developing a team coaching capability 
  • Turning theory into action 

Force Multipliers – a Case Study

We have seen the results of this program create significant, longterm change for participants and their teams. It supports their awareness of how they, as leaders, can best support a team’s ability to perform more effectively.

To read the “Cohort Learning Within an Organization to Boost Performance from Product Development to Delivery” case study, click here.  

Achieving Competency in Agile Team Coaching

If you are searching for a way to achieve Agile team Coaching competency, if you are ready to become a leader among leaders, if you are craving significant change….

…look no further! 

We invite you to “team up” with us!

Congrats, your first step (awareness) towards competency has been completed. 

Next step? Let’s have a conversation! 

We are looking forward to hearing from you!

How To Grow as a Leader: Developing Leadership Competency

Growing as a leader means recognizing that there is work to be done, then taking action to make those changes.

As we say at TeamCatapult: Awareness precedes choice, precedes change. 

Anyone can call themselves an agile coach. What sets a truly agile leader apart, however, is someone who has a demonstrated proficiency in agile team coaching. After all, adaptive challenges do not come with roadmaps, they require new ways of engaging and leading through the process of dialogue. 

Agile Team Coaching Competency Model

At TeamCatapult, we have adopted and refined The Agile Team Coaching Competency Model, originally created by Lyssa Adkins and Michael Spayd.  

Agile Team Coaching Competency Model
Adapted from The Agile Coach Competency Framework by Lyssa Adkins and Michael Spayd.  In alignment with the ICAgile Agile Coaching Competencies v2.0.

It is agile-framework agnostic and available to individuals and organizations under creative commons to further the journey of individuals becoming agile. It is also the backbone of our work developing leadership competency through the Coaching Agility from Within™ program. 

A team coach’s main focus is on partnering with their teams in order to accelerate their performance and achieve their desired outcomes. They do this through maximising the team’s collective intelligence and through developing the team and its members. Team coaches also support the team’s external stakeholders, including Product Owners, in figuring out what is the right product to build and in growing stakeholders’ agility. 

These outcomes are accomplished by the ability to fluidly and intentionally move between all of the competencies based on what is needed in the moment. 

☆ Agile-Lean Practitioner

A deep understanding of the agile mindset, values, and principles, and the application of them in a variety of agile frameworks that are tailored to the team and its current needs. 

☆ Facilitation

A neutral guide who supports a group to achieve their purpose and desired outcomes in a collaborative manner. 

☆ Professional Coaching

Ability to engage a person in a creative process to discover their own insights and take inspired action without being attached to a specific outcome. 

☆ Professional Team Coaching

Ability to use an understanding of group dynamics and team development to help a team maximize their collective intelligence to achieve their desired results.

☆ Transformation Mastery

Ability to apply organization development, behavioral sciences, and change theory to lead sustainable organization transformation. 

☆ Business Mastery

Ability to apply the values and principles of agility to the application of business strategy, management, product ownership, and process improvement. 

☆ Technical Mastery 

Ability to effectively bring expertise in the technical craft of developing software. 

☆ Mentoring 

Ability to offer expertise and experience in service of fostering the growth of others. 

☆ Training 

Ability to develop new skills, mindsets, and behaviors through practice, instruction, or supervision over a period of time.

Agile Team Coaching Cohort

Leadership Transformation is a Journey!

Of course, in every learning process, the journey from “getting started” to “proficiency” is neither quick nor straightforward. We have found that a program designed for an 8 to 12-month period is most successful. 

Team coaches need time to… 

  • Experience a new way of leading 
  • See new behaviors and different ways of working (and see them modeled) 
  • Try these new behaviors out in a safe space for learning 
  • Notice different impacts and learn how to make the decision to try something different 

What Happens When You Do Not Invest In Leadership?

By contrast, we have found the cost to organizations that don’t invest in leadership to be quite high: 

  • Teams remain dependent upon leaders to make all the choices, which perpetuates a model of organizational rigidity and individual burnout 
  • An organization lacks program sustainability when an agile coach moves on to another company 
  • The organizational culture remains one of vague dependence rather than defined self-management 
  • Teams feel confused and demonstrate decision avoidance 
  • The status quo within the organization continues to be a barrier for growth within the industry 
  • There is a persistent lack of productivity 
  • There is a pattern of lost timelines and missed deadlines 
  • Team members’ morale diminishes, which directly affects productivity

Coaching Agility From Within™

TeamCatupult’s Coaching Agility from Within™ program is a cohort-based leadership development initiative. Its design encompasses two models. 

The first is an 9-month program that brings leaders together from different organizations to deepen and expand their ability to lead effective teams. 

The second model brings the program into a single organization over the course of 12 months, transforming team leadership culture across the board to create systemic change. 

With the 9-month model, we have seen the program significantly and substantively develop the leadership competency of agile team coaches from a broad range of organizations. Cohort members work in their own organizational environments with their teams, and throughout the program; they receive 360-degree feedback from their leaders, peers, and teams, in addition to their cohort members and instructors. They meet weekly via Zoom and spend an average of six hours a week working on the program. 

The unique format of this program combines the act of learning together with the required hours of practice it takes for leaders to be able to turn the theories into action. The degree, purpose, and amount of feedback is combined with specific, tailored, and actionable strategies for leaders to make small microchanges in their presence, language, and behavior. 

Over time, these microchanges create impactful results for individuals and teams.

Best Practises For How to Move Leadership Forward

Leaders with range are far more likely to discover a clearer path and lead more sustainable change. 

And our experience with this program shows that the best way to grow leadership range is to focus on competency development around mindset—identifying and examining values and beliefs about how change happens and the role of leaders in team settings. 

From this foundation, focus can expand to include skill building, learning retention, experiential learning, and reflective practices. At TeamCatapult, we have seen the results of this program create significant, long term change for participants and their teams. It supports their awareness of how they, as leaders, can best support a team’s ability to perform more effectively.

The Value of a Cohort-Based Program

“If you believe that training is expensive, it is because you do not know what ignorance costs. Companies that have the loyalty of their employees invest heavily in permanent training programs and promotion systems.” 

~ Michael Leboeuf, The Great Principle of Management

We’ve seen the uniquely transformative effects of cohort-based leadership development. With immersive cohort learning, individuals have the ability to practice their new competencies in the workplace, get feedback, work with a supervisor, and build skills together in such a way that leadership development becomes a force multiplier. 

Unlike teaching that focuses on mechanical processes to “become more agile,” the focus on cultural change and leadership competency bridges the gap between learning new skills and actually developing the real-world capacity to use them effectively, pivot when needed, and apply the optimal leadership competency for any given challenge.

We invite you to learn more about our program by clicking the button below. 

If you prefer, you may also schedule a call with our team today! 

The Five Cornerstones of the Agile Team Facilitation Stance Explained

The Art & Science of Facilitation Book Tour

On March 9, 2021 I was the guest speaker at Agile Austin to talk about my book ‘The Art & Science of Facilitation’. 

I enjoyed this conversation so very much that I am sharing a condensed version of some of the things we discussed, as well as the full recording of this lively conversation about facilitation. 

Join me for this Virtual Book Tour event, won’t you?

What Does Facilitation Mean to You?

We started the evening by answering the following question.

’What does facilitation mean to you?’ 

Several people eagerly shared what facilitation means to them. 

Here are their definitions! 

  • Facilitation is ‘keeping the conversation going’. The conversation needs to move, not get stuck.
  • Facilitation is helping guide people to a common end. 
  • Facilitation is creating and holding the container for all the magic to happen inside. Magic means the space where the folks inside can solve problems, be creative, innovate. The connection between human beings. 
  • Good facilitation encourages participation. Everyone should have a voice, not be scared to speak. Flow, safety. 
  • Facilitation means feeling psychologically safe, a healthy discourse! 
  • Facilitation is about the feelings and understanding of the team, each team member. Empathizing with the team.
  • Facilitation is making things easier. Make it easier on the team. 

Facilitation Is Both Art and Science

The dictionary defines ‘facilitating’ as
“make (an action or process) easy or easier.”

There is science that sits behind what we do, and art as well! Hence the name of my book. 

A facilitated session includes all of the following:

  • All Voices
  • Process
  • Desired outcome
  • Flow
  • Discourse
  • Harmony
  • Bring Inquiry

‘What’s happening when all of things are taking place in a meeting? What is the facilitator doing, or not doing when all these things are taking place?’

It’s how you show up as a facilitator. 

The Agile Team Facilitation Stance

What do you need to believe about yourself and your group as you facilitate? 

Here are the guiding principles I reference in my book. 

Facilitation Stance

The cornerstones of the Agile Team Facilitation Stance include:

  • Honoring the wisdom of the group
  • Maintaining Neutrality
  • Upholding the Agile Mindset and Practices
  • Standing in the Storm
  • Holding the Group’s Agenda.

Next, the Zoom participants broke into Zoom rooms. They were asked to create a definition about one of these five cornerstones during a 10 minute group discussion before coming back and sharing their insights.

The Full Agile Austin Conversation

If you missed this Agile Austin conversation with us and you couldn’t participate, please know we’d love for you to watch the evening’s discussion right here. 

Join Me For Additional Facilitation Conversations! 

The first part of my Virtual Book Tour in January and February of 2021 consisted of a self-hosted series of live conversations with facilitation experts.

Starting this month, March 2021, I am ‘making the rounds’ and bringing ‘The Art & Science of Facilitation’ to groups all over the country. 

You can check out my upcoming Virtual Book Tour schedule here. 

For TeamCatapult workshops, check the schedule below.

Here are several opportunities for you to learn more.:

  1. Agile Team Facilitation Workshop  March 22-26, 2021
  2. Advanced Facilitation Workshop  April 28-May 5, 2021

Join us for one, or all, Virtual Workshops. TeamCatapult workshops are a great stepping stone to our cohort. 

Learn more about our Coaching Agility from Within ‘A Cohort Journey to Masterful Agile Team Coaching’ and apply to join in May 2021. 

Celebrating a Journey to Masterful Agile Team Coaching: Cohort Edition

After a successful 2020 inaugural cohort “Coaching Agility from Within” we are several months into the next cohort program and preparing for yet another group of new cohort members to onboard by mid-May 2021.

Time flies when you are having fun! 

In this article we want to give you an overview of our Cohort program as well extend a personal invitation to you: help us celebrate the completion of this journey with the first cohort graduates and possibly apply to join us this year as a cohort member. 

Are you curious what joining our cohort could mean to your career and your leadership journey? We invite you to learn more! 

What Is the ‘Coaching Agility from Within’ Cohort?

The goal of the cohort is to build demonstrable competency in agile team coaching where agile coaches are equipped with a deeper understanding and awareness of themselves so that they are able to lead and coach change in effectively coach agile teams and adapt to what is needed in the moment.  

This cohort is designed to help you go from asking:

  • How do I skillfully deal with resistance in my team?
  • How do I navigate team conflict that arises in the moment?
  • How do I help my team reach high performance?
  • How can I tell if what I am doing even qualifies as team coaching?
  • How do I coach leaders in my organization who just ‘don’t get it’?
  • How can I stop feeling like I don’t know what I’m doing and worrying that someone will find me out? 

To leading this:

  • I see conflict as a source of energy for my team and I feel confident in my ability to work with it. I’m also not afraid to bring conflict forward if it’s impeding progress.
  • I am clear about how I support teams in their journey to high performance and how I evaluate where a team is at when I engage with them.
  • I am a skilled coach and it shows.
  • I am confident in my ability to coach a team. I’m adapting both my leadership style and the way I engage, to support them in doing their best. 
  • I confidently and skillfully navigate tricky conversations with my colleagues and those in authority positions, in service of my team’s development. 
  • I am highly sought after because I’m masterful at leading change in Agile teams. 

What Will You Gain From Being Part of This Cohort?

  • Clarity in your own Team Coaching practice.

If you are an external coach, you will refine how you think about your own practice of Agile team coaching and how you contract with teams. If you are internal, you will refine how you talk about the outcomes of working with a coach and the outcomes teams can expect. In either case, you will become more clear about boundaries and what creates the best environment for teams to thrive. 

  • Personal Growth.

How we think is how we lead others. Continue the journey of personal growth that started for you in the foundational facilitation and coaching courses. When Agile coaches are able to come from a place of greater self-awareness, self-acceptance, self-mastery and self-authority then they show up for teams in a more powerful way with greater results.

  • Proficiency in Coaching, Mentoring and Facilitation.

This part of the journey is steeped in real-world practice. You will be working with real teams and getting feedback along the way. This will deepen and refine your skills.

  • Greater demand for your services.

People don’t contract for your services because of a piece of paper, they work with you because of the deeper work you have done to refine and master the craft of coaching teams and the positive impact you have when you work with others.  

Our Vision For You

…is to become a leader who:

  • Inspires and motivates high-performing Agile teams
  • Grows other leaders 
  • Helps teams have difficult conversations with grace and ease 
  • Feels competent and experienced

The Right Fit for the Right Cohort Program

How will you know if you are the right fit for this cohort and if this cohort is the right fit for your leadership journey? 

This in-depth 8 month program is rigorous, placing an emphasis on practice and feedback opportunities through skill drills, peer coaching, team coaching, ongoing group work, professional one-on-one coaching and one-on-one supervision of actual Agile coaching sessions. You will have ample opportunity to learn from your peers and bring real-world scenarios to the group for feedback and guidance.  

If this sounds like you can fit this into your life, we would love for you to apply to this cohort program.

The Competency Certification Cohort!

Just one more note. You cannot go through the motions in this program.  We expect that you will commit to the program and invest the time in your own learning, show up and engage, and express a sincere desire to improve. In return, you can expect that we will show up and engage and support and challenge you in your journey. We promise, the commitment will be worth it in the end! 

Celebrating Those Who Completed This In-depth 8 Month Program 

JOurney to masterful team coaching

Join us in celebrating the ‘Bluebirds’! This fantastic group of agile coaches graduated their cohort  at the end of 2020.

The events of 2020 created a unique experience for all of us and as a cohort group we put the principles of agility into practice as we all adapted to the changing landscape of 2020. 

We were just days away from being together on the beach in North Carolina for the residential program when a world-wide pandemic was announced and after thoughtful dialogue we made the decision to postpone the residential and eventually held it remotely. While it was not our first choice the remote residential was a moving and meaningful experience – created out of clear intention by everyone to show up fully, connect with one another and deepen the practice of team coaching. 

This group co-created an experience full of grace, generosity, and accountability for themselves and each other. 

The best part about seeing this group of leaders thrive is knowing that while the official cohort has ended, their connectivity and their learning has not! These leaders continue to meet on a monthly basis to support each other! 

They are also eager to support our current cohort members and look forward to potentially meeting and supporting YOU in our next cohort, which starts in May 2021!

Quotes and Notes from the Bluebird Cohort!

We asked our Bluebirds for quotes and notes about their experience. Here are the reflections from Dave Ross, Jennifer Bullock and Vicky Hora. 

Dave Ross

Dave: “As I reflect on our cohort last year, several things come to mind. It was a rigorous, almost year-long, process and fraught with all kinds of unexpected challenges (such as Covid, cancellation of the residential), but what kept us on track was incredible flexibility and leadership shown by Marsha and Kay, and peers who were driven to overcome and succeed no matter the obstacle. We kept going because we were being exposed to new concepts and techniques that challenged our existing thinking, and called us re-think some of our fundamental beliefs about Agility, Coaching, Mentoring, Teaching and Facilitation. There is something refreshing about seeing these topics, that I use in my everyday working life, from an entirely new perspective that brings revelations and insights I would not otherwise have. So I am indebted to Marsha and Kay for running the cohort, in this most difficult of years, and to my cohort-mates for enhancing what we learned in practice coaching circles, all of which lifted me up and helped me succeed.”

Jennifer Bullock

Jennifer: “I am fortunate to have been part of the inaugural cohort and of the awesome Bluebirds team. Despite the twists and turns of 2020, we worked together as a team to redefine what the cohort would look like and leaned all in to the experience. I learned so much more than I anticipated and have grown in the focal areas of coaching, mentoring, facilitating, and training, making this a memorable and valuable experience.”

Vicky HoraVicky: “The cohort journey with Marsha, Kay and my awesome Bluebirds/friends was gratifying and humbling, and the learnings gained have been invaluable. The journey has created more realms of possibilities for my life’s purpose that is all about – Making teams and people love their work through inspirational coaching, mentoring, facilitation and training!”  

Are You Next? Apply to Join Our Next Cohort Program in May 2021

If you are ready, we’d love for you to put in your application to this cohort! We are excited you are ready to continue your learning journey and we are thrilled you want to accomplish it with the Cohort.

How to Gain True Mastery in Agile Team Coaching

How we lead and how we manage are the basic competencies in team settings. But leadership is a craft that requires investment and growth. Now more than ever, the survival and success of our organizations depends on making strategic change where it matters most.

Agile Team Coaches are called upon daily to help teams grow, develop and become high performing agile teams. To do this well, Agile Team Coaches need depth in a variety of competencies. 

Mastery in agile team coaching is about being able to sense what is needed most in the moment and dance among various competencies in order to show up in the way that will best support team growth and performance, in that moment. 

In the ICAgile Coaching Track we identify five discrete competencies, the sides of the Agile Coaching Competency Wheel: Facilitation, Professional Coaching, Professional Team Coaching, Training and Mentoring. Let’s start with the two competencies on the left, the ones that require that we know what we are talking about, that we have content knowledge.

Training

When the people we work with have a gap in their understanding of Agile, or the frameworks, principles, values or techniques, even the mindset, education is where we turn to. If they simply do not know, it is our job to provide them with the knowledge, something which is often the case at the start of someone’s Agile journey.  When we think about training we tend to think of formal workshops, leveraging theories of adult learning, but training can also be in the moment, sharing context appropriate knowledge on the spot. The right information, at the right time, in the right way.

Mentoring 

As people progress on their journey the emphasis moves to applying the knowledge they have acquired. At this point the competency of mentoring – providing one’s wisdom and guidance of the subject matter to guide the situation at hand – becomes important. The mentor is clear about what they know and what they don’t and they use a coaching approach, rather than telling the client what to do. Mentoring may include coaching, counseling and advising, but the action taken stays the choice of the individual being mentored.

Agile Team Coaching Certification

Coaching as powerful leadership, our Agile Team Coaching workshop and certification, gives coaches the space to explore and apply a model for coaching and mentoring conversations so that they are able to distinguish the difference between them and know when to intentionally use which

  • Practice coaching skills in one on one and small group conversations
  • Guide others to make intentional and empowered choices so that they achieve their desired objectives 
  • Coach the journey to team high performance so that they work as a holistic integrated system.
  • Explore the unique characteristics of an Agile team.
  • Uncover and effectively resolve team conflict, resistance and dysfunction so they learn how to self-manage.

If you are interested in attending this workshop, learn more and register here. 

Agile Team Facilitation

Another, second, highly recommended certification that pairs with Agile coaching is the Agile Team Facilitation workshop.

During the Agile Team Facilitation workshop participants learn to design and lead engaging, purposeful, and fun meetings that achieve the desired results every time.

Explore the cornerstones of the facilitation stance so you confidently know what’s needed from you in any situation.

  • Practice the steps of planning and design, using pre-defined templates so that you can stop spinning your wheels and wasting time before every meeting.
  • Practice facilitation where you will learn to put the stance and skills into practice. 
  • Apply the facilitation mindset where you will learn to put the stance and the skills into practice.
  • You will plan and design a facilitated session with mentoring from your instructors.
  • You’ll conduct the facilitation and get feedback from your instructors and participants.

Coaches with both an Agile Coaching as well as the Agile Team Facilitation certifications, are offered a unique opportunity. 

An 8-month cohort to gain a true mastery in Agile coaching! 

Mastery through Practice 

While you can learn concepts and practice skills of agile team coaching, real mastery is grown through practice – with real people and real teams in your real world. Imagine having the opportunity to practice and getting specific feedback that helps you, as an agile coach, grow. 

Emphasis on practice and feedback opportunities through skill drills, peer coaching, team coaching, ongoing group work, professional one-on-one coaching and one-on-one supervision of actual Agile coaching sessions. 

Students will have ample opportunity to learn from.

What Will a Cohort Expose?

You’ll no longer feel off balance when conflict arises with your team because you’ve had plenty of time to integrate your coaching and facilitation skills in a rigorous, feedback-rich environment.

There will be no more winging it or playing safe hoping no one will notice.

Skills and growth will be mirrored back to students in real time.  No more simulations or just theory. All of the feedback you receive is based on your work with your real teams.  

Strategic Changes in Leadership

What we have found and implemented through the Coaching Agility from Within™ program is that there are specific competencies essential to effective leadership. 

Collectively, these competencies signal that a collective leadership culture begins with how individual leaders show up. It’s about how they engage with and impact their teams, and it’s about the self-awareness that it takes to know our impact and make choices that align with our intention.

True Mastery in Agile Coaching!

Anyone can call themselves an agile coach. What sets a truly agile leader apart, however, is someone who has a demonstrated proficiency in agile team coaching. After all, adaptive challenges do not come with roadmaps, they require new ways of engaging and leading through the process of dialogue. 

The Coaching Agility from Within™ program is designed to guide agile coaches along the pathway to proficiency in each leadership competency, providing key solutions for teams needing sustainable, systemic change. 

It offers insight into best practices for how to move leadership forward by: 

  • Growing your own, internal leadership 
  • Growing leadership at all levels 
  • Developing a team coaching capability 
  • Turning theory into action

Over the course of the program, cohort members come to see facilitation and coaching as a craft to be developed, as well as an essential leadership skill. In addition to expanding their understanding of the traditional model of leading from the front, members learn what it means to lead from the back and how to lead by partnering. 

Along the way, the program facilitates tough conversations that emerge for the cohort about the tensions created in the process of growing their leadership range, and it supports their awareness of how they, as leaders, can best support a team’s ability to perform more effectively. Leaders with range are far more likely to discover a clearer path and lead more sustainable change. And our experience with this program shows that the best way to grow leadership range is to focus on competency development around mindset—identifying and examining values and beliefs about how change happens and the role of leaders in team settings. 

From this foundation, focus can expand to include skill building, learning retention, experiential learning, and reflective practices.

When we move to the right hand side of the competency wheel we let go of our subject matter knowledge in order to serve our clients best. The aim of agile coaching is to develop the natural wisdom of those we coach, not to make them dependent on us. As they grow in their agility we need to grow their confidence in their ability to solve their own problems, which means we step away from solving their problems for them and allow their own wisdom to come forward.

Facilitation

Facilitation is the art of leading people through a series of activities to achieve predetermined outcomes in such a way that everyone participates and buys in. A lot of people think that facilitation means running a meeting, throwing in your own ideas while you are at it, but a true facilitator stays neutral, fades into the background when conversations flow, skillfully encourages exploration of all options, manages dysfunction, to name but a few skills. Good facilitation is essential for good collaboration.

Professional Coaching

Our clients are generally able to solve their own problems, if we support and believe in them. In professional coaching we believe we are there to stimulate our client’s thinking and reflection in a creative way. We bring our neutrality and care, they bring their problem, and together we create the right conditions to explore the options. We do that through listening intently, reflecting what we hear and see, through asking thought-provoking questions, and a multitude of other coaching tools and techniques. We want our clients to fulfill their personal and professional potential, at their pace, reaching the goals they set for themselves. We make sure that they come up with an action that moves them in the direction of their goals, and we hold them responsible and accountable.

Coaching someone means that we stick to their agenda, their pace of change, their solutions to the problems they bring. It therefore means we let go of our own agendas, opinions, judgements and solutions about what actions they should take.

Professional Team Coaching

Professional Team Coaching utilizes the same mindset, has the same objectives and a similar approach to Professional Coaching, but it adds an additional dimension : maximizing team performance. It makes use of the team’s collective intelligence, and it brings in a systems view to reveal to the team what is happening in their system, rather than for every member individually. A team coach needs to know how to access the team’s collective intelligence, including creating the conditions for all voices to be heard. The coach holds the team responsible and accountable, and importantly, teaches the team to coach themselves. 

It must be clear to you by now that Agile Coaching borrows heavily from a number of professions, and we have a lot to learn from these professionals. You can choose to study each of these disciplines separately, or you can attend one of our certified workshops to start your journey!

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