Leadership Teams · Working with a leader and their team

They are good at what they do. But they struggle to work as a team

We work with the leader and their team on specific behaviours: bringing disagreement into meetings, closing decisions and taking ownership of commitments. We practise, give feedback and follow up application.

ParticipantA leader and their team

NeedImprove how they work together

ApproachWork on communication, collaboration and decisions

How the problem becomes visible

Bringing capable people together is not enough

When a team struggles to work together, it becomes visible in meetings, decisions and how each member takes, or avoids, responsibility for the collective outcome.

Decisions without closure

The meeting ends without clarity about what was decided, who is responsible and what happens next.

Apparent agreement

Everyone agrees in the room. Afterwards, the decision is questioned, reinterpreted or simply not implemented.

Individualised accountability

Each member owns their work. Few take responsibility for problems and outcomes belonging to the whole team.

Centralisation in the leader

The team waits for the leader to resolve differences, assign responsibilities and confirm decisions it could take collectively.

What we work on

The decisions, relationships and conversations
the team needs to work through

What is not being said

Silences, side conversations and tensions the team has learned to sidestep.

How power operates

Who influences, who stays silent and what happens when someone disagrees.

How decisions are made

False consensus, ambiguity, slowness and decisions no one truly owns.

How accountability works

Competing expectations, fragile commitments and peer accountability.

How it works

The team works on situations it needs to resolve

The process may focus on one critical meeting or run over several months. Its design depends on the challenge and the degree of change needed.

Listen

Conversations with the leader and team members to understand different perspectives and expectations.

Observe

Where useful, we observe meetings or real situations to see patterns in action.

Work

The team practises real conversations and decisions, receives feedback on observable behaviours and tries again with adjustments.

Follow up

We revisit application of agreements, identify signs of change and choose behaviours that need more practice.

What we aim to make visible

Change should appear in how the team works

Previously avoided conversations begin to happen.

Decisions end with clear accountability and scope for autonomy.

Disagreement brings information without blocking commitment.

The team collectively owns decisions, problems and outcomes that do not belong to just one person.

An agreement that changes work

“Disagreement belongs in the meeting. After the decision, everyone supports it, unless new information emerges.”

We seek more than a better conversation during a session. The team defines observable behaviours, tests them at work and reviews with us what it managed to honour.

Types of intervention

Different ways of working
with a leader and their team

We can support a team over time, facilitate a working meeting or help conduct a critical conversation.

Team coaching

Regular sessions over several months. The team works on real decisions and relationships, tests new approaches between sessions and reviews with us what changed.

Team working sessions

One or more sessions focused on a decision, conflict, change or alignment need. The team leaves with clear agreements and responsibilities.

Critical conversations

We prepare and facilitate a conversation the team is avoiding or cannot conduct alone, helping it name the problem and decide the next step.

Integrated team development

A process with defined objectives and duration, combining individual interviews, meeting observation, team working sessions and follow-up of commitments.

An initial assessment