The significance of POWER in teams….and in team coaching
Georgina Woudstra, MCC, ACTC
Helping coaches master Team Coaching through our ICF & AC Accredited Programmes in Team Coaching. Best Selling Author of Mastering the Art of Team Coaching. Lifetime Achievement Award for Contributions to Team Coaching.
Teamwork makes the dream work, right? But, have you ever wondered how power works within teams?
Today, let’s dive into the fascinating world of power and authority in teams and why understanding them is vital for effective team coaching.
Power and authority play a fundamental role in team dynamics and have an undeniable impact on team performance and collaboration. Recognising and understanding these aspects are vital for effective team coaching.?
Power and authority are interrelated concepts, both shape how teams get stuff done!
Power refers to the ability to influence others and make decisions that impact the team’s direction. It's important to acknowledge that power dynamics exist within any group setting.
Authority is the legitimacy granted to an individual based on their position or expertise. In teams, power and authority can be distributed in many ways, such as hierarchical, shared, matrixed or task-specific.
Yet, all too often these aspects are not discussed by teams, leaving team members to work out how decisions get made and how to make things happen!
Coaches too bring their own, often unexamined, beliefs around how power and authority “should work”, often imposing these on the team without considering how it actually works in the team and organisation.
For example, you may believe that decision-making is better by consensus in teams, with all voices carrying equal weight. So, you ask the leader to “pull back” to make space for team members to share their views.?Whilst hearing all perspectives is vital for team effectiveness, you may fail to acknowledge the leader’s role in decision-making and disempower the leader in the process!?
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All of this is well intended, but teams have leaders for a reason!?Leadership provides the riverbanks that enable the water to flow to its destination. If you remove the riverbanks, you simply get a stinky pond!?Instead, the river may need to be redirected gradually, over time.
OK, enough with the metaphors!!?
Maybe becoming proficient in consensus decision-making is one of the team’s development goals and would support the team in achieving its purpose.?But the transition from a leader-led team to a self-governing team needs to be a conscious one, where new lines of power and authority are explicit and where the impact of this change can be reviewed.?
To be effective as a team coach, seek to understand the existing power and authority structures within a team. This includes identifying formal leaders, power dynamics, and communication patterns. This will help you gain insights into how power and authority may influence team dynamics and performance. It also becomes more apparent what decisions in relation to team coaching need to be made by the leader, and which can be made by the team as a whole.
Georgina Woudstra, CEO and Principal of the Team Coaching Studio, and author of the industry-acclaimed book, Mastering the Art of Team Coaching.
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1 年If team work done effectively, it can make your tasks easier! Georgina Woudstra, MCC, ACTC
Team Coach, Leadership Coach, Coach Supervisor, with a passion for supporting Extra-Dependent Teams and providing accredited coaching programmes to organisations.
1 年I agree Georgina Woudstra, MCC, ACTC that power isn’t explored enough in teams and that team coaches bring their own assumptions into the work. It’s an area I like to focus on, and find it tricky too. After all, the act of focusing on the topic as a qualified team coach is an act of power and authority. So we’re straight into being involved in the system we are coaching. What are the “riverbanks” for the team coach here?
I bring invigorating executive leadership coaching to your doorstep. An inspirational speaker, an empowering workshop facilitator. We can touch the most delicate issues and turn them into cutting edge advantages for you.
1 年Interesting take, dear Georgina, thanks for posting this. Is it not the coach's role to enable the team energy to play out, observing, taking himself/herself 'out of their way' as much as possible?
Learning Consultant and Leadership Coach
1 年Another great post from Georgina. I especially appreciate the inclusion of the coach’s unconscious or not so unconscious biases when considering power and authority. Also I like the metaphor, I find metaphor a short cut to invite different thinking into the conversation with my clients. I shall use yours next week ??
Organisasjonspsykolog | Gründer av Kioo.no
1 年Great article Georgina! ?? I think many underestimate the effort it takes to have a self-governing / autonomous team performing at a very high level.