You may know the situation: You are faced with a problem and cannot find a solution, even after repeated analysis, pondering and optimisation. It can be strenuous to master a challenge alone – in private as well as in professional life. But there are methods and approaches with which challenges can be approached simply, intelligently and effectively as a team. One of these is coaching by colleagues
The term “Coaching by colleagues” refers to a special method for finding solutions within a group. It can also be used to strengthen team culture and team spirit. The focus is on a specific challenge that a person or a group is facing. This method relies on a simple but absolute wonder weapon: collective intelligence or swarm intelligence.
Looking to cover as many perspectives and facets as possible, the the team should be as diverse and independent of roles and job titles as possible. Although there is no upper limit to the number of participants, it is advisable to pay attention to the group size to be able to consider all contributions and not to lose the consultative value add.
Roles for facilitation, time-keeping and visualisation are assigned in advance within the team. The participants meet in person on site or virtually via video conferencing tool. A whiteboard is also helpful for noting down ideas and taking minutes. The introduction is a description of the challenge, including facts, people involved and previous consequences. Using systemic questions, the person or persons concerned are asked to reflect and take a closer look at their situation, taking into account different perspectives. Depending on the questions, the complexity of the case and the persons involved, about 60 minutes should be planned for the collegial coaching.
Coaching by collagued is an effective method to stimulate self-reflection and generate new solutions and ideas in the team. With the help of the concentrated intelligence and the different perspectives of the diverse group, even complex (business) cases can be effectively analysed and challenges overcome.
You can find out more about “collegial coaching” and other methods in the book “Frag dich in Führung – Der Guide für eine transformative Führungskultur” (VAHLEN).
You want to know more about our team coaching approach? Contact us at info@hahnloewe.com