Releasing the Power of Team: Rethinking How We Work Together
In every part of our profession, the world around us continues to shift. And fast! New technology, new expectations, new ways of working. For many of us, the real challenge isn’t just keeping pace as individuals but understanding how the teams we are part of also need to adapt and respond.
Most professional development still focuses on the individual. Yet we all know that success rarely comes from isolated effort. We work in teams. Often several at once and each with its own dynamics, pressures and possibilities. And while some teams seem to move effortlessly towards shared goals, others face friction, hesitation, or recurring patterns and habits that get in the way.
That raises a question worth exploring: what helps a team truly thrive?
Sometimes the answer lies not in grand strategies but in the everyday interactions that shape how people think, collaborate and make decisions together. Small shifts in communication, clarity or trust can make a significant difference to a team’s effectiveness, whether that team is newly formed, long established, or working across multiple locations and priorities.
As organisations look for ways to perform well in a rapidly changing environment, many are exploring approaches such as team coaching to strengthen how teams work.
Team coaching isn’t about fixing individuals or running a one-off workshop. Instead, it focuses on how a team functions as a system, how it creates the conditions for constructive challenge, shared ownership and better collective thinking. It can sit alongside a wide range of development tools, offering teams the space to reflect on their purpose, their practices and the patterns that shape their performance.
Importantly, opportunities to develop team effectiveness exist at every level of an organisation. Early career project groups, cross-functional teams, operational units and senior leadership circles all face different challenges, and each can benefit from pausing to consider how they work together, what supports them, and what might be getting in the way.
A useful starting point is simply asking yourself:
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What helps my team do its best work?
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What slows us down or causes frustration?
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If we could improve just one aspect of how we work together, what would it be?
Reflecting on these questions can open up new possibilities for collaboration, clarity and effectiveness both for individual professionals and for the teams they are part of.
In a specially curated series for members, we will be sharing further insights and perspectives in the coming weeks, to explore these questions and continue the conversation about what helps teams succeed in an evolving professional landscape.
Join us as we explore together the possibilities and motivate you to think about the effectiveness of your team and where you might begin. Keep an eye out for the upcoming ‘Shelling the Pod’ podcasts and mini-surgery webinars - to find out more about this series, click here to visit our hub.