Transformative Coaching and Learning

The International Coaching Federation (ICF) defines coaching as “partnering with Clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximise their personal and professional potential.”

Pedrick (2021: p. 8) defines coaching in a further clear way as “a future-focused conversation between two people working in partnership in service of the thinking of one of them.”

Overall, coaching is a future-focused and open dialogue between you and your Coach to support in unlocking your potential. It is a partnership to create a space and time for your thinking and reflection.

Transition Coaching specifically focuses on the inner psychological process that people go through as they undergo their own life-shifts such as a change in career or role, moving to a new location or becoming a parent.

Transition is therefore more specifically to internalise, handle and come to terms with a shift or movement from one state, condition or phase of life to another.

We all experience Transitions in life and they are often multifaceted. Transitions can be challenging and difficult as they often involve leaving familiar situations behind and adapting to new ones. However, they can also be exciting and provide opportunities for positive growth and personal development.

Typical themes in Transition Coaching are:

• Promotions to a new role
• Navigating a career change
• Move from one functional area to another
• Changing company or organisation
• Being laid off or made redundant
• Transition from one Leadership role to another (work values, time application, skills)
• Returning to work after a leave or sabbatical
• Personal life-shifts

Below is our Transition Coaching model based on three phases of Transition (inspired by Bridges, 1988):

• Ending: Coaching session 1 — Letting go and taking stock of the situation, which can be shocking and a loss of control
• Reorientation: Coaching sessions 2-5 — Explore possibilities, mindset, skills, barriers to change, e.g. confusion, distress
• New Beginning: Coaching session 6 — Recommit to changes based on new understanding, values, attitudes

These three stages of Transition do not necessarily happen in a linear way in sequence, but can happen with cross-overs and in a non-linear manner. Therefore, our Transition Coaching can switch between phases interchangeably.

Our Transition Coaching enable transformational change by helping you obtain positive life and career changes. We will work on your self-awareness, assumptions and confidence as well as any limiting barriers to change you might have. We also explore possibilities, your focus, expectations, skills and behaviours for the future.

My coaching approach is integrative and person-centred, meaning that I draw from and flexibly integrate Behavioural Coaching, Developmental Coaching, Transformative Coaching and NLP depending on your desired outcome as a client.

As a professional Coach, I follow the rigorous standards of the ICF Code of Ethics and ICF Core Competencies by being a member of the ICF.

Below is outlined more in detail what coaching is and is not for your overview (adapted from Bolton, 2022).

Coaching is in essence:

1. Client-led: Sessions are led by you the client, not by the Coach
2. Dialogic: We will follow a process of conversation using questions and reflection
3. Client-initiated: Desired change by you the client needs to be made by your own actions, as opposed to being done for you
4. Non-advisory: You the client comes to the best answers for yourself or gains learning at a deeper level
5. Non-judgemental: Your Coach is open-minded, respectful and does not judge, what you bring forward
6. Change oriented: Our conversation is focused on creating change rather than coping mechanisms, i.e. it has clear goals or outcomes
7. Focused on potential and growth: Assuming that people can grow and change for more well-being, realising their potential
8. Not Therapy: Where past trauma, mental or physical illnesses are diagnosed/treated (e.g. by psychotherapist or psychologist)

References.

¹Pedrick, C. (2021) Simplifying Coaching: How to Have More Transformational Conversations by Doing Less, 1st ed., London: Open University Press.

²Bridges, W. (1988) Bridges Transition Model. Bay Area: William Bridges Associates.

³Bolton, N. (2022) What Is Transformative Coaching? London: Animas Centre for Coaching.

So, Why choose a Transition Coaching Programme?

Because through coaching, you can thrive and transform during transitional periods.

Our coaching takes a humanistic approach, which is perceiving you as a whole human being. That means the coaching is person-centred and holistic, meaning that it takes into account your state of thoughts (and self-talk), beliefs, assumptions, values, expectations and mindset (brain), your feelings and emotions (heart) and physiology, e.g. how you express yourself and what you say, body language and/or tone of voice (body). 

In addition, in coaching you will experience that you get my undivided attention as your Coach and thinking partner, which means that I will be fully present during our sessions and your transitions.

Furthermore, our purpose is to inspire better lives and thereby healthy and sustainable human high performance, well-being, growth and positive change.

Transitions can culminate in valuable transformations if only you are given support along the way.

That makes Transition Coaching impactful.

In our Transition Coaching journey, we will focus on:

• Letting go of your previous role
• Recognising and taking stock of your situation and challenges
• Create self-reflection and self-awareness
• Explore possibilities, opportunities, mindset
• Maximising your potential and strengths

All of that can enable you to unlock your full potential and possibilities in life.

So, How does the Transition Coaching Programme work?

Our Transition Coaching Programme is transformational and life-changing and based on a 6-week programme (6 sessions weekly or biweekly).

The programme is designed to benefit you the most in your life and career transitions.

Coaching process:

1. Deciding: First initial step to begin a Transition Coaching collaboration is that you are undergoing your own personal life-shifts, career or role changes: you would like to achieve a positive life or career transition.
   
   
2. Schedule Discovery Call: Second step is that you book an initial discovery call, which is a free calibration call prior to beginning our coaching collaboration to ensure good alignment between us and give you an overview of the Transition Coaching Programme and opportunities.
   
   These topics will be covered in the discovery call:

   – Get to know each other, building rapport and exploring personal chemistry
   – What coaching and Transition Coaching is and what it is not
   – Overview on the benefits of Transition Coaching
   – Clarity about confidentiality and ethics involved in coaching collaboration
   – Discovering what life or career transitions, you would like to work on

3. Coaching sessions: The 6-week Transition Coaching Programme consists of six coaching sessions (60 minutes).

   Coaching session 1: focuses on creating self-awareness and reflection about your transition and situation.
   Coaching sessions 2-5: focuses on exploring possibilities, mindset, perspectives to reorientate.
   Coaching session 6: focuses on renewal, i.e. recommitting to the changes with new understanding, values, attitudes

   All coaching conversations are unique and a coaching session commonly follows a process that consists of a beginning, middle and an end, i.e.:

   1) Part one focuses on rightsizing the conversation in partnership with you: agreeing on what the conversation should be about today and clarifying the changes and transition you undergo and want to bring forward
   2) Part two consists of open questions by your Coach in the dialogue around the topic to explore, think and create awareness
   3) Part three focuses on your learnings from the session and choices, actions and commitments agreed upon by you

   We agree when to follow up, e.g. at the next Coaching session(s).

4. Positive Transition: Lastly, a coaching collaboration evolves and changes direction based on your needs, so following the 6-week Transition Coaching Programme, the collaboration might come to a natural end or new focus areas for the coaching might be agreed in the next coaching sessions (client-led by you).

1:1 Transition Coaching Programme:

Based on a 6-week Transition Coaching Programme that consists of six one-to-one coaching sessions either weekly or biweekly depending on your needs. 

Main target group: 

Professionals, leaders and private clients mainly focused on life and career transitions: life-shifts, bigger life events and career changes such as new job, lost job, new project etc.

All Transition Coaching Programmes include:

• 1 x 30 minute free discovery call prior to starting the coaching collaboration. This is for a calibration, which ensures good alignment between you and your Coach.
• 6 x 60 minute coaching sessions (weekly or biweekly): One to one session (Zoom or in person)
• 1 x Deeper Signals Core Drivers and Core Values personality assessment to create self-awareness (takes app. 15 min)
• Unlimited access to your Coach via email (typically replies within 48 hours)

Programme investment:
All prices are including VAT.

• 6-week programme (6 hours): €1250 / 9375 DKK

BOOK YOUR DISCOVERY CALL HERE

The International Coaching Federation (ICF) defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximise their personal and professional potential.”

Pedrick (2021: p. 8) defines coaching in a further clear way as “a future-focused conversation between two people working in partnership in service of the thinking of one of them.”

Overall, coaching is therefore a dialogic process between you and your Coach. In Leadership Coaching the emphasis is on you as a human being and thus as a leader in challenging and complex leadership contexts.

Most organisations and companies today operate in a so-called VUCA world, e.g. leadership contexts that increasingly consist of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. That makes leadership challenging and very complex and often it entails both an international and virtual leadership dimension post-COVID.

Therefore, our Leadership Coaching will focus on you as a human being to create awareness about who you are as a leader. Typical themes in Leadership Coaching can be around how you can better handle transitions between different leadership Roles:

• How you create direction
• How you promote motivation
• How you drive task execution
• Team Building & development
• Your leadership style
• Driving Performance Management
• Stakeholder Management, e.g. influencing style and communication
• Energy management and time application as a leader

All of the above to create awareness on how you can bring the best of you as a leader forward while being impactful, yet in balance, to ensure well-being.

Coaching in general can be divided into three main coaching levels:

• Performance Coaching (Behavioural Coaching): Task-oriented focused on an outcome or goal
• Developmental Coaching: Focused on developing greater competence in a given area
• Transformative Coaching: Focused on creating perspective shifts by creating deeper self-awareness

The basis for our coaching is Transformative Coaching, i.e. coaching that creates positive human transformation and thereby positive and sustainable leadership change. However, I use an integrative approach, meaning that we can draw from a blend of Transformative Coaching, NLP etc. and flexibly use and move between the different coaching levels depending on the focus of you as a leader.

What is transformation? Transformation is sometimes characterised as a ‘light-bulb moment’ when someone sees, hears or experiences that something has changed significantly (Pedrick, 2021: p. 3). That is what Transformative Coaching can create, namely an awareness of your inner beliefs (limiting and contributing), assumptions, values and expectations and focus in life. Those areas all affect the leader you are or want to become, or have the potential to become. Our Coaching will help facilitate that transformative change for you as a leader.

As a professional Coach, my Leadership Coaching follows the rigorous standards of the ICF Code of Ethics and ICF Core Competencies by being a member of the ICF.

Below is outlined more in detail what coaching is and is not for your overview (adapted from Bolton, 2022).

Coaching is in essence:

1. Client-led: Sessions are led by you the Leader (client), not by the Coach
2. Dialogic: We will follow a process of conversation using questions and reflection
3. Client-initiated: Desired change by you as Leader (client) needs to be made by your own actions, not done for you
4. Non-advisory: You as Leader (client) comes to the best answers for yourself or gains learning at a deeper level
5. Non-judgemental: Your Coach is open-minded and respectful and does not judge what you bring forward
6. Change oriented: Focused on creating change rather than coping mechanisms, i.e. it has clear goals or outcomes
7. Focused on potential and growth: Assuming that people can grow and change for more well-being, realising their potential
8. Not Therapy: Where past trauma, mental or physical illnesses are diagnosed/treated (e.g. by psychotherapist or psychologist)

References.

¹Pedrick, C. (2021) Simplifying Coaching: How to Have More Transformational Conversations by Doing Less, 1st ed., London: Open University Press.

²Bolton, N. (2022) What Is Transformative Coaching? London: Animas Centre for Coaching.

So, Why choose a Leadership Coaching Programme?

Because coaching has multiple great benefits for oneself and for corporations and organisations.

In an impressive and extensive meta-analysis, Theeboom, Beersma and van Vianen (2014) explored if coaching could affect performance, well-being and skills. They did an extensive research of literature and brought many nuances and caveats from it and their conclusions were (Rogers, 2016: p. 283):

“The results show that coaching has significant positive effects on performance and skills, well-being, coping, work attitudes, and goal-directed self-regulation. In general, our meta-analytic findings indicate that coaching is an effective tool for improving the functioning of individuals in organisations.”

Our Leadership Coaching has a purpose of inspiring a healthy and sustainable human high performance, well-being and growth for you as leader through Transformative Coaching.

Transformative Coaching is a specific kind of coaching that can help create a more critical self-reflection and self-awareness for you as a leader and that can enable mental paradigm shifts. This enables you to unlock your full potential in leadership.

References.

¹Theeboom, T. and Beersma, B. and van Vianen, A. E. M. (2014) Does coaching work? A meta-analysis on the effects of coaching on individual level outcomes in an organizational context, Journal of Positive Psychology 9(1): pp. 1-18.

²Rogers, J. (2016) Coaching Skills: The definitive guide to being a coach, 4th ed., Berkshire: Open University Press.

So, How do the Leadership Coaching Programmes work?

Our Leadership Coaching Programmes are typically based on 3-6 months, but can last up to 12 months depending on the leadership transition and role, complexity and the organisational context. It is fully client-led by you as a leader.

The Leadership Coaching aims to bring you transformative change as a leader and the coaching process ends upon successfully having achieved your leadership development goal or when ready to conclude the collaboration.

Coaching process:

1. Make a decision: The first initial step to begin a Leadership Coaching Programme is that you become curious about yourself and as a leader: that entails that you want to work on yourself as a human being and with your leadership as for you to positively change or develop as a leader. It might be through creating more awareness of your own leadership behaviours, values and beliefs affecting your leadership and energy management as to ensure your own and team’s physical and mental well-being.
   
   
2. Schedule Discovery Call: The second step is that you book an initial discovery call, which is a free initial calibration call prior to beginning the Leadership Coaching Programme to ensure good alignment between us and to provide overview of the Leadership Coaching Programme.
   
   These topics will be covered in the discovery call:

   – Get to know each other, build rapport and explore personal chemistry
   – An overview on the value of your Leadership Coaching Programme
   – Clarity about confidentiality and ethics involved in our Leadership Coaching collaboration
   – Discovering what topic(s) within Leadership you would like to work on short- and long-term
   

3. Deeper Signals Core Drivers and Core Values Personality Assessment: The third step is to take Deeper Signals personality assessment prior to the first coaching session to build self-awareness (takes app. 15 min).
   
   
4. Begin Leadership Coaching Programme: The fourth step is for us to decide on the most valuable Leadership Coaching Programme for you to invest in the programme and benefit the most as a leader. 
   
   
5. First Leadership Coaching session: The fifth step is the first Leadership Coaching session. All Coaching conversations are unique and a Leadership Coaching session commonly follows a process that consists of a beginning, middle and an end, i.e.:
   
   1) Part one focuses on rightsizing the conversation in partnership with you: clarifying what the conversation should be about today and what Leadership topic you want to bring forward

   2) Part two consists of open questions by your Coach in the dialogue around the topic to explore and create self-awareness3) Part three focuses on your learnings from the session and the choices, actions and commitments agreed upon by you

   We agree on how to follow up, e.g. at the next Leadership Coaching session(s).

6. Transformative change: Lastly, a Leadership Coaching Programme typically ends by successfully having achieved your leadership development goal or transformative change in your leadership.

1:1 Leadership Coaching Programme:

The offered Leadership Coaching is typically based on a 3 or 6 month programme, but can last up to 12 months depending on the leadership transition and role, complexity and the organisational context.

Main target group: 

New and more seasoned Leaders (Leader of Others, Leader of Leaders, Functional Leaders and Business Leaders) in Corporations and Organisations.

All Leadership Coaching Programmes include:

• 1 x 30 minute free discovery call prior to starting the Leadership Coaching Programme. This is to calibrate and ensure there is a good fit between you and your Coach.
• 2 x 60 minute 1:1 Leadership Coaching sessions per month (Zoom or in person)
• 1 x 60 minute Nature immersion sessions (coaching session outdoor in nature) every quarter in Zealand, Denmark
• 1 x Deeper Signals Core Drivers and Core Values personality assessment to build self-awareness (takes app. 15 min)
• Unlimited access to Coach via email and WhatsApp (typically replies within 24 hours)

Additional support options that can be added:

• Benefit from bespoke 1 x 360° Leadership assessment interview (survey) feedback

Programme investment:
All prices are including VAT.

• 3-month programme: €2660 / 19.950 DKK
• 6-month programme: €4620 / 34.650 DKK

BOOK YOUR DISCOVERY CALL HERE

Today’s modern 21st Century organisations and companies operate in a fast-paced and so-called VUCA world. It is a business context which is increasingly Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. To remain competitive in today’s world, teams need to become cohesive, agile and able to collaborate cross-functionally to be able to innovate, create value and adapt to uncertain business contexts.

Simultaneously, the pressure on Team Leaders and teams from such challenging business contexts makes it ever increasingly necessary to focus on healthy and sustainable high performance in teams where physical and mental well-being are positively balanced.

Balance is like a rhythm. It has movement to it and resilience comes when both individual team members and the whole team can alternate well between states within that rhythm. Like seasons in nature. That creates well-being and with that comes improved performance.

By having a well-balanced and healthy performance, teams are able to contribute with extended value within organisations.

The Team Coaching process builds a close coaching relationship to enable both you as a Team Leader and your team members to become a high performing and very cohesive team. The Team Coaching will help explore and discover the underlying team dynamics and issues.

The Team Coaching Programme, will be tailored to your team and business context.

Typical themes where Team Coaching will be valuable for your team are:

• To quickly achieve high performance for newly established teams
• To increase collaboration in diverse teams
• To build more unified and cohesive teams: aligned on common purpose, collective results
• To improve well-being and positively balanced high performance in the team
• In achieving performance goals and objectives
• In effectively engaging with and co-creating value cross-functionally with stakeholders
• In growing a learning team and organisation
• To positively contribute to transforming the business
• To take high performing teams to the next level

Our Team Coaching draws from 3 main practices:

• Systemic Team Coaching: Focus is on the whole team (including Team Leader) within the system, i.e. within the organisation

Hawkins (2017) defines Systemic Team Coaching as “a process by which a team coach works with a whole team, both when they are together and when they are apart, in order to help them improve both their collective performance and how they work together, and also how they develop their collective leadership to more effectively engage with all their key stakeholder groups to jointly transform the wider business.”

• Action Learning: Focus on real life problems and actions, process to build space for curiosity, inquiry, reflection and learning

Whitcomb (2008) describes Action Learning as “a group-coaching approach that uses real people to solve real problems, in real time, to obtain real results.”

“It is a process that brings people together to solve challenges, learn through reflection, and take action.”

“Action Learning groups can work on a single problem or challenge that affects the entire group or on several problems presented by individual group members.”

• Balint Groups: Focus on case from presenter, team inquiry and deep listening from presenter as team discusses case

While integrating these three Team Coaching practices, the main basis for our Team Coaching is Transformative Coaching, i.e. coaching that is transformative for the team by creating positive and sustainable change. However, I use an integrative approach, meaning that we can flexibly use and move between the different Team Coaching practices depending on the Team Leader and team members.

What is transformation? Transformation is sometimes characterised as a ‘light-bulb moment’ when someone sees, hears or experiences that something has changed significantly (Pedrick, 2021: p. 3). That is what Transformative Coaching can create, namely an awareness of inner beliefs (limiting and contributing), assumptions, values and expectations and focus in life. Those areas all affect the team dynamics. Our coaching will help facilitate that transformative change for you as the Team Leader and team members.

As a professional Coach, the Team Coaching follows the rigorous standards of the ICF Code of Ethics and ICF Core Competencies and I am a member of the ICF.

Below is outlined more in detail what Team Coaching is and is not for your overview (adapted from Bolton, 2022).

Team Coaching is in essence:

1. Client-led: Topics are led by the client, i.e. the Team Leader and team, not by the Coach
2. Dialogic: Process of conversation using team inquiry, deep listening, reflection and learning
3. Client-initiated: Desired change by the Team Leader and team needs to be achieved through own actions
4. Non-advisory: The client, i.e. the team, comes to the conclusions for themselves or gains learning at a deeper level
5. Non-judgemental: The Coach is open-minded and respectful and does not judge what the client, i.e the Team, brings forward
6. Change oriented: Focused on creating change rather than coping mechanisms, i.e. it has clear goals or outcomes
7. Focused on potential and growth: Assuming that people can grow and change for more well-being, realising their potential
8. Not Therapy: Where past trauma, mental or physical illnesses are diagnosed/treated (e.g. by psychotherapist or psychologist)

References.

¹Hawkins, P. (2017) Leadership Team Coaching: Developing Collective Transformational Leadership, 3d ed., London: Kogan Page Ltd

²Whitcomb, J. (2008) Action Learning: An Approach to Team Coaching. In: Wahl, C., Scriber, C., Bloomfield, B. (eds) On Becoming a Leadership Coach. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

³Pedrick, C. (2021) Simplifying Coaching: How to Have More Transformational Conversations by Doing Less, 1st ed., London: Open University Press.

⁴Bolton, N. (2022) What Is Transformative Coaching? London: Animas Centre for Coaching.

So, Why choose a Team Coaching Programme?

Because coaching has multiple great benefits for oneself, teams and for corporations and organizations.

In an impressive and extensive meta-analysis, Theeboom, Beersma and van Vianen (2014) explored if coaching could affect performance, well-being and skills. They did an extensive research of literature and brought many nuances and caveats from it and their conclusions were (Rogers, 2016: p. 283):

“The results show that coaching has significant positive effects on performance and skills, well-being, coping, work attitudes, and goal-directed self-regulation. In general, our meta-analytic findings indicate that coaching is an effective tool for improving the functioning of individuals in organisations.”

Our Team Coaching looks at the individual and team as a whole. It has a purpose of inspiring a healthy and sustainable high performance, well-being and positive change for you as Team Leader and team member through Transformative Coaching.

Transformative Coaching is a specific kind of coaching that can help create more critical self-reflection and self-awareness for you as a Team Leader and team member, which can enable transformative change in team dynamics and collaboration.

This can enable you to unlock your full potential as a team.

References.

¹Theeboom, T. and Beersma, B. and van Vianen, A. E. M. (2014) Does coaching work? A meta-analysis on the effects of coaching on individual level outcomes in an organisational context, Journal of Positive Psychology 9(1): pp. 1-18.

²Rogers, J. (2016) Coaching Skills: The definitive guide to being a coach, 4th ed., Berkshire: Open University Press.

So, How do the Team Coaching Programmes work?

Our Team Coaching Programmes are typically based on 6-12 months programmes depending on the team, its team dynamics and business context.

The Team Coaching aims to bring you Transformative change as a team and the coaching process is fully tailored to your team development needs.

Team Coaching process:

1. Awareness: The first initial step to begin a Team Coaching Programme is that you as Team Leader become aware of issues or challenges in how your team work together, e.g. related to a lack of or inconsistent performance, communication, pressures on well-being etc. – Based on that awareness, you decide to explore what Team Coaching can do for your team.
   
   
2. Schedule Discovery Call: The second step is that you book an initial discovery call, which is a free initial calibration call prior to beginning the Team Coaching Programme to ensure good fit between us and to provide an overview of the Team Coaching Programme.
   
   These topics will be covered in the discovery call:

   – Get to know each other, build rapport and explore personal chemistry
   – An overview on the value of a Team Coaching Programme
   – Clarity about confidentiality and ethics involved in Team Coaching Programme
   – Discovering preliminary outcome(s) of the Team Coaching short- and long-term
   – Scheduling the sign-off session with Team Leader and Sponsor

3. Begin Team Coaching Programme: The third step is for us to tailor the most valuable Team Coaching Programme either as a 6-month programme or 12-month programme at a sign-off session with you as Team Leader and your business Sponsor. At this session the Team Coaching Programme is scoped, agreed upon and signed off together.

4. Team Coaching sessions: We kick-off the Team Coaching sessions by starting off with a team discovery and exploration session based on inquiry, listening and reflective dialogue drawing from Systemic Team Coaching, Action Learning and Balint style coaching to understand the team, its underlying challenges and internal team dynamics in its business context.
   
   Next, based on the initial discovery session, the focus of the coming Team Coaching Programme is further developed, refined, agreed and contracted.

   Coming Team Coaching sessions are scheduled and the Team Coaching Programme is executed upon together.

5. Debriefing and Learning: Lastly, the Team Coaching Programme ends by successfully having achieved your Team Coaching objective and transformative change for the team.
   
   Debriefing: The Team Coaching Programme is reviewed and we evaluate the positive transformative changes for the team. Learnings from the group are captured and used for next steps and actions.

Tailored Team Coaching Programme:

The offered Team Coaching is typically based on a 6 or 12 month programme depending on the team, its context and the dynamics of the team. The programme is tailored to your needs working closely together with you as Team Leader and team members.

Main target group: 

Newly established teams, leadership teams, agile teams, project teams, sports teams in corporations and organizations.

All Team Coaching Programmes include:

• 1 x 30 minute free discovery call prior to starting the Team Coaching collaboration.
  This is to calibrate and ensure there is a good fit between the Coach and Team Leader.
• 1 x 60-90 minute Sign-off with Team Leader and Business Sponsor: scoping and agreement of Team Coaching
• 2 x 60 minute Team Coaching sessions with Team Leader and team per month (Zoom or in person)
• Unlimited access to Coach via email and WhatsApp (typically replies within 24 hours)

Additional support options that can be added:

• 1 x 60 minute 1:1 coaching session with Team Leader every month (Zoom or in person)
• 1 x 60 minute Nature immersion session (coaching session outdoor in nature) every quarter in Zealand, Denmark
• ½-1 Day (4-8 hours) of “shadowing” of Team Leader and team in own organisation
• 1 x Deeper Signals Team Dynamic assessment of diversity and combined strengths & gaps (Core Values and Core Drivers)

Programme investment:

• 6 or 12 month programme tailored to your needs — contact me for pricing or book a discovery call

BOOK YOUR DISCOVERY CALL HERE

Kolb (1984: p. 38) describes experiential learning or learning as “…the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience.”

The basis for all of our Team Building and Team Development is outdoors in nature through practical and active experiential learning. Nature is a great playing field, where ideas can be tried out in real life, while learning based on experiences in the team.

That means that team members are activated in various exercises and they receive continuous feedback to learn and adapt.

Overall, experiential learning can be categorised by David Kolb’s (1984: p. 30) four-stage learning cycle:

1) Concrete experience, i.e. either having actual experience or re-interpreting an experience
2) Reflective observation, i.e. reflecting on the new or re-interpreted experience related to existing knowledge
3) Abstract conceptualization, i.e. learning from the experience and/or modifying abstract concept
4) Active experimentation, i.e. trying out and applying what you have learned

Teams and Groups are different constellations and it is worthwhile to distinguish between the two terms as they are often wrongly used interchangeably. However, that clarification is important when outlining Team Building and Team Development. 

Katzenberg and Smith (1993) defined a Team as “a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.”

For a Working Group on the other hand, individual accountability is most important (Katzenberg & Smith, 1993). Focus for a Group is always on individual goals and accountabilities, so group members don’t take responsibility for results other than their own (Katzenberg & Smith, 1993).

So a Team is characterised by sharing a common purpose and working together to achieve individual and common goals and results. A Group is on the other hand only focused on individual goals and accountabilities.

Teams are established and the cooperation is developed to high performance through different development stages and my Team Building and Team Development address these different stages of development for teams.

These stages are well illustrated below by Bruce Tuckman’s Team Development model:

Bruce Tuckman’s Team Development Stages (Tuckman, 1965)

1. Forming: Team is established (formed) and meets for the first time, a phase of orientation and getting acquainted.
2. Storming: Team is experiencing conflict, tension and competition due to different behaviours and ways of working.
   Team performance might decrease during this stage.
3. Norming: Team conflicts resolved, mutual norms established, more unity, trust and role clarity evolves.
   Team performance increases due to better collaboration.
4. Performing: Team cooperation is well-established, strong team cohesion, now a High Performance Team.
   Team performance is at its highest level.
5. Adjourning: Team accomplishes its tasks and/or is dissolved or re-organized as a Team.

Below is outlined in detail what our Team Building and Team Development are to clarify definitions and distinguish between them for your overview. We are able to switch between the two depending on the purpose and outcome needed for your team and their development stage as a team. 

The Team Building and Team Development are based on the safety and professional guidelines by BFTL – The Danish Trade Association for Team Building & Leadership Training. Both are targeted at specific team development stages as above.

The Team Building is based on its specific outcome:

Outcome 1. Where the experiences/activities have the sole purpose to strengthen the social interaction, create motivation and for team members to experience each other in different ways. 

Characterised as Team Building to establish and build new cooperation in teams (aimed at teams in the Forming stage).
Is often shorter in duration (e.g. 3-4 hours to a whole Team Day) involving fun, social and motivating activities.

Outcome 2.
Where the exercises are not the outcome in itself, but means to show a behaviour, which can be evaluated and afterwards process developed with the team.

These are Team Development activities involving team process consultancy (aimed at teams in Storming-Performing stages)
Here exercises can be part of the process as means to develop the team towards becoming a high-performing team.

References.

¹Kolb, D. A. (1984) Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development (Vol. 1). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

²Katzenberg, J. R. and Smith D. K. (1993) The Discipline of Teams (March-April). Havard Business Review.

³Tuckman, B. W. (1965) Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63(6), pp. 384–399.

So, Why choose our Team Building and Team Development?

We offer Team Building and Team Development specifically designed to take place outside in nature as a soothing playground and immersive experiential learning space.

Nature-based activities and/or expedition-style teamwork will create new and unfamiliar contexts that participants have to adapt to and new skills teams need to adopt to become successful as a team. It may drive them into new patterns of action where they learn new habits and working styles.

However, nature-based activities that might involve simple, basic and primitive contexts being outdoors can also build certain routines revolving around expedition-style teamwork (e.g. to pack, navigate, set up camp together, create shelter, build a fire, break camp etc.).

All of that will enable you to experience each other in your team in different ways or the exercises and activities outside in nature can show behaviours or behavioural patterns that can be process developed with your Team to create high transferable organisational or business impact.

Furthermore, our Team Building and Team Development have an added purpose of creating increased interest for the great outdoors, for nature.

So, How does Team Building and Team Development work?

The activities are based on two different framework activities (tailored around your needs), i.e. a 2-Day Team Expedition focused on Team Development and a Team Day of ½-1 Day, which can be either focused on Team Building or Team Development. 

We use a development process to ensure transferable value for your team and business or organisation based on 4 phases:

P-D-L-T process:

PLAN: First phase is the main planning and preparation, e.g. the Why, What and How of the development process: Purpose, outcomes and goals of activities are planned and the different aspects needed for preparation are clarified. 

That entails 1 x 60-90 minute sign off and planning meeting with Team Leader and Business Sponsor to agree on:

• WHO: Participants, who does what, roles and responsibilities
• WHAT: Kind of activity, logistics, what to bring, food, water, rent of equipment, expenses for use of location, transportation etc.
• WHERE: Location, venue for activity
• WHY: Purpose of the activity, outcomes and goals to gain from it (e.g. development needs of team)
• HOW: Preparation involves assessing the team development stage (Tuckman) and cohesiveness as a team (Five Behaviors)
• WHEN: Planning of timeline (e.g. 4-6 weeks in advance of activity)
• SAFETY: Consider risks, safety aspects and create planning overview of any injuries or disabilities to ensure inclusion

DO: Second phase is the doing phase, where the activities are conducted, e.g. the execution of the planned development: This involves my facilitation of the exercises while having attention on the individual and team as a whole.

Time for the execution of activities and the exercises themselves depends on the team members and whether it is a 2-Day Team Expedition or Team Day of ½-1 Day. 

LEARN: Third phase is continuous learning review and debriefing of activities and what happened: lessons learned, what to improve, what worked well to continuously adapt in the team. Involves evaluation related to future business impact.

TRANSFER: Lastly, the fourth phase is about ensuring transferable organisational or business value through knowledge transfer that can be impactful for your team when you all return to your organisation.

This entails implementing knowledge and learnings from activities and the actions agreed upon.

Those post-activity actions can be complemented by:

1) Team Coaching in corporation or organisation after activity
2) ½-1 Day of “shadowing” of team and Team Leader in own organisation
3) Testing and evaluation of the learnings from activities in own daily context