A highly capable board-level company secretary seems to sit on the fence during any decision-making. How can coaching draw out her many undoubted skills?
The issue
Steven is the CEO of a UK property management organisation based in London, but operating across Europe. The company secretary, Sophie, is experienced, knowledgeable and excellent at her role.
She is well regarded by the chairman and in her role as company secretary she attends all board meetings and completes the board minutes. Steven believes she has much more to contribute to the senior team and the overall business. However, he is conscious that he needs to handle his concerns diplomatically and retain the chairman’s support and positive perception of Sophie’s performance.
Other members of the executive team, (all male including the chairman), also feel that she doesn’t contribute as much as she could, and that when there are difficult decisions to make she hides behind her professional role. They interpret this as her sitting on the fence rather than contributing to their debates. This leads to less cohesion and team accountability.
Steven would like support in getting her to express her views at executive meetings and within the team more fully, including her experience of working in other organisations. He feels that her experience and role mean she can add a different perspective, one that will add diversity to the decision-making and effectiveness of this already successful team.
How can coaching contribute here?
The solutions
Carol Whitaker
Founder, Whitaker Consulting
Sophie seems to be sticking to her comfort zone – the area in which she is competent and experienced. What is stopping her from contributing more in the executive team? In coaching, we’d explore how maybe she lacks confidence or belief in the value of her contributions. Maybe she sees her role as in service to the executive team rather than as a contributing member. Maybe she fears that, as the only female on the team, she might not be listened to.
A one-to-one coaching programme would create a safe space to explore these questions and how the situation looks from Sophie’s perspective. Involving Steven in the initial objective setting and reflection and review session at the end would set the agenda and reinforce the need for change.
But this isn’t just Sophie’s problem; it’s an opportunity for the whole team. How does the team dynamic contribute to Sophie’s lack of contribution?
We’d explore how often team members will take on unconscious or informal roles within the team. For example, the maverick, the nurturing one, the entertainer, the naysayer. What role is Sophie playing? Has Sophie fallen into a role that women often play of being nurturing and supporting? Is the rest of the team colluding with her in this? Although team members say that they want her to contribute more, they may unconsciously reward her servicing activities more strongly than her individual contributions.
A team coaching intervention to explore roles within the team will help the whole team become more aware of the roles they play. Being stuck in a role can lead to ‘role fatigue’, where a person feels trapped in the role they play. Bringing this into awareness gives all team members more choice to leave behind roles they have been playing for a long time and take on new ones.
Committing to trying new perspectives in a team setting will encourage support and accountability from the rest of the team.
Jenny Plaister-Ten
Founder, 10 Consulting
There are a number of voices missing from this scenario.
First, Sophie’s. An initial chemistry meeting would illuminate her appetite for developmental coaching. She’s been singled out and challenged to contribute more so the team can benefit from diverse thinking. As the lone female in a male-dominated team, she may feel persecuted.
The ‘voice of role clarity’ is missing too. It may transpire in contracting that Sophie sees her role very differently from the others. Is she required to uphold compliance with the law and best practice or take minutes? This needs to be bottomed out. It may then open the way for a developmental journey that incorporates training or further study. As Sophie is well regarded by the chairman, this is unlikely to be resisted.
And the ‘voice of the whole team’. Interestingly, the team appears to have assumed she’s the only person capable of offering a diverse viewpoint, suggesting some ‘groupthink’ going on. As a highly homogenous team, they’re unlikely to benefit from many diverse perspectives. A team diagnostic tool would help to explore the mix of roles – such as Belbin, or one that enables team members to understand themselves better – such as Insights.
Finally, ‘the voice of the system’. It would help to uncover other aspects of the system that are under-represented – such as the voice of other team members, customers, supply chain or from partners in other cultures across Europe. A systemic level of enquiry would enable the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legislative and Environmental context/s (PESTLE) to be considered.
Thorough contracting, investigation and diagnosis at individual, team and organisation levels is needed before the coaching can take place – a far cry from the original brief.