Imagine a boat on the high seas, but with no clear destination. The focus isn't on where to go, but on managing the day-to-day, adjusting the sails for each new project. The crew is talented, but they don't row together. This is how many teams experience change: with individual competence, but without collective alignment.
This is what I found in a team spread across several countries. A capable but overwhelmed leader. We began with coaching the leader and, in parallel, a team satisfaction assessment across several dimensions. The initial picture was clear: low satisfaction in almost all areas of team functioning.
In team coaching, we start with the essentials: we work with clarity – purpose, vision, and objectives. Several studies show that this is the area that underpins everything else and has the greatest impact on team morale. They arrived at three key objectives, shared by everyone, aligned with change trends in team coaching, and decisive for the team's purpose. The relief was immediate: finally, everyone was rowing in the same direction.
But there was another invisible current pulling the boat away. Part of the team was rational and intuitive, focused on the future, trends, and the creation of new services. Another part lived in the present, focusing on processes and relationships. These equally valuable perspectives constantly clashed, creating conflicts and communication issues. When we made this visible, the dialogue changed: they began to accommodate the needs of both profiles, and communication gained clarity and balance.
Three months later, the assessment using the same questionnaire showed a transformation: satisfaction had increased across the board. More than improving cooperation, the team gained the confidence to face whatever came their way.
If you're also facing turbulent seas, ensure these three aspects:
1 – Have a strong rudder where the purpose, vision, and three or four objectives are crystal clear to the entire team to reduce uncertainty and accelerate decision-making.
2 – Treat differences between people as additional sails for your boat. Leverage differences in personality, generation, gender, and culture to transform conflicts into collective strength.
3 – Build resilience through regular alignment and feedback sessions with the team.
In change management, it's not enough to resist the waves—you need inspiring leaders, aligned and complementary teams, and self-awareness to adjust course. We do this through diagnostics and progress assessment, coaching to strengthen leadership, and team coaching to align objectives, promote complementarity, and facilitate communication. Coaching acts like a lighthouse: it illuminates, guides, and gives the courage to navigate uncertain seas.
Isabel Freire de Andrade, Bright Concept's CEO
This article was published in issue no. 31 of Líder magazine. Translated to english.