27 March 2007

Group work is not only for schools and colleges. It is also a rapidly growing trend among today's business community. The demand for efficiency and flexibility has never been greater and that can put any team of different types of people and skills under pressure. So companies are using team coaching as a tool for getting the necessary dynamics.

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"It's largely a question of managers having the courage to visibly trust staff, both as individuals and as a team. Regardless of whether the manager is standing on the sidelines thinking 'I could have done that a thousand times faster' or not. And if staff begin to think that the whip is being raised rather than a trail being blazed for them to find their own way, they will eventually, individually and as a team, lose their enthusiasm and motivation. That's not the way to keep good people. Trust and respect are the most fundamental values in relationships between two people. And this also applies to managers and staff."

But dynamic teams benefit as much as the companies they work for, because individuals are also interested in sharing success.

"It's also very much a matter of valuable personal development for the individual employee," says Martin Erichsen, coach and motivation expert. "A manager's support gives team members insight into their own skills and then instead of accepting defeat, they develop tools for solving problems that inevitably occur during change or conflicts. If you see yourself as an important part of the company's everyday work, you can generate enough satisfaction and motivation to make you want to stay and create synergy in your team and spread it throughout the company."

Both Martin Erichsen and Mads Hermansen, professor in educational studies from Copenhagen Business School, agree that you can transfer self-confidence and acknowledgement to the rest of your life, whether it is your relationship with your mother-in-law, your partner, friends or whoever.