Your team: connected, aligned and committed
For teams ready to change, step up, and do the real work of working well together Book a complimentary discovery callContactIs this your team?
- Feeling disconnected, maybe you’re a hybrid team or spread across time zones
- Newly formed and trying to find your rhythm
- Conflict is avoided, or it gets messy
- Struggling with silos, misalignment or mistrust
- Feeling overwhelmed or burned out
- Unsure of what success looks like now, or how to get there
I get it. I’ve been there too
I know what it’s like to feel disconnected from the team. To hold back my ideas, to stay polite. I’ve worked on teams when conflict was avoided, when people smiled and said “I’m fine”. I’ve experienced all of that in teams right across my career, so I know how it feels. That’s why I do this work.
Team relationships impact the work
At work, we often try to stay heads-down and task-focused. Thing is, research by Dr John Gottman shows that 69% of problems in relationships are persistent. The issues don’t get solved and they will occur again and again. At best they get managed. The same is true in teams.
What I now know is that business happens through relationships. So, when relationships break down, so does performance. That’s where team coaching can be a powerful force for transformation and an important step in increasing performance.
When we ignore the relationships that power the work, the cracks start to show. Picture a brick wall: the bricks are your tasks; the cement is your relationships. Without the cement that wall won’t hold for long.
Team coaching empowers teams
At work, we often try to stay heads-down and task-focused. Thing is, research by Dr John Gottman shows that 69% of problems in relationships are
coaching strengthens the cement. It gives teams the space and tools to:
- Build psychological safety and deepen trust and connection
- Align behind a shared purpose and clear ways of working
- Shift from toxic to productive conflict
- Have the conversations they’ve been avoiding
- Create more engagement, which means better retention
- Ultimately improve team performance!
Your team won’t just perform better. You’ll feel better.
That’s why I coach teams.
Team relationships impact the work
At work, we often try to stay heads-down and task-focused. Thing is, research by Dr John Gottman shows that 69% of problems in relationships are persistent. The issues don’t get solved and they will occur again and again. At best they get managed. The same is true in teams.
What I now know is that business happens through relationships. So, when relationships break down, so does performance. That’s where team coaching can be a powerful force for transformation and an important step in increasing performance.
When we ignore the relationships that power the work, the cracks start to show. Picture a brick wall: the bricks are your tasks; the cement is your relationships. Without the cement that wall won’t hold for long.
Team coaching empowers teams
Team coaching strengthens the cement. It gives teams the space and tools to:
- Build psychological safety and deepen trust and connection
- Align behind a shared purpose and clear ways of working
- Shift from toxic to productive conflict
- Have the conversations they’ve been avoiding
- Create more engagement, which means better retention
- Ultimately improve team performance!
Your team won’t just perform better. You’ll feel better.
That’s why I coach teams.
Teams I work with
I’ve coached many teams — including global, cross-regional teams or hybrid teams navigating complexity, disconnection, and change; senior and mid-level teams across tech, media, design, and beyond where innovation and disruption are part of the everyday; and teams where creativity matters, which are realising they need more of it, more agility, more bold thinking to stay relevant and move forward.
I coach teams who want more: more trust, clarity, cohesion and productivity!
Team 8+ people?
And, when teams of over 8 people come to me, I bring in Vanessa, my team coaching partner. If that sounds like the size of your team and you want to find out how we work together, then pop over to us at Owl and Weaver.
My approach to team coaching
I use Organisation and Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSC) – a powerful, globally respected methodology for coaching teams. I’m not just trained in it. I teach it. As a faculty member for CRR Global, I bring deep expertise in systems thinking and team dynamics.
I LOVE ORSC: Knowing and practicing ORSC has changed my work and impacted my life too. Because now I approach my relationships with a systemic lens which can be so insightful and pragmatic, helping me get present to the current relationship, into what’s here now, and what’s wanting to happen next. It can do the same for you and your team.
This work doesn’t focus on individuals. It unlocks the team’s collective intelligence. That means more empathy, openness, shared responsibility, and ultimately, better outcomes.
Number and frequency of team coaching sessions
After the complimentary discovery call, I’ll create the team coaching proposal which will include my approach including the key area/s of focus and the quantity and frequency of team coaching sessions. For example, we might focus on a single full-day workshop or it might be you’re looking for deeper impact so a longer programme of six half-day workshops, possibly some in-person and others virtual over a six-month period might be more appropriate. Regardless, I will always work around your needs, resources and outcomes.
Your team getting real, going deep making work better
Team coaching isn’t always easy. It requires courage and vulnerability – and I model both;
- I will be real and honest. I’ll call things out, so you’ll have the conversations you’ve been avoiding.
- I bring vulnerability, to invite it from others, so all perspectives are on the table.
- I will show empathy and compassion when the team needs more heart.
- I bring energy and purposeful humour (what I call Jester Wisdom) to help the team lean into tough conversations and move through them together.
From experience, I can tell you: when a team commits to the deep work, lasting change follows.
Contact
Drop me a message or book a complimentary discovery call. Let’s explore our fit and consider the optimum approach for your team.
Clients
I’ve been trusted as a team coach, leadership coach or facilitator, either directly or through partnerships or associations by people at:
AB InBev, Axxon Media, Bedales School, Blu449, Capita, Cisco, DAN, Fibre , Fircroft Primary School, Glasswall, Grifols, Havas, Intercom, Iris, J&J, IKEA, Linamar, LinkedIn, Mars Petcare, Matillion, McCann, Nokia, PA Consulting Puma, Rothesay Life, Salesforce, Save the Children, SAP, St George’s University, The Trade Desk, Vilniaus, Volvo, Westminster Drug Project.
* Other clients request confidentiality and are absent from this list.
“I want to express my gratitude for the exceptional coaching sessions Duncan has provided to me and my leadership team. His ability to bring people together, break down barriers, and build trust is truly remarkable. His considered, proactive, and supportive approach has been instrumental in fostering a collaborative environment in my team. The wide array of tools and techniques he employs to support and encourage engagement from everyone is impressive. The sessions he conducts flows seamlessly, continually breaking down barriers, building trust and respect, and empowering individuals to work side by side towards a common goal. The impact of his coaching has been profound, and I cannot thank him enough for his dedication and expertise. I am more than happy to provide this testimonial, and I highly recommend his services to anyone seeking to enhance leadership and teamwork in teams and across organisations.”
“The team coaches are incredible! We did a 3-hour facilitated session at our team offsite, and the focus was on building trust. The team was slow to engage, and as Duncan and Vanessa took us through the process, we achieved amazing results. The team building session broke down walls and allowed us to really see each other in a different light. We are now more empathetic to each other as individuals and more collaborative. We are carrying this forward and doing another session to build on this great momentum. We received feedback on how this session was the highlight of the 4-day offsite and that the team wished we did it sooner. I appreciate how they truly understand our culture and environment and custom tailored the session to fit our needs. Duncan and Vanessa are an amazing team and their energy and style made this challenging work FUN! I’d highly recommend working with them in the future.”
“For me, the most useful thing was the structure, time and space he gave us to learn more about each other and, thus, better understand where each of us is coming from in our work separately and together. I really enjoyed the sessions and would recommend them to leaders who want to improve their team and who are committed to this approach of doing so.”
“Working with Duncan has been a truly meaningful experience for our team. At a time when we were looking to reconnect and continue to build trust, the team coaches helped create the space for us to slow down, be honest, and really see one another. Duncan and Vanessa are quite the dynamic duo, they were incredibly easy to work with: grounded, warm, intuitive, and always respectful of where the team was at. They asked the right questions, read the room beautifully, and helped guide us through conversations we may not have had on our own. Our team left that experience more connected, more honest, and better equipped to work together. I’m so grateful for the time we have had with Duncan and his team. I’d highly recommend them to any team looking to grow in trust and connection.”
“I was very impressed with how at ease Duncan and Julie made the team, and the visual and interactive methods they used to enable us to extract the thoughts we needed to define our direction were incredibly insightful. Our sessions were tailored based on how the team responded and then developed between each one. By the end of the process the team could feel a remarkable difference in how we felt individually and collectively. It has left us with great tools and motivation to continually improve.”
“I would recommend Duncan and Julie to support your Senior Leadership Team in having challenging conversations with difficult and/or established staff. It gave us the tools to engage staff in learning conversations about performance, students and teaching.”
“The experience our team had with Duncan and Julie was one that naturally developed over the sessions, much like a friendship. I think at first people were shy opening up a part of themselves that rarely gets seen in the workplace, whilst others were much more comfortable with the process. What is great is that Duncan and Julie have a dynamic that allows you to feel comfortable and brave without needing to take yourself too seriously, which helps open up communication. Although we still have some more work to do as a team, I am grateful for the techniques we learned and the shared space we had to “play” with each other. The main thing I have taken away from the sessions is the level of comfort that I now have interacting with my team, as I feel that I know them a lot better.”