And yet it moves, in Italian “E pur si muove!”. It is a phrase attributed to one of the most famous Italian mathematicians and physicists: Galileo Galilei. This phrase was connected to his strong belief that the Earth moved around the Sun.
When I start the conversation with a new prospect, a potential future client, with the idea to offer our coaching products to new organisations, sometimes I love to mention Galileo’s quote, when I see that they are really sceptical about Coaching and Team Coaching.
When I meet a new HR or L & D Director or Manager, after the icebreaker I love to start with this simple, short and direct question: What helps your teams / organisation the most to move forward?
- Some of them don’t know exactly what to answer;
- Most of them confirm that they have already a training program in place, but they are not sure on what the results are;
- And very few of them have in place a tailored program that really helps the team.
When we start the conversation with a potential new client, we should bear in mind to use and adapt the coaching approach with them during the meeting. As coaches, we have two important muscles that we’ve developed and we should use in this situation as well: active listening and powerful questions. Don’t forget of course to build the rapport and use your intuition when needed.
I changed the “I” into “we”, in this article, because all coaching programs with companies are generally designed, shared and delivered by a team of coaches and not by a single professional. This is how we work and in my humble opinion, a must!!!
Instead of providing solutions, make the questions:
- What would you like to achieve?
- What is the goal that you would like to obtain in the next one or three years?
- If you have a magic wand, what spell would you cast?
- Tell me more?
As you can see, all the questions must be deliberately concise, precisely to encourage exploration, the development of creative thinking and the interlocutor’s imagination. One of the powerful tools and approaches studied at Kingstown College, which we use a lot in this phase of developing the rapport and at the beginning of the designing is the Appreciative Inquiry. Try to think how this model could be rethought, in order to help the potential client to trust you and your programs, to continue listening to you and to set up a second or a third meeting, in which to outline a potential Group Coaching Program (GCP) and/or a Team Coaching Program (TCP) with one of the teams that have and need this kind of approach.
Just like in individual coaching, the solutions in these meetings come from them and not from us (Team Coaches). It is the way meetings are conducted, how questions are being asked, that helps them to explore and identify their needs, their reality and helps the interlocutor to focus on what is working well instead of what their problems are.
For instance, an interesting approach during the meetings, to start a conversation, can be to combine and use in the background two powerful tools, the Appreciative Inquiry and the GROW model.
What I mainly try to emphasize during our chemistry meetings with companies (yes, because maybe we need more than one) is that, in a Group Coaching and Team Coaching path, we will work, train and enhance the individual and team skills, that are the basis of improving the performance of the team itself.
Within the Team Coaching it is important to bring out and highlight that, together with the team, we explore the values of the Team,
Within Team Coaching it is important to bring out and highlight that, together with the team, we explore the Team’s values, their limiting beliefs, their potential distortions (as individuals and as a group) and how to strengthen their bonds. Exactly as happens in the chemistry of atoms.
Think of the covalent bond between two atoms that share a pair of electrons. Similarly, two team members can share an experience, a personal skill or competence. This can help them to bond and perform better with the project that they need to achieve.
The Appreciative Inquiry, a model for helping to drive the change within the organisations
How can we adapt the Appreciative Inquiry to a potential new client? Do you remember the 4D or 5D tool? It is a very useful tool that you can adapt to this situation. And help the potential client to stay and think positive.
Start preparing your first meeting by opening the client’s perspective, to understand why and the what he might want to work with you or how you could help him. Similar to a one-on-one coaching program,reflect before and after every meeting. Remember to ask your prospect for feedback at the end of each meeting.
- What did you find interesting / useful / of particular helpful during our meeting?
- What could we deepen during our next meeting?
- What would you have expected from us that we haven’t discussed today?
And as with any tool you use, remember that you can go back and forward to a different phase at any time, when necessary.
Phase 0: Definition
Be prepared, be ready to start a conversation about what are your kind of interventions and products that you can offer to them and some statistics that can support you during your conversation. Prepare an agenda for the meeting with very open and powerful questions:
- What would you like to achieve?
- What is the goal that you would like to obtain in the next one or three years?
- How can you integrate the two teams or organisations?
Phase 1: Discovery
This part is the most interesting and delicate. As in a chess game, openness is fundamental and will have repercussions throughout the future relationship. Focus on what works well and stay in the positive space. Structure the questions so they can stay in this positive space. If your interlocutor moves on to problems, you have to try to bring them back to what works well or has worked well in the past, possibly even in a different organisation in which they previously worked for.
Some useful and powerful questions at this phase could be:
- What do you think might be useful that you have already put into practice?
- What could you develop that worked well in a company you worked for previously?
- How might you use an experience or idea that made you proud?
Phase 2: Dream
This is where you and the client can really make a difference with the Appreciative Inquiry approach. All fears, potential obstacles or walls can be torn down or bypassed. The rational part must leave room to creativity and imagination. Some useful questions at this stage might be:
- What would you like to offer to your organisation?
- If you had a magic wand what product would you offer to your organisation?
- Which team would you like to start with? What kind of program do you plan to offer?
- What kind of feedback would you like to receive at the end of the programme?
Here the only limit the customers can have is their imagination.
Phase 3: Design
Based on the time you have for the first meeting, generally an hour or an hour and a half, now is the time to start putting on the ground and start to design what the project could be. Use your intuition to figure out if the customer is ready to move to the phase. Maybe it could be better to wait for the next meeting, so as to give the client time and space to reflect on what we has discussed and what they wishes to achieve.
In this case offer the opportunity to the potential client to reflect on how and what the program look like to them:
- How can the impact be?
- What is the audience? Who is this program for?
- What is the outcome that you would like to achieve?
- How can you measure success?
- What is the feedback that a participant could give you?
Phase 4: Delivery
In the hope that the conversation, meeting after meeting, proceeds as planned, we have to be always ready with a draft proposal, just in case. It could even take weeks or a few months. Haste is not a good counsellor or friend; sometimes the client may not be ready yet. At the same time, when you are going to share with them, you give the customer the opportunity to personalise and adapt your proposal. Support them when they request your experience / expertise and share some ideas or proposals if necessary. In these situations, ask them:
- What do you think of my suggestion, advice or proposal?
- What would you like to add or to change?
- How do you think this could impact your organisation?
- Which kind of impact would you like to see?
At each phase it is important to give back to the future client what they have said, summarise and reflect back. This helps you to be sure that you have understood exactly what they are saying, what they need and what they want. At the same time help them to understand that you are truly and actively listening and are aligned with their needs.
Also, clarify with your interlocutor that these types of interventions, being linked to processes of change in habits, behaviours or beliefs, need a certain amount of time to be effective, sometimes months. Interventions in pills are much more valid than intensive programs. Collective intelligence will benefit if the coaches who will facilitate the journey will be able to work in symbiosis and in harmony with the group or with the team.
It is important to help the team to move from a stable equilibrium point to another stable learning equilibrium point so that they cannot regress and return to the starting point or even further back.
Before completing the process, you can help the prospect (we hope at this point a client) to define how to measure the success and what should be the desired outcome.
In between every phase, take the time to reflect on What went well? What could be improved? What is worth adding when you will meet a new potential client?
And remember that for both the clients and the Team Coaches … And yet it moves
And we always remember the quote from Galileo Galilei… And yet it moves… it applies to everyone: for clients, their teams and for team coaches as well.
About the author
Fabio Garganego is a Faculty Member at Kingstown College and a Life and Career Coach with a particular interest in Corporate Well-Being and team coaching. He has over 10 years experience in coaching and mentoring teams in different organisations. Fabio is a native of Italy, fluent in French, English. He has been working and living in Ireland for the last 7 years.
He has a Master degree in Electronic Engineering and a Master in Organisation, Management and Innovation. He is the co-founder of Pentago, a team coaching company that operates in Ireland, UK and Italy.
