Coaching and aligning a team

Conflict normally exists in an organization since people dealing with one another have their own preconceived bias, agenda, and motives. Moreover, officers in an organization have to perform their duties objectively and that could mean being critical of other team players too. The advice for the Chairman of the board would be that he should avoid being a guru, instead he must act like a team leader since it is important to pacify the issues between the Board and management team. The success of a team depends heavily on the collaboration of team members. This cooperation among team members can be enhanced further by the leadership of the team leader. For the time being, the Chairman must play the role of the team leader and must consider the fact that even when team members are intelligent or hard-working, each member has their own strengths and weaknesses. His experience and wisdom can ably guide the management team to work together. However, initially it can be a daunting task to ensure that each team member has left any previous experiences and biases behind so they can focus solely on the current situation. Katzenbach and Smith (1993), write in an article titled, The discipline of teams, note “ When individuals approach a team situation, especially in a business setting, each has preexisting job assignments as well as strengths and weaknesses reflecting a variety of talents, backgrounds, personalities, and prejudices” (p. 168). This meant being very effective in coaching the management team to focus on their rolees and stay out of politics. The chairman must also learn how to listen to the members of the Board but he must be firm in emphasizing that they should not be involved in the operational aspects.
Another advice that the Chairman of the Board can take is that he must employ his excellent interpersonal skills. This would mean being open, frank, or straightforward in his transactions with both management team and board members. It would be helpful to have good demeanor in communicating with the team since they are all professionals; however, as Chairman, he must speak out his mind to arrest the situation. He could start by having a personal briefing to each member ( both mgt, team and board members) so he can address the issues directly and succinctly. By doing so, he is evaluating the opinion of each person which can help him make his own decisions later. In short, he is consulting the people as a coach.
Managers do appear to prefer medium by corresponding it to the richness of the medium. Studies such as that of Mintzberg (1972) did find that managers favored to employ face-to-face means of communication rather than the more official black and white reports because such official reports were said to be ill-timed and inadequate for the non-routine and uncertain tasks of managers. Under the richness scale, face-to-face communication is the richest medium. Good interpersonal communication invites openness and build trust from team members that is why it is a requirement for good coaches. If the Chairman can resolve the issues by lessening the conflict through effective coaching, then organizational goals would be met.
Refrences:
Mintzberg, H (1973), The Nature of Managerial Work, Harper Collins
Katzenbach, J., & Smith, D. (1993, March). The discipline of teams. Harvard Business Review
, 71(2), 111-120.