Is your team doing its rehab, or is it relying on surgery?

If you’re wondering how on earth these ideas are connected, read on. New York-based orthopedic surgeon Howard Luks MD posted something on LinkedIn this week that really grabbed our attention.

“Too many people believe that surgery is a finish line. It’s not. It’s a turning point.”

We have noticed that many leaders want Team Coaches, and other consultants like Organisational Development Specialists, to come in and “fix” their teams and their culture. Now. For immediate results. They hope that somehow these experts will deliver a quick incisive intervention that may hurt a little, but the lasting effect will be miraculously transformative.

Luks the surgeon also says “Surgery Helps Less Than You Think — But Rehab Helps More”. We love this as an analogy for the work we do. We recognise that the critical part of team coaching is not what happens during sessions, but between sessions and after the process.

• This is where the hard work of changing behaviour happens.

The focus of the work our directors Sindiswa Calana and Cecil Murray do is on relationship aspects, helping teams do the heavy lifting of difficult conversations about challenging topics.

• This brings to awareness the way things are between them, and how this is impacting their culture, their work and their results. We encourage them to use this awareness to set intentions, however modest, to adopt one new team behaviour and make it a habit.

Their responsibility is the “rehab” part.

• This is where they try new things, change their agendas, and implement their intentions.
• This builds the “muscle” for effective team functioning.

Teams often say they’ve been through processes before but nothing changes.  Our response is “How’s your rehab going?”