October 6, 2010

Dear Attendees,

It was a pleasure to have you join Unbound Ideas and Pfeiffer for a conversation on teams and coaching with DJ Mitsch and Barry Mitsch. Thank you for participating in the dialogue.

This discussion was based on DJ’s coaching book, Team Advantage: A Complete Framework for Driving Extraordinary, Sustainable Team Transformation, published by Pfeiffer.

DJ and Barry started with a definition of the team advantage: A Team + A Game (Goal) + Coaching = Team Advantage. That formula has demonstrated impact in driving extraordinary business outcomes, fostering teamwork and transforming teams so that they communicate easily and more fully.

Their agenda covered background on the impact of coaching, more about the Team Advantage and how the process works, and how to take a coaching approach to team development.

First they focused on the power of play or “game” because play by its nature is very community oriented. It moves people out of survival mode, helps them access and sort through emotions, and get to creativity and problem solving.

They then discussed the impact or ROI of coaching, and distinguished between tactical and strategic coaching. Aligning tactical coaching with a broader business strategy will yield a higher business impact.

DJ and Barry next explained how coaching can be a creative partnership in a team context. The purpose of such work is to enable the team to replicate the development process after the coach is gone. The work is done typically in the context of a group or organizational goal, and surfacing that goal is part of the process.

Next, DJ and Barry went into detail regarding the four phases of the Team Advantage coaching process, Assessment, Kickoff, Coaching, and Celebration. Assessment is about Informing. The Kickoff is about Forming. The Coaching is about Storming, Norming, and Performing. And the Celebration is about Transforming, which is where ROI is seen.

In the final portion of the presentation, DJ and Barry described the skills and elements of their team coaching model, and the circumstances in which such coaching works best.

The conversation between DJ and Barry was rich and insightful. If you’d like to engage more closely with their work, please remember that Pfeiffer is offering a 20 percent discount on the Team Advantage coaching kit, and Pyramid Resources is offering $350 off the tuition fee for the Certification Class. There are still openings at the November 17-19 in Los Angeles.

On behalf of DJ and Barry Mitsch and Pfeiffer, we thank you again for joining us, and look forward to the next occasion.

Warm Regards,
Unbound Ideas