by Mario González Forrellad (Germany)
Getting a client team to sail a yacht is one of the most powerful tools for team coaching. It can be powerfully integrated with a classical team coaching process, as an outdoor workshop aimed to accelerate the development of the team in terms of cohesion, alignment and performance.
A set of brilliant individuals are often not performing as expected in a team setting: they all can be top performers individually, but together in a team, the team is not a high performing one. The first thing to consider is whether the individuals forming part of a team are indeed a team, or rather a group.
A team can be lacking a clearly stated common goal and an agreed set of rules to operate. Furthermore, some of the five dysfunctions of the Lencioni’s team model can be present: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results.
Source: iCN Issue 19 (Group Dynamics: Team Coaching); pages 56-58
About Mario González Forrellad
Born in Barcelona, he is presently based in Germany. He speaks fluently five languages. He holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, a master’s in business administration (MBA), and a master degree in executive coaching. He is furthermore a yachting sailor.
During his international career, he managed consulting projects for industrial companies in twenty different countries, located in Europe, North America, South America, Middle East, South East Asia and Far East. Merging his sailing, coaching and management consulting backgrounds, he integrated executive coaching sessions on board of sailing yachts, achieving excellent results in the cohesion of the client teams.
