PCA Bristol Business Coach Myles Mayne yesterday lead a very successful staff away day for a large Bath based charity . Together with two PCA associate facilitators, over sixty members of staff came together from different locations and every department, for a full day together at the Bath Assembly Rooms.
The focal issues were values and communication.
Communication in even the best of organisations can become strained. Sometimes however, it is easy to think that internal communication is worse than it appears. An externally run and facilitated day away from the office allows issues to be raised in a safe environment and provides the opportunity to identify any concerns.
The result in this case was a significant shift from a general feeling of negativity to one where there was a 100% commitment by all staff to improving communication in an organisation of which they are collectively extremely proud.
The senior management team gained a useful insight into how groups within the organisation were thinking and what was important to them. The use of a mapping process gave quick and accurate snapshots and allowed testing of different interpretations of what might otherwise have been contentious issues.
As a business coach it is not often that you get to see the canvas upon which the executives we coach need to paint the future of that organisation. That canvas is the entirety of the people within an organisation. This event reminded me that in working with leaders we have a huge responsibility that extends way beyond the one to one coaching.
