And then Romy went into freeze ...

An HR team of 10 has redrawn its organizational chart, developed job descriptions and now wants to organize its team more efficiently. The team members range in age from 21 to 61, start only next month to over 30 years of service. One manager started last month, the other manager starts next month (but is already there).

We split the track into 2 parts – “I agree” and “I disagree.  Romy, a mini-shetland, is our co-coach for today.  3 statements are brought forward where the different team members stand in the ‘I agree’ or ‘I disagree’ box. Each team member is invited to state their position.
We let Romy enter the divided arena. However, she immediately goes into “freeze” and doesn’t move a foot. Repeatedly, the coach points out that Romy is not moving, frozen as it were. The team asks questions, then at a given moment it becomes completely silent.

Suddenly, someone begins to cry. “Since returning from burnout, I have not been accepted on the team.” Upon further questioning, it is clear that this lady used to be in a leadership position and has been pushed aside.
Then comes the story that a colleague died suddenly 2 years ago. He was a manager and very operationally active, his presence was still very much felt within the team. Afterwards comes the story about yet another HR director, …

So there was much more going on in this organization. There are unprocessed traumatic events that absorb very much energy from the team. Moreover, there is still great loyalty to previous (fired) directors, which impacts team performance.
When traumas in organizations remain unseen or unprocessed, they drag on and infect team functioning and results achieved.

During the follow-up coaching, we will continue to work with this team on the impactful traumas and their processing from the perspective of systems thinking. We do this according to a plan of action, tailored to the organization, and also coach around the creation of new healthy loyalties to restore the team’s resilience.

Thanks to our small but powerful co-coach, Romy.

Difficult team member ...

A team leader heads a team of 17 consultants and commercial staff spread across 3 locations. The team leader explains that with one of the employees, communication is not going well, he is not working efficiently and is not flexible enough. Feedback is not being heard and accepted.

We head towards the arena and Vipe (Belgian Warm Blood horse) immediately comes towards the arena to participate in the coaching.  Vipe walks towards the client and gently pushes her aside. This is the feeling I get when I give feedback to my employee, she says. He doesn’t listen, he puts aside everything I say or do. I feel cast aside.
When asked further what it was like in her childhood, she said the following: “My father constantly destabilized me. I couldn’t do anything right. It was always my fault.’

It soon became aware with the client that the feeling that existed when her father destabilized her and the feeling she gets from the co-worker are very similar. Indeed, she said, “They have the same character. My father waltzed over me and I let my co-worker do the same.’
The client unconsciously projected feelings for her father to the co-worker. Their character was quite similar.

Unraveling that there is a difference between the co-worker and her father allows her to see her co-worker in a different way.
Weeks later I see her again. It’s incredible she says. The relationship with my co-worker has completely turned around. We can now communicate in a professional way and give and take feedback.

Thanks to Vipe.

And then you stand there alone with a horse ....

An executive committee comes for team coaching. Their team consists of 13 people – the general manager with his 12 division directors. Their strategic plan for the coming year is scrutinized. The team has already done its preparations, their actions are defined on paper.

The mission of the coaching is, together with the horses, to align and finalize their overall strategic plan.  Then they want to endorse concrete action plans for each division. This is very important, because to achieve a concrete result, everyone must all, as 1 team, subscribe to these plans.
After a brief introduction by our co-coaches Summer, Vipe and Ophelie, we get started. The first exercise with the horse is started, but pretty soon the general manager is “split” by the horses from the rest of the team. Splitting is the behavior horses employ when they want to avoid a possible conflict between two parties. The horses stand between two parties, between the general manager and the 12 division directors.

The team is startled. The general manager experiences it as very confrontational, but immediately understands that he is at a different speed than the rest of the team.
Only when this is effectively expressed and recognized by the entire team, do the horses give way so that the general manager can rejoin the team. They make way for harmonization of speed within the team, which also happens effectively. Through this experience and recognition, the rest of the day went very smoothly.

12 concrete actions are validated on this day that the entire team supports. Each action was repeatedly refined and coordinated with the other team members. Once again we were all moving in the same direction.

Thanks to our co-coaches, Summer, Vipe and Ophelie.