Over the past 10 years that number has grown to 23, and we continuing to grow specifically expanding our team in Sydney.
When COVID landed in early 2020 we all took a deep breath. Our work helping teams to that point was almost entirely face-to-face, so having to move into an online environment wasn’t something we had expected to have to do. Personally, I had only ever done a handful of sessions on zoom, primarily for organisations who had team members in Australia and New Zealand. Although that work was impactful, it is great to be back in the room with our clients over 2022.
Like most organisations, the pandemic tested us as a team and under that pressure we didn’t just cope we were able to continue growing, doubling number of our facilitators in those two years. I believe we achieved this for two main reasons:
- Our team’s unwavering commitment to living our purpose and helping clients in whatever way we could – in some cases (particularly in elite sport) this meant working for nothing, and
- Our clients commitment to keeping their teams focused on improvement and high performance regardless of the circumstance. It was a great affirmation of them understanding and appreciating the value in our work.
Next month we will be hoping to find Leading Teams facilitator number 24, to grow our presence in Sydney.
We have found over the years that new team members will often come from our own network. Damien Hill who joined us in 2020, is a great example of this.
Damien was a client of Leading Teams whilst in his role as head coach at Sydney University Football Club and again in the formation years at the Melbourne Rebels Super Rugby franchise.
“My introduction to the Leading Teams model occurred in 2005. I’d just begun my coaching position at Sydney University. It was the models simplicity and the part it played in the Swans’ success that grabbed my interest. The emphasis around gaining absolute clarity regarding Purpose (Why), the value of relationships, behaviours and feedback (How) and how these factors can guide and drive the mechanics (What) struck a chord and made me think about my coaching and how I lead differently.”
When we recruit new facilitators there are three main things we look for:
- Cultural fit, (a preparedness to live our trademark and agreed behaviours, and add value to our team)
- The potential to be a world’s best Leading Teams facilitator, and
- The ability to build and maintain relationships with clients.
I would add a fourth criteria to the above – passion for our model and our work. Without that the criteria above tend to be superfluous. Passion for our model to me simply means that you are invested in helping teams on their journey to high performance, helping them have genuine conversations, and focusing on the people (dynamics) side of teams and businesses.
Similar to Damien, we often find that people with a passion for our work come from within our network. A significant number of our facilitators (including me) have had experience with Leading Teams prior to joining us, we know what it feels like to be in our clients shoes.
We also live the program in our own team and help each other to be the best we can be. This means that we all get together for team based sessions every 6 weeks, where we invest time in relationships, review our performance against our trademark, and help each other improve with feedback. We also invest time in observing one another facilitate sessions with our clients to ensure we are constantly improving as facilitators.
“The role as a facilitator goes hand in glove with coaching for me; helping a group of people work together as a team to effectively achieve a common goal. It seemed a natural progression at the time to move into a facilitation role. It helped that I had enjoyed, and seen the benefits of, Leading Teams previously and I was excited at the thought of being able to impact others the way my experience with Leading Teams facilitators had impacted me.”
If you, or someone you know are interested in joining our team in Sydney, we would love to hear from you. We will commence a formal recruitment process in March 2023.
Want to learn more about working for Leading Teams?
Tim joined Leading Teams in 2012 after experiencing our program as a client. Tim is a facilitator based in Northern NSW.
Learn more Tim Ferguson.