Yvonne Consulting

The team Coaching Journey

Yvonne — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 08:20:49 +0000

The Team Coaching Journey

Team coaching is not a quick fix or a one-off intervention, it’s a developmental journey,
one that invites teams to slow down, look honestly at how they work together,
and grow into new ways of being.

Before we begin, we pause to explore readiness.

Is this a team that wants coaching?
Are team members willing to lean into discomfort, reflect on their own impact,
and stretch into new behaviours in service of the whole?
When the answer is yes, transformation becomes possible.

A Developmental Path for Teams

Teams tend to grow through a series of stages.

While every journey is unique,
the work typically unfolds along this path:

1. Creating connection and psychological safety
Building trust, openness, and a sense of belonging where honest conversations can begin.

2. Cultivating a shared purpose
Clarifying why the team exists, what matters most, and how success will be measured together.

3. Challenging patterns and dynamics
Bringing unspoken behaviours, habits, and tensions into awareness without blame or judgement.

4. Building collective leadership
Clarifying roles and responsibilities, and moving from the individual to the team, strengthening accountability and shared ownership.

5. Consolidating leadership
Embedding new ways of working so the team can sustain its effectiveness
long after the coaching ends.

What the Process Looks Like

1. 1:1 Coaching – Creating Safety and Commitment
The journey begins with individual coaching conversations. These create psychological safety, build trust, and support each person to commit personally to the work ahead.

2. Team Launch – Creating the Container for Change
This is the beginning of co-creating the field in which transformation can take place, grounded in honesty, vulnerability, and trust. A clear understanding of roles and responsibilities is required before agreements, norms, and rituals are established to support new patterns of working.

Together, the team explores:
~ What do we do?
~ Where are we now and where do we need to be?
~ What will it take to move forward together?

3. The Real Work – where the emphasis remains on learning, responsibility, and choice.

Ongoing 1:1 coaching to support individuals in shifting mindsets, behaviours, and presence.
~
Honest, open feedback to build awareness of impact, strengths, and areas for development.
~
Exploring interaction patterns on how the team meets, decides, challenges, supports,
and handles tension.

What Emerges

Over time, teams begin to:
~ Trust more deeply;
~ Speak more honestly;
~ Take greater responsibility for how they work together;
~ Lead collectively rather than relying on a few individuals.

The result is not just better performance, but a team that knows how to
learn, adapt, and grow together.

Ready to start a Conversation?

Back to Blog index page

The post The team Coaching Journey appeared first on Yvonne Consulting.

3-Way Conversations

Yvonne — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 11:18:36 +0000

The Why and the How of 3-Way Conversations in
Leadership Development

Leadership development does not happen in isolation. It happens in relationship, in context, and in the day-to-day realities of work. One of the most effective ways to support meaningful and sustainable leadership growth is through a 3-way conversation, a structured dialogue between the leader, their line manager, and the coach.

Why 3-way conversations matter

Traditional coaching often takes place behind closed doors, with little connection to the wider organisational system. While this can be valuable, it can also leave leaders working hard on themselves without clarity or alignment around expectations, impact, or progress.

3-Way conversations change this.
They create shared ownership of the development process. Instead of leadership growth being something done to a leader, it becomes something held with the leader. The line manager is no longer on the sidelines; they are part of the conversation, the intent, and the support structure.

These conversations:
~ Clarify expectations and desired outcomes upfront;
~ Reduce assumptions and misalignment;
~ Build trust and transparency between leader and manager;
~ Create psychological safety around feedback and growth;
~ Anchor development in real organisational needs.

When done well, 3-way conversations shift leadership development
from a private exercise to a collective commitment.

The How: Creating the Right Conditions

A 3-way conversation is not a performance review, nor is it a problem-solving meeting.
It is a facilitated dialogue designed to support awareness, alignment, and growth.

The process typically unfolds as follows:

1. Setting the foundation

Before the first joint conversation, time is spent separately with the line manager and the leader. This allows for context, clarity, and trust to be established, and ensures that the conversation is grounded in intention rather than reaction.

2. The initial 3-way conversation

Leader, manager, and coach come together to agree on:
~ The purpose of the coaching engagement;
~ What success would look like for all parties;
~ How progress will be noticed and supported.

This conversation brings unspoken expectations into the open and creates a shared understanding
of what the leader is working towards.

3. Ongoing alignment

At key points in the coaching journey, optional check-in conversations allow the manager to:
~ Acknowledge progress;
~ Offer constructive feedback;
~ Stay connected to the leader’s development.

This reinforces learning and prevents coaching from becoming disconnected from reality.

4. Closing the loop

At the end of the engagement, a final alignment conversation allows the leader to reflect on growth, learning, and next steps, supporting a clean and intentional transition back into the system.

What Makes These Conversations Powerful?

What gives 3-way conversations their impact is not the structure alone, but the quality of dialogue within them.
When facilitated with care, they:
~ Encourage honesty without blame;
~ Hold leaders accountable without judgement;
~ Support managers to develop their own coaching capability;
~ Create a feedback-rich environment grounded in respect.

They also model a different way of working, one where learning, responsibility, and relationship
sit at the centre of leadership.

A Different Way of Developing Leaders

3-way conversations reflect a modern approach to leadership development, one that recognises that leaders do not operate in isolation, and that growth is strongest when supported by the system around them.
By slowing down to have the right conversations, organisations create leaders who are not only more self-aware, but also better aligned, better supported, and better equipped to lead in complexity.

In the end, leadership development is not about fixing people.
It is about creating the conditions where people can see clearly, learn honestly,
and grow responsibly ~ together.

Ready to start a Conversation?

Back to Blog index page

The post 3-Way Conversations appeared first on Yvonne Consulting.

360-Degree Feedback

Yvonne — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 11:17:26 +0000

360-Degree Feedback: A Developmental Lens for Leadership Growth

Leadership is not only defined by intention, but by impact. One of the most powerful ways for leaders to grow is to understand how they are experienced by others, not to be judged, but to deepen awareness and choice. This is the essence of a 360-degree feedback process when used developmentally.

Rather than a performance tool, a developmental 360 is a mirror. It reflects patterns of behaviour, communication, and leadership presence, offering leaders insight into what is working well and where their impact may differ from their intention.

Why 360-Degree Feedback Matters

Leaders operate within complex systems of relationships. Over time, blind spots can develop, not because leaders are ineffective, but because feedback is often filtered, avoided, or softened.

A well-held 360-degree process:
~ Builds self-awareness and perspective;
~ Normalises feedback as part of leadership practice;
~ Highlights strengths as well as growth edges;
~ Supports intentional, sustainable change.

From a Modern Elder perspective, this work is not about fixing leaders. It is about supporting them to see themselves more clearly, so they can lead with greater responsibility, humility, and effectiveness.

How the Process Works

The process begins collaboratively.
Together, the leader and coach agree on six carefully chosen questions that reflect
the leader’s current context, challenges, and developmental focus.

The same questions are then posed to a small, balanced group of respondents, typically:
~ 2 Direct managers or senior stakeholders;
~ 2 Peers;
~ 2 Direct reports.

Respondents share their feedback confidentially, creating a safe space for honesty.
Patterns are then identified and synthesised into a clear, thoughtful feedback report.

A key principle guides the analysis:
~ Feedback heard once is an observation;
~ Feedback heard twice suggests a trend;
~ Feedback heard three times points to a consistent pattern.

This approach ensures the feedback is balanced, grounded, and fair,
avoiding overreaction to isolated comments.

The Developmental Conversation

The feedback report is shared with the leader ahead of the coaching session, allowing time for reflection.

The coaching conversation then focuses on:
~ Making sense of the feedback;
~ Identifying strengths to build on;
~ Exploring patterns that may be limiting impact;
~ Choosing meaningful areas for development.

The emphasis is not on defending or explaining behaviour, but on learning from what is revealed.
As a Modern Elder, my role is to hold this space with care, helping leaders stay open, curious, and grounded,
even when the feedback feels challenging. This requires presence, compassion,
and the ability to work skilfully with complexity.

What Becomes Possible

When leaders engage openly with 360-degree feedback, they often experience:
~ Increased confidence and clarity;
~ Greater trust and credibility with others;
~ Stronger relationships and communication;
~ A deeper sense of alignment between who they are and how they lead.

Used in this way, a 360-degree process becomes more than feedback.
It becomes a developmental turning point,
supporting leaders to grow with awareness, integrity, and intention.

Ready to start a Conversation?

Back to Blog index page

The post 360-Degree Feedback appeared first on Yvonne Consulting.

A Modern Elder

Yvonne — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 05:21:59 +0000

A Modern Elder:
My Way of Working with Leaders & Teams

I remain actively engaged with contemporary thinking, research, and innovation in the leadership field.

My journey

I describe myself as a Modern Elder, someone whose way of working is shaped not only by what I have studied, but by how I have lived.

Everything I have experienced, questioned, and learned over the course of my life comes together to inform how I show up today. My journey has been guided by a deep and ongoing curiosity about people, systems, leadership, and what enables us to work well together. I have continually experienced, experimented, studied, challenged, and created across hospitality, entrepreneurship, leadership development, coaching, and life itself.

Embodied presence

Experiences and disciplines have shaped more than knowledge, they have cultivated perspective, intuition, and a capacity for deep presence. This embodied presence is the foundation of my work which allows me to listen beyond words, sense what is happening beneath the surface, and remain steady in moments of uncertainty, tension, or complexity.

Walking alongside you

As a Modern Elder, I don’t bring answers or prescriptions. I walk alongside leaders and teams as a trusted thinking partner, offering perspective, clarity, and thoughtful challenge. I honour wisdom while remaining open to learning, prioritizing depth over speed, awareness over certainty, relationship over performance.

My Offering

My offering is not a formula, it is the result of a life richly lived, grounded in rigorous education, and continually reflected upon. It supports leadership in all its dimensions: personal, relational, and collective, and creates the conditions for meaningful, lasting change.

When you choose to work with me, you are choosing not just an engagement, but a way of working grounded in presence, integrity, and deep respect for the complexity of leadership and life.

Ready to explore?

The post A Modern Elder appeared first on Yvonne Consulting.

Building A Team Charter

Yvonne — Sat, 27 Dec 2025 15:09:42 +0000

Building A Team Charter - Step by Step

What is a team charter?

A team charter is a shared agreement that helps a team get clear on why they exist and how they want to work together. It gives people a common reference point for decisions and behaviour, supporting trust, accountability, and collaboration when things get busy or challenging.

Step-by-Step Guide

Start with Purpose:
Begin by clarifying why the team exists, what is they are here to achieve, and what success looks like when they are working well together?

A shared sense of purpose creates alignment and gives meaning to the work.

Explore and agree upon Team Values:
Discuss the values that will guide how the team work together. These are principles that shape everyday behaviour, decisions, and interactions.

Values are like the banks of a river that keep the river flowing in the right direction.

Define working agreements:
Make explicit how the team will operate day to day. This includes how you communicate, make decisions,
run meetings, manage conflict, and hold one another accountable.

Clarity here reduces misunderstanding and frustration.

Set expectations and boundaries:
Agree on goals and measures of success, as well as roles and responsibilities. Have clarity on what team members can expect from one another, and what is out of bounds.

Clear expectations build trust and psychological safety.

Capture and agree:

Document the agreements made in simple, accessible language, ensuring everyone has a voice in shaping it and is willing to commit to what has been agreed.

This is a collective agreement, not a management document.

Benefits for Teams

A team charter doesn’t remove challenge or difference, but it creates a shared foundation for honest conversation, accountability, and learning. When teams take responsibility for how they work together, performance and trust tend to follow.

Lencioni’s 5 Dysfunctions

Yvonne — Sat, 27 Dec 2025 13:40:40 +0000

Lencioni's 5 Dysfunctions in Teams

Tourism teams in remote, multicultural settings, face unique pressures:
high-stakes guest experiences managed by a multi-cultural team with diverse perspectives, based not only on position, but also tribe, age, level of education, and role.

Patrick Lencioni’s model pinpoints five dysfunctions: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, inattention to team results.

These 5 dysfunctions erode performance, which is often amplified in socially complex environments.
Addressing them builds trust, resolves conflict, and aligns to shared goals.

The Dysfunctions Explained

Absence of Trust:
Team members hide weaknesses due to vulnerability fears; this prevents them from building trust with each other. They fear judgement and prejudice which can create cliques and silos. They don’t feel safe to admit challenges (lack of understanding or mistakes) and as a result struggle to collaborate.

Fear of Conflict:
Artificial harmony avoids debate, stifling ideas from multicultural staff. No one challenges unrealistic deadlines, unclear instructions, misunderstandings or toxic leadership.

Lack of Commitment:
Lack of clarity and/or buy-in prevents team members from making decisions they will stick to. Ambiguity in fast-paced operations impacts on confidence and motivation, and can result in absenteeism.

Avoidance of Accountability:
Poor performance is tolerated and bootlicking is pervasive which creates low morale and an environment of resentment. There is a lack of constructive feedback, deadlines are missed and mediocrity persists,

Inattention to Results:
Pursuing individual goals and personal status overshadows the team goals and collective results. This causes inefficiencies, high team turnover and low customer satisfaction.

Team members hide weaknesses due to vulnerability fears; this prevents them from building trust with each other. They fear judgement and prejudice which can create cliques and silos. They don’t feel safe to admit challenges (lack of understanding or mistakes) and as a result struggle to collaborate.

Challenges

These basic dysfunctions can be the result of:
~ A lack of leadership.
~ A lack of psychological safety where staff can question, admit fault or confusion.
~ Unproductive team dynamics where conflict is avoided and the culture is toxic.
~ A lack of clarity, buy-in, or organisational identity inhibiting committment to goals.
~ A lack of team members holding each other accountable, resulting in poor performance and results.

Solution

Team coaching maximizes the collective intelligence of a team
through the collaboration of its members.
~ It helps teams build psychological safety which encourages open communication and vulnerability.
~ It ensures the team members welcome each other’s perspectives, giving permission for healthy debate.
~ It aligns the team around a common purpose, creating positive team relationships with
clearly defined roles.

Contact Me to Start a Conversation

The post Lencioni’s 5 Dysfunctions appeared first on Yvonne Consulting.

Case Study: Transforming Team Dynamics

Yvonne — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 12:04:57 +0000

Transforming Team's Dynamics

Marc’s Eatery, Maun – Case Study.

Summary

Marc’s Eatery is a much-loved restaurant with a strong reputation, yet the team was struggling to communicate openly and work cohesively under pressure. I was invited to work with the team to create a safe space for honest dialogue, shared understanding, and stronger collaboration. The work focused on slowing things down, listening deeply, and building trust in a culturally respectful way.

The Requirement

Although Marc’s Eatery was thriving operationally, the team experienced challenges around communication, engagement, and collaboration between front and back of house. Cultural norms of humility and respect for authority, combined with language differences, made it difficult for team members to speak up, ask questions, or share concerns. Marc wanted a team that could talk openly, address issues together, and feel united while maintaining high standards, and a strong sense of care for one another.

The Work

Over a series of weekly sessions, I facilitated a gentle team coaching journey grounded in dialogue, reflection, and shared learning. We created a ‘Bokopano’ the meeting of the collective, a consistent and trusted space where every voice was invited. Together, the team explored what mattered most to them, co-creating shared values of Respect, Responsibility, Creativity, and Unity.

Through small-group conversations, creative exercises, and honest reflection, they began to understand one another more deeply and to bridge the gap between roles and departments. Cultural practices, including prayer, were welcomed into the process and became an important source of grounding and connection.

When difficult moments arose, including a high-stakes leadership incident, these were met openly and with care, allowing for accountability, repair, and renewed trust

Outcomes

By the end of the work, the team was speaking more openly, listening more carefully, and supporting one another under pressure.
Meetings were well attended and participative, guest feedback was discussed collectively, and conflict was addressed quickly and constructively.
Team members reported feeling safer to speak up, more connected across roles, and more confident in their ability to work together.
Marc experienced a noticeable shift in engagement, with the team contributing ideas and opinions and taking shared ownership for how they work together.

What Stands Out

This work shows what becomes possible when teams are met with patience, cultural respect, and genuine curiosity. When people feel safe and heard, collaboration emerges naturally, and teams discover that they already have what they need.

Ready to Grow Your Team?

Team Coaching FAQ

Yvonne — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 08:57:55 +0000

Team Coaching Frequently Asked Questions

“The primary reason for misunderstandings and tensions is often less to do with content and more to do with process.”

~ Georgina Woudstra

Most of your questions about team coaching should be answered here.

Please also visit the
Team Coaching page
for more information.

Yvonne Consulting

The team Coaching Journey

The Team Coaching Journey

Before we begin, we pause to explore readiness.

A Developmental Path for Teams

While every journey is unique,the work typically unfolds along this path:

What the Process Looks Like

What Emerges

3-Way Conversations

The Why and the How of 3-Way Conversations inLeadership Development

Why 3-way conversations matter

The How: Creating the Right Conditions

The process typically unfolds as follows:

What Makes These Conversations Powerful?

A Different Way of Developing Leaders

360-Degree Feedback

360-Degree Feedback: A Developmental Lens for Leadership Growth

Why 360-Degree Feedback Matters

How the Process Works

The Developmental Conversation

What Becomes Possible

A Modern Elder

A Modern Elder:My Way of Working with Leaders & Teams

I remain actively engaged with contemporary thinking, research, and innovation in the leadership field.

My journey

Embodied presence

Walking alongside you

My Offering

Building A Team Charter

Building A Team Charter - Step by Step

What is a team charter?

Step-by-Step Guide

Benefits for Teams

Lencioni’s 5 Dysfunctions

Lencioni's 5 Dysfunctions in Teams

The Dysfunctions Explained

Challenges

Solution

Case Study: Transforming Team Dynamics

Transforming Team's Dynamics

Summary

The Requirement

The Work

Outcomes

What Stands Out

Team Coaching FAQ

Team Coaching Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly is team coaching?

While every journey is unique,
the work typically unfolds along this path:

The Why and the How of 3-Way Conversations in
Leadership Development

A Modern Elder:
My Way of Working with Leaders & Teams