💼 When the Deadline Approaches…
To achieve results, team members depend on each other. Under pressure to meet deadlines, delivering input on time becomes even more critical. Ironically, it’s that very pressure that often triggers a counterproductive trap:
👉 They try to help each other… only to make matters worse. 📈 They create extra work pressure.
🚧 The Invisible Trap: Unclear Role Division
For example: A team meets to discuss a new project that needs to be completed by September. One person asks if the team’s vacation schedule is already available. Another expresses concern about an (absent) colleague who’s overloaded and is supposed to make the vacation schedule. Someone else mentions the importance of summer staffing.
The next day… two different vacation schedules are emailed out — two team members started early to avoid gaps in summer coverage. 📬 Confusion and frustration all around.
The team isn’t clear on who’s responsible for what. The result?
❌ Double work ❌ Friction and frustration ❌ Increased workload
What looks like engagement is in fact noise and a stuck interaction pattern — one that shows up more often than you’d like.
🧠 Systems Theory & Team Coaching
As founder of Empoweryourteam, I help leaders and teams break free from unconscious patterns, to work together more effectively and achieve better outcomes.
🎾 Catching each other’s falling balls may feel helpful and flexible, but rarely leads to true collaboration. Without a clear, shared understanding of roles, the team becomes overwhelmed.
My approach is grounded in systems thinking. One of the core principles I work with:
A team is a living task system, needing clear agreements in the formal (above-the-surface) domain, and energizing dynamics in the informal (under-the-surface) domain.
Sustainable improvement doesn’t come from “fixing” individuals, but from helping the team recognize their interaction patterns — and enabling them to shape their own collaboration.
🔄 The Price of Role Ambiguity
When a team starts solving each other’s problems, ownership leaks away. Mutual appreciation declines. The process stalls.
👉 It’s not a lack of effort 👉 It’s a group dynamics issue
And to break through, the pattern first needs to become visible.
🧭 The Role of the Leader vs. the Role of the Team Coach
As a leader, you may find yourself asking:“What was agreed regarding the planning?”
That’s a valuable short-term intervention — it brings clarity and steers the team. But:
🔁 You’ll need to do it again and again. Why? Because the underlying team pattern hasn’t changed.
🎯 That’s where team coaching adds real value.
As a team coach and systems interventionist, I help leaders and teams recognize these patterns — so they can learn, grow, and develop new ways of working together.
✅ From Confusion to Flow
Let’s go back to the example. This time, the team recognizes the pattern and chooses to respond differently:
🎯 Refocus on the meeting objective – What’s needed now?
🧾 Clarify the roles – Who plays which role? Is help needed, and in what form?
📢 Define the actions – Who will communicate what, when, and to whom?
➡️ Ownership remains with the right person. Team members support each other based on clearly agreed roles. 💡 Clarity leads to less stress and more job satisfaction.
⚙️ Two Kinds of Change: Quick Wins vs. Sustainable Growth
👟 If you need quick results:
- Pause and name the role division: “Who can bring this up with the (absent) owner?”
- Celebrate involvement: acknowledge the value of giving the signal and redirecting it to the responsible person
- Refocus: “Today, our goal is to…”
🌱 If you want sustainable team development:
- Wait until the pattern shows up again
- Describe what you see without pointing fingers: “I notice uncertainty about who’s picking this up. Do you recognize that?”
- Ask: “Does this happen more often? What’s the impact on our goal today?”
By reflecting together, the team learns to recognize and shift the pattern. They create new habits that build role clarity and ownership.
🧭 It takes a moment of reflection — but the result is long-term improvement.
💬 For Leaders
Leading and coaching at the same time isn’t easy. You work better when you can stay focused. And you’re part of the team dynamic too.
That’s why temporary support from a team coach can make a world of difference.
🤝 Noticing untapped potential in your team, but unsure how to unlock it? I’d love to explore it with you. With targeted interventions and a systems perspective, we’ll reveal hidden patterns, build shared language, and strengthen the team from within.
🔗 Want to Know More?
At Empoweryourteam, I help leaders and teams recognize stuck patterns, strengthen their system, and achieve results through sharper focus and better collaboration.
🎯 Curious what that could mean for your team? ➡️ Let me know through the contact form or schedule an exploration call. Looking forward to hear from you!
