Methods

what is it?

Team Coaching is personalized guidance offered to real-life groups which must fulfil various types of company objectives and require support to handle the work process.

what’s it for?

The support offered in Team Coaching can concern:

• The group and its dynamics.
• Decision making and managing conflict in the presence of diverging objectives.
• Processes which are to be implemented.

who’s it for? 

Managing boards, task forces, permanent or temporary work groups, project groups.

what is?

Individual Coaching is a workshop which supports individuals throughout the process of developing new forms of skills which can be used in crucial moments of their career or of company strategy.

An effective Coaching path usually has a time span ranging from 6 months to 1 year and is articulated over several training days, at monthly intervals, lasting from 2 hours to half a day. These details change depending on the programme which the individual and the coach flexibly agree on, on the basis of objectives, restrictions and opportunities.

objectives

In these situations, we typically resort to Individual Coaching:

• to retain and develop key members of the team by means of a high added value investment for specificity, flexibility and high personalization;
• to reinforce or reorient the skills required to face strategic challenges, to maximize effectiveness in critical roles, and to take on greater responsibilities;
• to develop entrepreneurship, creativity and systematicity in managing business, the company and its human resources;
• to consolidate adequate approaches to preventing and solving critical problems, decision making and monitoring;
• to reach a more effective time and stress management;
• to develop listening, assertiveness, persuasiveness and leadership skills;
• to improve company climate and relations through a deeper understanding of the human characteristics of our interlocutors.

methods

To determine which training path is best, it is essential that we:

• schedule a first meeting with the coachee (at times, two are needed: this depends on individual motivation and the responsibility shared with the coachee);
• analyze the priorities to work on;
• define an objective to focus on.

These initial 3 steps are not always consecutive and can require up to four meetings. Evidently, clarifying the objective and the desire for change is, in itself, a good way to begin working on the coachee’s behaviour.

We follow this with:

• meetings to evaluate how our work is progressing and track the distance from the target situation (desired by the coachee and the company);
• outlining new behaviours, as alternatives to those which caused the “problem”, through plans of action;
• evaluation of how the plans of action are put into effect.

These three steps, too, are not necessarily consecutive and depend on the type of request for change that the client puts forward. For example, the topic of anxiety will work on different levels when applied to change relating to the individual’s organizational abilities.

what are they?

Our outdoor activities integrate and, at times, substitute our training room and residential development and training activities. These activities consist in facing open-air situations in which to experiment, first hand and in touch with nature, the aptitudes, personal characteristics and competences which are necessary for our personal working life.

Situations are therefore set up for participants to share experiences which are memorable, in terms of what we go through but also what we take from them.

objectives

The objectives which we aim to achieve with the outdoor activities are essentially twofold:

1. To become more conscious of our personal aptitudes and characteristics, often previously unsuspected, which rarely emerge in the “normality” of everyday life. This especially means activities involving risk taking, trusting our neighbours, problem solving, orientation to the future, etc.
2. To experiment the effects of our attitude towards teamwork and to realize which behaviours are damaging and which are virtuous.

modalities

The methods we apply vary depending on the client’s demands and the objectives aimed for. They can be divided in this way:

1. Individual activities to increase self-awareness, performed on fully-equipped grounds

These are activities which are often referred to as “high rope” because they imply working with ropes, bridges, etc. several metres from the ground (total security is of course guaranteed in all the activities). We also use exercises which take place on the ground and which, similarly, require participants to access their internal resources to successfully accomplish them.

Although these activities target the individual, they always entail the involvement of other colleagues. In this way, the group experiences a sense of teamwork and mutual help.

2. Team activities on fully-equipped grounds

These activities are also performed on specially equipped grounds, however the objective here is principally to try out and test teamwork. The exercises are structured in order to highlight the contributions of the different roles involved and so that everyone can show, and spontaneously experiment with, their personal aptitudes and contributions. In these situations, it’s very easy to observe how we apply skills such as vision capacity, leadership, problem solving, communication skills, etc.

3. Activities in open spaces

Rather than using equipped grounds, these activities take place on mountain trails or even in the sea. They give us the chance to work on individual and team aspects, and, very often, managerial skills.

The activities which can be performed are, for example:

• canyoning;
• orienteering;
• sailing.

Whatever modality you select, Before takes great care not to risk trivializing the intervention. It’s very easy for a day outdoors to become an unforgettable experience for all participants; much more difficult is ensuring that the factors of awareness and development brought up by these activities are not overshadowed by the recreational aspects. To avoid this risk, Before invests the utmost attention in debriefing after every significant stage and employs training staff with just as much experience in the activities performed as in people development.

what is it?

It is well-known that learning happens faster if it appeals to the senses and not just rational thought.

Music reaches out to our deepest sensibilities: it makes us remember, it makes us cry, it makes us dance. Also, harmony, balance and rhythm are elements which we find both in our lives and in our working lives.

By using music we can work on individual qualities, group dynamics and relationships.

objectives

Using music is especially suitable for work on:

• group spirit;
• motivation;
• change.

As we play, sing and dance together, the principles of teamwork emerge, i.e. a group can reach its objectives only with the contribution of each of its members.

To learn how true this simple concept really is by performing a shared activity also leads to mutual respect and to a deep understanding of the importance of not being overpowering, in order to not compromise the harmony of the whole.

The second advantage of using music is that, in a very brief time, we can improve our performance. This is a strong motivational factor, and its meaning can be easily transferred to a working reality.

The third aspect lies in the discovery of skills which individuals do not believe they possess. To discover that we can do something which seemed impossible makes us realize that the fear of not being able to do something shouldn’t impede the way we act. And that it’s always worth giving it a shot.

modalities

The interventions are residential and last three (non-consecutive) hours. The groups, composed of no more than thirty people, are conducted by professional musicians. We supply the instruments (prevalently percussion instruments)

The musical activity, geared to facilitate wider interventions, generally consists in performing a song using instruments, singing and dancing.

At the end of the exercise, a debriefing is performed in which to rationalize the work done together and the feelings which emerged. These thoughts are then transferred and applied to our working reality.

what is it? 

It is well known that we can communicate using our bodies, our posture, our gestures, our expression and our tone of voice.

Theatre, which traditionally works on these elements, can therefore help us to explore and discover those individual resources which rarely emerge normally but which can be very useful in our social and professional lives.

objectives

Using theatre techniques, we work on mechanisms of representation in order to develop:

• communication skills;
• assertiveness;
• leadership;
• negotiation;
• team building.

modalities

The interventions are not driven by theatrical texts, but rather by what is called “spontaneous theatre”, as the group is guided towards socio- and psycho-drama. The only things previously arranged on are the contexts which the roles will act in and the overall objectives, all the rest (action and words) come entirely from improvisation.

The intervention is led by an expert in theatre techniques who co-conducts activities with a trainer whose responsibility it is to relate the experiences to the learning goals.

what is it?

Breathwork is a counseling modality which integrates interviews and work based on specific breathing techniques. The person therefore breathes, listens and listens to himself/herself under the friendly and vigilant eye of the facilitator or breathworker.

what’s it for? 

Breathing is what gives us life. It’s the first thing we do when we come into the world and the last thing we do before we leave it. It is rhythm, it is pulse, the full and the empty of life itself.

For these reasons, breathing, in its plethora of methods and colours, brings states of mind, feelings and emotions to the surface. If these are well elaborated and integrated with rational thought, they can transform people’s lives and behaviours. This happens with companies too.

modalities

The work is articulated in individual sessions which take place in the area of company counseling and coaching, however they are also available privately.

The objectives of the training path are defined together and at least 10 sessions take place, each lasting roughly two hours. These sessions alternate interview and breathwork sessions, depending on the parameters established by the coach-breathworker.

results evaluation

If the coaching is supplied by the company, it is up to the client to inform us of any significant behaviours which may crop up at company level, as the coaching progresses.

Given the intensity and power of this type of work, we witness an overall improvement in our clients’ wellbeing. And so we should!