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When the conversation shifts

Many companies look for team coaching when they notice friction, misalignment or problems between departments. Silenzio works at a more specific level: the conversations that keep those problems in place.

These are conversations that get avoided, that go round in circles without reaching a decision, that set production against maintenance or quality, or that end up escalating further than they need to. They happen in the executive committee, in production meetings and around difficult decisions.

We work with managing directors, plant directors and leadership teams, in Spain and internationally, to bring these patterns to light and change them.

The pattern

What these leadership teams have in common

In the teams we work with, the same conversation patterns appear, whatever the sector:

Important issues avoided for months.
Disagreements that harden into defensive positions.
Side conversations that happen outside the room.
Meetings that end in apparent agreement, with no one accountable.
Issues escalated to senior management because functions can’t resolve them together.

In none of these teams did the change come from a new organisation chart or another procedure.

It came from changing how the team talks: the quality of listening, the questions people ask and the way decisions are closed. We explore this in detail in active listening for leadership teams and powerful questions for leaders, and it is the foundation of our conversational architecture method.

The quality of listening

Making sure the speaker feels heard, so that defensiveness can drop.

Active listening

The questions people ask

Questions that open up what isn’t being said, instead of defending positions.

Powerful questions

The way decisions are closed

A decision, an owner and a date. Without them, agreement is only apparent.

The method

A distinction

Leadership team coaching, or an intervention in conversations?

Team coaching is a valuable tool for working on cohesion, roles or shared objectives. But there are situations where a company needs something more specific: to intervene directly in the conversations where work gets stuck. This usually happens when:

Anne Catherine Pelchat working with a plant leadership team in their meeting room

The problem isn’t a lack of knowledge: the team knows what needs to be done, but can’t agree on it.
Some conversations are being avoided.
Production, maintenance, quality or other functions can’t resolve issues together.
The same issues come up again and again in leadership or production meetings.
Too many issues end up escalating to the plant director or the executive committee.

Do you recognise any of these in your team?Tick the ones that sound familiar.

This work is designed for managing directors, plant and production directors, operations managers and executive committees in industrial companies and in organisations with teams across several countries. It also helps when, after a change (new leadership, a generational handover, growth or a merger), the team isn’t aligned.

In Spain, our training is eligible for FUNDAE funding. Write to us and tell us which conversation is holding your team back.

Questions

Questions about leadership team coaching

What is leadership team coaching?

It supports the leadership team as a whole rather than one individual, usually working on cohesion, roles and shared goals. Silenzio works on something more specific: the team’s real conversations (committee meetings, decisions, conflicts between functions), because that is where problems repeat, stall or escalate. The aim is for the team to make better decisions, tackle difficult issues and take clear ownership.

How is it different from individual executive coaching?

Executive coaching works with one leader and their goals. Working with a leadership team focuses on the dynamics of the group: how its members listen to each other, how they disagree and how they close decisions. The two can be combined.

Does it work in production plants and industrial settings?

Yes. On a plant, conversations have a very direct impact: an incident that isn’t reported, or a decision nobody owns, turns into stoppages, delays or safety risks. The work is adapted to production meetings, relationships between functions and communication with front-line managers.

Start a conversation

Every piece of Silenzio’s work begins with a conversation.

A first meeting to understand your organisation’s context and explore whether an intervention could help right now.

Start a conversation info@silenzio.life