Charcoal Blue Case Study - James O'Halloran

Enhancing Team Dynamics at Charcoal Blue

Charcoal Blue, a global theatre consultancy, reached out to me to help their leadership team work better together. Through engaging team workshops and personalised coaching, I helped them to deepen their knowledge of each other, open up some challenging conversations and bridge the gaps between different personalities and time zones. This is the story of how I helped to strengthen their team and improve collaboration.

About the client & Objectives

About the Client

Charcoal Blue is a company that creates spaces within the theatre industry, corporate world and stadiums. Designed from a collective of designers, strategists, musicians, developers and more. Established in London in 2004. Now with 6 international offices – UK, USA, & Australia.

Objective

Charcoal Blue were keen to find someone with outside perspective – to help, guide and facilitate, and make sure they work together and develop as a group, not just develop as a business. There wasn’t anything fundamentally wrong with the team, but they saw the opportunity to work more effectively as a leadership team. As an international team, they were faced with challenges of different personalities and cultures, time zones and working styles.

Service

Team Coaching, followed by 1-2-1 business coaching for Ian Stickland their Leader.

Coaching Approach

To foster growth and understanding within Charcoal Blue’s leadership team, I designed a comprehensive team development workshop that included the following key components:

Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team

This framework created open and vulnerable conversations, allowing team members to address and overcome common dysfunctions.

Clifton Strengths

Used to help each team member discover and appreciate their unique strengths, promoting a stronger, more cohesive team dynamic.

Structured Discussions

Provided opportunities to discuss current business challenges and anticipate potential issues, ensuring proactive problem-solving.

Feedback Sessions

Provided opportunities to provide feedback 1-2-1 to each teammate and then hear theirs.

Team Strengths Analysis

Identified gaps and opportunities within the team, paving the way for targeted development and growth.

Outcome & Results

Outcome

The team experienced significant improvement in their collective collaboration and effectiveness. Additionally, the Director received further personalised 1-2-1 business coaching to continue driving the team’s success.

Client Feedback

“It’s helped my understanding of my team and has given us a language for conversation”
“In the session itself, James was very measured, and gently steered the team.”
“Everyone thought the session was really valuable and each team member learned to understand each other’s personalities in more detail without judgement”
“I got a much better understanding of colleagues and got to understand what drives them, which I found really interesting and really useful.”
During my 1-2-1Business Coaching I was pushed into challenging theories and concepts but in a gentle way from James…taking the 1-2-1 coaching session outside, whilst walking, I really liked as it’s conducive to how I think, and very natural.”

Overall Impact

This team rarely gets together in person due to their positioning in the UK and US. This half-day session formed a key part of their 2 days together. It brought the team together, enabled vulnerable conversations and a deeper understanding of each person’s value, capacity and passion for their work. We had a good laugh too.

Take Action!

Reach out to James to discuss Team Coaching or 1-2-1 Business Coaching.