Organisational and Individual Change Facilitator, Consultant and Coach
Making coaching to areas that were previously unable to access it, so helping to build a more equal society for the future.
Veronica has over 35 years of experience in business consulting and changes management in the UK, Europe and across Africa, working in diverse industries such as government, financial services, retail, education, healthcare and community /NGO.
She added coaching to the mix over 10 years ago as she could see that many individuals and organizations struggled with change and needed the additional support that coaching brings. Having run her own businesses, she could understand the many requirements and challenges that leaders face.
Whilst maintaining her organizational consulting and coaching practice, Veronica has also been devoting time and energy over the last ten years to working with non-profit organizations and communities to enable them to engage more effectively and strategically with their work and stakeholders.
Veronica has facilitated focus groups, community building events and training programmes for a variety of individuals and organizations that include teachers, emerging entrepreneurs, youths, health workers and professional organizations. She is committed to the transfer of skills and knowledge and sees this as a two-way process. Currently, she is working on a community project to assist in identifying the causes of social unrest and creating solutions that can bring together both business and government.
Key Notes:
Our 6th Episode of the Transformational Tuesday webinar series was phenomenal. Participants from more than 20 countries gathered to catch up with Veronica Wantenaar on “The Myth: There is no I in the Team“! Veronica is a Professional Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation with over 35 years of international business consulting experience and more than 10 years as a qualified coach.
A member of several accrediting organizations, including Coaching and Mentoring South Africa; The Association for Coaching UK; the South African Transactional Analysis Association, the Global Supervision Network; and the International Coach Network, Veronica shared her learnings, coaching tips, and her EAGER methodology with us. Here’s a short breakdown of our conversation with her:
- There is a theory that there is no I in the team, but in fact, that is not the case. Everyone in the team needs to be bringing his/her best game if there is to be real achievement and success.
- The basis of success in business today is the quality of the relationships that we hold with our colleagues and our clients. We can function more effectively if those relationships are strong.
- High-performing and high-value teams are different. High-performing teams are mostly engaged in one area of the business, internally. While a High-Value team performs externally for greater causes of the entire organization.
- What makes a successful team? Sharing a common purpose, having a clear sense of direction, role clarity, shared resources, collaborations, good communication – everything adds up to a team’s success.
- For most organizations, the teams are in place, and they are somewhere between the forming and performing stages. Taking a coaching approach brings the team together to look at themselves, their work, relationships, and challenges positively and openly.
- It’s crucial to build the team from inside out, get stakeholders on board and engage managers and leaders. Only then the entire team, including leaders can understand team coaching intervention and contribute actively.
- When the team becomes a learning team, they develop their own coaching skills – how to do the task, how to contribute, how to resolve conflict, cultivate behavior that supports shared values. And each individual in the team will create his/her growth path.
A few questions for leaders and teams to ponder upon….
- What do we need to do to step beyond good and be high-performing? Where do we go from here?
- Do we have a vision for our team? Do we have values and behaviors to support those values?
- Are we a part of the solution?
- Are we connected and engaged enough as a team?
Coaching can help teams to build sustainable changes and leaders to unpack. In coaching, leaders and teams share three jobs – task growth, individual advancement, and team development. However, if the shift is not happening during the process, it will not occur even after the process.
Teamwork divides the work and multiplies the success.
You can watch the entire episode on our YouTube Channel. We hope you enjoyed our episode with Veronica Wantenaar.
A big shout-out to Veronica for sharing these excellent coaching tips with our participants!
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