When can a coach make a positive impact in the workplace? Sometimes a coach comes in when a new team is being chartered, helping the members to understand each others’ communication and work styles. A coach might also be called in when a new employees are hired, helping them assimilate into the workplace and team. Or perhaps a coach will be consulted at regular intervals, to help diagnose areas in which processes could run more efficiently. Rick Cassidy, president of TSMC North America, puts it more succinctly: “We call in Larcen’s coaches for Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing.”

Cassidy has engaged Larcen consultants at TSMC, the world’s first and largest semiconductor foundry, on an ongoing basis for several years. He has worked with coaches to improve his own performance, and brought them to work with his entire team as well. He explains the ways Larcen coaches are utilized at TSMC:

Forming: “When you’re in a leadership position,” Cassidy says, “the first thing you’ve got to do is form a team. People come in with different communication styles, expectations, values and personalities. Larcen has done an exquisite job of helping to bring our teams together so they can understand each other and work efficiently.”

Storming: Once the team is formed, the time comes for “storming” through the issues. “Once you start working through the business issues,” Cassidy says, “you realize there are better ways to do things. The coach helps uncover these ways by using techniques like 360 Feedback, DiSC and other evaluation tools. The coach gives positive feedback and improvement points to individuals in an objective, non-threatening way, so the person can look at it without emotion, move forward and execute on it.”

Norming: After improvements are identified, a coach can help to “normalize” the group to use the optimal processes. “Coaching helps teams develop a shorthand for communicating that usually happens in relationships over time,” says Cassidy. “But teams don’t have the luxury of waiting for years, so coaching accelerates that. It helps people understand and appreciate differences, increases trust and enables people to work on hard issues without getting defensive or becoming adversarial.”

Performing: The team is formed; issues are stormed and best practices identified; appropriate processes are adopted to move the agenda forward. Now it’s time to “roll it out,” Cassidy says. “Now the team can start performing.”

“Each of us goes through life with a toolbox,” he says. “We need to add tools and keep the tools we have well maintained, so when it’s time to use them they are sharp and can do their job. Individual growth has to do with adding to that toolbox. Larcen has a deep toolbox and they can put the right tool in someone’s hands, so that they can use it and be proficient.”