PQShield | Case Study | The Coaching Academy

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Business Need

PQShield, a global leader in post-quantum cryptography, approached The Coaching Academy to support the development of a more cohesive, collaborative and interdependent team culture within the Commercial department. With rapid organisational growth and a highly technical environment, the People team wanted to equip the team with the mindset, communication skills and behavioural frameworks needed to work together more effectively.

Programme Delivered

The Coaching Academy delivered a bespoke full day Creating Effective & High-Performance Teams workshop, facilitated by Executive Coach and TCA Head of Coach Education, Sharon Lawton.

The session blended behavioural psychology, leadership frameworks and team coaching.

Key models included:

The Team Performance Curve
Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team
The Skill/Will Matrix
The Trust Equation
The Inner Game Equation
The Iceberg Model

Interactive exercises — including a powerful “Object” activity designed to build trust and deepen understanding — created a safe space for open discussion and strengthened psychological safety within the group.

Objectives

The training aimed to help the Commercial team:

Strengthen trust and communication
Develop a shared understanding of team effectiveness
Build emotional intelligence and self-awareness
Identify behaviours that support or limit collaboration
Create practical actions to embed a high-performance team culture

Outcomes

The workshop achieved its core aim of helping the team explore what effective collaboration looks like in practice and what gets in the way of it.

Participants reported:

Deeper internal discussion and more open dialogue
A stronger sense of cohesion
Increased self-reflection and understanding of team dynamics
Enhanced awareness of how trust, communication and clarity influence performance

The facilitated coaching discussions helped the team identify meaningful and practical commitments to take forward. The “Object” exercise stood out as a moment that encouraged the team to understand one another beyond their day-to-day roles.

"Sharon from The Coaching Academy ran a team effectiveness session for PQShield, and the feedback was really positive across the board. From the start, Sharon created a welcoming, safe space that made it easy for people to open up, contribute, and engage honestly. Her style is warm, approachable, and confident, which helped the team quickly feel comfortable and involved.

The session was well-paced and practical, using clear, relevant models like the Skill/Will Matrix, the Trust Equation, and Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team, alongside engaging activities that encouraged reflection and real conversation. Sharon was excellent at helping the team connect the theory to our day-to-day reality, facilitating open discussion around current dynamics, strengths, and challenges. The team came away with shared insights, stronger connections, and clear, realistic actions to take forward. I’d absolutely recommend Sharon to any organisation looking to strengthen teamwork, trust, and effectiveness."

Beatrice Shelly – Head of People

Conclusion

The tailored programme strengthened communication, trust and alignment within PQShield’s Commercial department. It met the brief of fostering a more effective team culture and created a clear foundation for ongoing development.

The Coaching Academy continues to support PQShield in delivering this training to other teams within the organisation and in building a coaching-led leadership approach by embedding the DISC model of human behaviour into the management style of their leaders.