Coaching a team

Coaching a team

Team coaching is different to group coaching because you will be working with a real team. Working together can be a rewarding opportunity to help them unlock their true potential and will normally start with a request for help from a member of HR or the Manager / Team Leader.

They will be able to provide you with a clear brief, or report that lists the current situation, any issues or challenges and why they feel this team needs additional help from a professional coach.

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success.”

Henry Ford

Working together

Being a coach allows you to ask the right questions, so use this opportunity to start building a connection and fully explore the following areas:

• Overall objectives from the coaching process
• The timeframe, budget and how success will be measured
• Why the team need external help and what support has already been provided
• Team dynamics and how they are perceived by others
• Your role and example approaches you could take
• Any success from similar work you have already completed

Points to consider:

• Approach team coaching through collective motivation
• The team is a living system and has within it people who want to contribute and excel
• Gather team commitments and agree an action plan
• Organize half day coaching sessions to minimize scheduling issues
• Using benchmarking tools to measure changes in behavior, productivity and working together
• Call out any negative behavior or undelivered actions

Team meetings

When coaching a team, you may also want to request to sit in on some key meetings to observe team dynamics and provide feedback. This enables you to use your unique perspective as an outside observer to give valuable insights and shed light on any ‘blind spots’ the team may not have seen in their everyday interactions as they are working together.