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.
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Further reading:
To support you develop your coaching skills, we have published a range of resources specifically aimed at team coaching:
Coaching a Team ebook – Your essential guide to coaching a team, together with the tools you need to run team coaching sessions and successfully deflect conflict
Virtual Game: Coaching a Team – Use this practical tool when coaching a team to help them achieve their strategic goals in a creative way
Train and lead kit: Co-Development sessions – This kit includes the four essential documents you need to facilitate, train and lead a co-development session
Train and lead kit: 7 tools for team coaching – Full color worksheets and simple guide for running interactive team coaching sessions
Content is constantly being added to the site, so please check our on-line shop and look at the full range of games, ebooks and kits. Or read some of the other blog posts written by our team of international coaches.
Image: Thanks to Pexabay for sharing their work on Pexels.
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