Team Coaching
Team coaching is different to group coaching because you will be working with a real team who all know each other and not a group who are coming together for the first time. So any support from a professional coach can be used as an opportunity to really explore and unlock their true potential and will normally start with a request for help from the Manager / Team Leader or a member of HR.
They will be able to provide you with a clear brief before you first meet the team, so it is vital you use this to understand the environment you will be going into and ask about the current situation. Remember to ask about any specific issues or challenges and why they feel this team needs additional help from a professional coach. It can also be helpful to know if the team feel motivated to take part in team coaching or not.
“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success.”
Quote: Henry Ford
It can be helpful to understand the overall system team members are part of and the related elements that link them together. One element cannot move without affecting the system (homeostasis) and the related elements will normally be a set of agreed objectives or goals that unite them as part of this system.
And consider the role of the Manager or Team Leader carefully as they will always have one foot in and one foot out of the team. This can help them maintain perspective and a strategic view, however in team coaching it can be used to separate them from some discussions or bring them into others like goal setting or planning as they too have a role to play in the success of the team. This can be especially helpful when agreeing how actions are adding value and if the longer-term objectives are fully understood by all team members and remain relevant.
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 teamworking
- Call out any negative behavior or undelivered actions
Further reading:
One tool you can use when team coaching is to investigate their different personality types. This approach can be used to develop a better understanding of individual and group motivations and once you know the range of personalities within a team, you can use this insight to find how they can best work together to achieve success.
They can then be reviewed as part of a 121 coaching session with individuals, or openly discussed as part of a constructive and supportive group coaching session where you can role-play different situations in a safe and supportive space.
Our ebook on coaching a team will help you unlock the true potential within a group and includes the tools you need to run team coaching sessions and successfully deflect any conflict you may encounter. And if you would like to add some creativity to your team coaching session, we also have a virtual card game specifically designed for you to use when coaching a team.
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