Team Coaching

Team coaching is the process of coaching leaders and their teams in the work environment to enhance and accelerate their ability to achieve collective, organizational goals. The end result of the coaching is to achieve specific, measurable results through the coaching process, while developing the abilities of the team members simultaneously to operate more effectively as a unit to move the organization forward.

The coach works with the leader and team to develop and enhance collaboration and communication competencies, adjust and refine team processes and identify interpersonal behavior patterns that limit the group's effectiveness. Replacement patterns that leverage each individual's strengths in order to increase group performance levels can then be developed as individual members are equipped with skills for present and future use. In this way, the coaching becomes an accelerator to current goal achievement, as well as an investment for future organizational success.

Team coaching is also often a component of significant organizational change initiatives, where there may be strong (but unrecognized) organizational culture forces which interfere with success. It helps the individual team members clarify how the organization operates currently, examine the forces that exert resistance to change, and then develop a strategy to successfully navigate the change process. They learn to anticipate and manage the existing cultural forces to facilitate the necessary changes and establish a new cultural normal which moves the organization in the direction of its vision and core values.

One common use of team coaching is working with the Board of Directors, especially during periods of significant change or challenges directly related to the board's responsibility. These could include periods of strategic planning, conducting significant funding initiatives, integrating new board members into the board or in the process of Executive Director transition. The focus may be on successful accomplishment of a specific project, enhancing the board's performance, or both.

Individual personality assessments of all participants at the onset of team coaching is often helpful in team coaching, to help team members understand their own and others' preferred behavioral styles, in order to develop positive strategies for productive team achievement. Once a foundation of understanding has been laid, the coach works with the team in "real time" as it works on its tasks.