Team Coaching
I am currently studying team coaching and by the end of 2022 hope to become an accredited systemic team coach.
What is a team? A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. A real team is the optimum size to do its work. If a team needs to make strategic decisions, then research says that optimum membership is between five and eight members. Less than five, and the team may be short on the diversity of thinking needed for high quality debate and decision-making. More than eight slows decision-making right down, and the team quickly becomes a drag on the wings of the organisation.
When team coaching, the client is the team as a whole and is coached as one taking into consideration a systemic approach with the sponsor, team leader, team members and stakeholders. It is distinct from other service professionals, such as counselling, mentoring, consulting and training. It is a team-driven process, meaning the team chooses the focus of the conversation while I as the coach listen, ask questions and share observations following the commitment of ‘I will’ and ‘I will not’ as outlined above. The coaching interaction is designed to create awareness as a catalyst for learning and growth. Coaching accelerates the learning process by providing focus and increasing the team’s options; the team is responsible for making choices and for taking any action. Coaching concentrates on where the team is in the here-and-now and how they get to where they want to be in the future. Results are a matter of the team’s intentions, choices and actions stimulated by the coaching process.
The International Coaching Federation defines coaching as: ‘Partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximise their personal and professional potential’.
It’s about partnering with a team to unleash its collective power, purpose and potential to connect and collaborate.
What teams benefit from team coaching? All teams. Even if you are a high performing team and a minimum increase of 10% in performance is achieved, this is hugely beneficial.
Team coaching can be confronting, messy, eye opening and richly rewarding for all involved.
I know I’m not alone in wanting to look forward to going to work. To work with a team of supportive co-workers where there’s psychological safety to speak without fear of judgement, to know the true purpose of the team and to bring out the best in each member so we can all contribute and collaborate with a systemic approach.
If you would like more information about team coaching, please contact me at pip@forwardlooking.com.au.
