Add team coaching to your tool kit

Contributed by Helen Zink

While one-on-one coaching can be effective when working with individual staff, the issues that emerge at a team level often require a different approach.       

The critical role leaders play in organisational culture cannot be underplayed.  In an extensive study by Gallup (Clifton & Harter, 2019), they found that 70% of the variance in team engagement is determined by the leader of the team.  Encouraging leaders to coach one-to-one and building in-house coaching capability is common.

One-to-one coaching is a well-established practice, and can be very effective, but it often doesn’t address challenges that occur at a team level. Team coaching is starting to gain traction in many organisations to address more complex ways of working and relationships within a team, and boost team value and performance.  As its popularity builds, it follows that leaders should be adding team coaching skills to their tool kits.   

I previously worked intensively with a team as their coach over a three-year period where the team, team leader, wider stakeholders, and I, grew our team coaching experience and knowledge together.   The frameworks and tips below represent our collective advice for leaders wanting to bring team coaching approaches to life within their own organisations.

What is team coaching?

Before diving into the practical tips, it’s worth defining what team coaching is.

Put simply, it’s like one-to-one coaching, using many of the same techniques (open-ended questions, active listening and holding silence) but instead of working with one person, you work with a collective, treating them as one entity.  

It’s intentionally flexible and organic, tailored to the environment in which the team finds itself, and does not have a predetermined outcome. It’s not the same as training, consulting, facilitating, teaching or team building. Although there may be some overlap.      

For example, when working with a team who aren’t used to collective development, it might take time for them to warm up. In that instance, a team building approach might be a good place to start to build psychological safety before moving on to coaching over time.  

Topics covered in a team coaching conversations could include things like:

• Improved collaboration
• Prioritisation
• Delegation and accountability
• Problem-solving and decision-making
• Understanding stakeholder relationships and their needs

The aim is to unpack how the team is working together, encourage awareness of themselves and others they work with, and, ultimately, increase their value to the organisation.                          

Team coaching tools

Now, on to the practical insights. Suggestions have been divided into two parts, working with the team and leadership style.

Content has come directly from lessons the team, team leader, stakeholders and I learnt while working together over three years. 

Working with the team

2. Invest in regular team development sessions that differ from business-as-usual activities, such as off-sites and meetings at stakeholder premises.

3. Involve stakeholders throughout, including prioritisation of development activity and when measuring progress and outcomes.

4. Spend as much time as needed agreeing on roles and expectations between:   

• The leader and team.
• Team members.
• The team and stakeholders. 
• Continually renegotiate all the above throughout your work together.

5. Team sessions themselves:

• Ask the team to agree on the level of pre-work they will commit to and encourage them to hold each other to account for what is agreed.  
• Align content with the team maturity level – start with basics and work up.   
• Switch between facilitation, coaching and other delivery modes as needed, such as teaching and mentoring.  
• Focus on what serves the team best now.
• Continue to work on topics until team members feel they have said all they need to, rather than sticking to the agenda. 
• Finish with clear actions and accountability and encourage the team to hold each other to account for what is agreed.
• Align frequency and timing of sessions with other commitments to ensure buy-in and minimise distraction.
• Continually review these processes with the team and adjust along the way.

6. Review the impact of change on other individuals and teams across the organisation – as the team steps up, new gaps may emerge in other areas.

7. One-to-one coaching of individual team members in conjunction with team coaching helps embed change.

Leadership style

As mentioned above, the leader’s role is critical, and leadership style significantly influences a team’s progress. Some tips for leaders working with and coaching teams:

 Final words of advice

This article alludes to the complexities of team coaching, reflected by the years of study, practice and supervision it takes for professional team coach certification. 

Don’t be put off. Although challenging, the rewards are high. Integrating just some of the practical tips suggested into your toolbox will bring team coaching approaches to life and benefit the team, leader and wider organisation.

Further reading

Clutterbuck, D. (2020). Coaching the team at work. London & Boston: Brealey.

Clutterbuck, D., Turner, T. & Murphy, C. (2022). The team coaching casebook. London: Open University Press.

Zink, H. (2023). Team coaching in organisational development: team, leader, organisation, coach and supervision perspectives.  London: Routledge.