CEO Today - August 2023

This means Team Coaches, the trainers and those that award accreditations will need to be ‘on their game’ a lot faster than they’ve perhaps had the luxury of being in the last 20 years. How does team coaching differ from the more commonly known team building, team development/facilitation and/ or team consulting? We regard all of those modalities as part of the team development continuum. We see consulting at one end of that continuum and team coaching at the other end. They are all valid components of team development, and we are very experienced in all. What is really relevant for team coaching to be successful, is ‘team readiness’ – that the team is in the right space to take on being coached as a team. The challenge is many teams and leaders are not ready, team coaching would not be successful. So, we regard it as a journey where we will help the team through the various stages of team development, to a point where they are ready and accepting of the possibility of team coaching. Even then, we may dip in and out of team coaching, with the agreement and acknowledgement of the team, because it may be appropriate at the time. What are some typical expectations and outcomes of those involved in a team coaching program? Probably the greatest expectation is that the team will be more ‘effective’ whatever that might mean. We also hear the desire for more connectedness, better and more frequent communication, more vulnerability and more transparency. Words like collaboration, accountability, and integrity appear on most company value statements – displayed on foyer walls and on the bottom of email signatures. But on close inspection the congruent behaviours can be very hard to find. The issue is that typically, the organisation will look directly at their leaders to get a read on what’s acceptable, what’s rewarded and what accountability looks like. We will often work with leaders and teams to help them bring their values to life, to make them part of the organisational DNA and develop structures and strategies to help them flourish and ensure longevity. The outcome then looks like being invited back every few months to pulse check progress. How do you ensure that each individual in a team is engaged in the process, particularly when you have strong personalities in the group? The short answer is that we can’t! The team coach shouldn’t try to ‘ensure’ an outcome for the team. This is actually what makes it so challenging for practitioners, particularly like me, when they’ve come from professional services environments where you’re paid to get outcomes for your client. Moreover, the Team Coach shares what Figure 2 - The Components of Team Development. Adapted from Mastering the Art of Team Coaching; G. Woudstra, 2021.

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