Today’s modern 21st Century organisations and companies operate in a fast-paced and so-called VUCA world. It is a business context which is increasingly Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. To remain competitive in today’s world, teams need to become cohesive, agile and able to collaborate cross-functionally to be able to innovate, create value and adapt to uncertain business contexts.

Simultaneously, the pressure on Team Leaders and teams from such challenging business contexts makes it ever increasingly necessary to focus on healthy and sustainable high performance in teams where physical and mental well-being are positively balanced.

Balance is like a rhythm. It has movement to it and resilience comes when both individual team members and the whole team can alternate well between states within that rhythm. Like seasons in nature. That creates well-being and with that comes improved performance.

By having a well-balanced and healthy performance, teams are able to contribute with extended value within organisations.

The Team Coaching process builds a close coaching relationship to enable both you as a Team Leader and your team members to become a high performing and very cohesive team. The Team Coaching will help explore and discover the underlying team dynamics and issues.

The Team Coaching Programme, will be tailored to your team and business context.

Typical themes where Team Coaching will be valuable for your team are:

• To quickly achieve high performance for newly established teams
• To increase collaboration in diverse teams
• To build more unified and cohesive teams: aligned on common purpose, collective results
• To improve well-being and positively balanced high performance in the team
• In achieving performance goals and objectives
• In effectively engaging with and co-creating value cross-functionally with stakeholders
• In growing a learning team and organisation
• To positively contribute to transforming the business
• To take high performing teams to the next level

Our Team Coaching draws from 3 main practices:

• Systemic Team Coaching: Focus is on the whole team (including Team Leader) within the system, i.e. within the organisation

Hawkins (2017) defines Systemic Team Coaching as “a process by which a team coach works with a whole team, both when they are together and when they are apart, in order to help them improve both their collective performance and how they work together, and also how they develop their collective leadership to more effectively engage with all their key stakeholder groups to jointly transform the wider business.”

• Action Learning: Focus on real life problems and actions, process to build space for curiosity, inquiry, reflection and learning

Whitcomb (2008) describes Action Learning as “a group-coaching approach that uses real people to solve real problems, in real time, to obtain real results.”

“It is a process that brings people together to solve challenges, learn through reflection, and take action.”

“Action Learning groups can work on a single problem or challenge that affects the entire group or on several problems presented by individual group members.”

• Balint Groups: Focus on case from presenter, team inquiry and deep listening from presenter as team discusses case

While integrating these three Team Coaching practices, the main basis for our Team Coaching is Transformative Coaching, i.e. coaching that is transformative for the team by creating positive and sustainable change. However, I use an integrative approach, meaning that we can flexibly use and move between the different Team Coaching practices depending on the Team Leader and team members.

What is transformation? Transformation is sometimes characterised as a ‘light-bulb moment’ when someone sees, hears or experiences that something has changed significantly (Pedrick, 2021: p. 3). That is what Transformative Coaching can create, namely an awareness of inner beliefs (limiting and contributing), assumptions, values and expectations and focus in life. Those areas all affect the team dynamics. Our coaching will help facilitate that transformative change for you as the Team Leader and team members.

As a professional Coach, the Team Coaching follows the rigorous standards of the ICF Code of Ethics and ICF Core Competencies and I am a member of the ICF.

Below is outlined more in detail what Team Coaching is and is not for your overview (adapted from Bolton, 2022).

Team Coaching is in essence:

1. Client-led: Topics are led by the client, i.e. the Team Leader and team, not by the Coach
2. Dialogic: Process of conversation using team inquiry, deep listening, reflection and learning
3. Client-initiated: Desired change by the Team Leader and team needs to be achieved through own actions
4. Non-advisory: The client, i.e. the team, comes to the conclusions for themselves or gains learning at a deeper level
5. Non-judgemental: The Coach is open-minded and respectful and does not judge what the client, i.e the Team, brings forward
6. Change oriented: Focused on creating change rather than coping mechanisms, i.e. it has clear goals or outcomes
7. Focused on potential and growth: Assuming that people can grow and change for more well-being, realising their potential
8. Not Therapy: Where past trauma, mental or physical illnesses are diagnosed/treated (e.g. by psychotherapist or psychologist)

References.

¹Hawkins, P. (2017) Leadership Team Coaching: Developing Collective Transformational Leadership, 3d ed., London: Kogan Page Ltd

²Whitcomb, J. (2008) Action Learning: An Approach to Team Coaching. In: Wahl, C., Scriber, C., Bloomfield, B. (eds) On Becoming a Leadership Coach. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

³Pedrick, C. (2021) Simplifying Coaching: How to Have More Transformational Conversations by Doing Less, 1st ed., London: Open University Press.

⁴Bolton, N. (2022) What Is Transformative Coaching? London: Animas Centre for Coaching.

So, Why choose a Team Coaching Programme?

Because coaching has multiple great benefits for oneself, teams and for corporations and organizations.

In an impressive and extensive meta-analysis, Theeboom, Beersma and van Vianen (2014) explored if coaching could affect performance, well-being and skills. They did an extensive research of literature and brought many nuances and caveats from it and their conclusions were (Rogers, 2016: p. 283):

“The results show that coaching has significant positive effects on performance and skills, well-being, coping, work attitudes, and goal-directed self-regulation. In general, our meta-analytic findings indicate that coaching is an effective tool for improving the functioning of individuals in organisations.”

Our Team Coaching looks at the individual and team as a whole. It has a purpose of inspiring a healthy and sustainable high performance, well-being and positive change for you as Team Leader and team member through Transformative Coaching.

Transformative Coaching is a specific kind of coaching that can help create more critical self-reflection and self-awareness for you as a Team Leader and team member, which can enable transformative change in team dynamics and collaboration.

This can enable you to unlock your full potential as a team.

References.

¹Theeboom, T. and Beersma, B. and van Vianen, A. E. M. (2014) Does coaching work? A meta-analysis on the effects of coaching on individual level outcomes in an organisational context, Journal of Positive Psychology 9(1): pp. 1-18.

²Rogers, J. (2016) Coaching Skills: The definitive guide to being a coach, 4th ed., Berkshire: Open University Press.

So, How do the Team Coaching Programmes work?

Our Team Coaching Programmes are typically based on 6-12 months programmes depending on the team, its team dynamics and business context.

The Team Coaching aims to bring you Transformative change as a team and the coaching process is fully tailored to your team development needs.

Team Coaching process:

1. Awareness: The first initial step to begin a Team Coaching Programme is that you as Team Leader become aware of issues or challenges in how your team work together, e.g. related to a lack of or inconsistent performance, communication, pressures on well-being etc. – Based on that awareness, you decide to explore what Team Coaching can do for your team.
   
   
2. Schedule Discovery Call: The second step is that you book an initial discovery call, which is a free initial calibration call prior to beginning the Team Coaching Programme to ensure good fit between us and to provide an overview of the Team Coaching Programme.
   
   These topics will be covered in the discovery call:

   – Get to know each other, build rapport and explore personal chemistry
   – An overview on the value of a Team Coaching Programme
   – Clarity about confidentiality and ethics involved in Team Coaching Programme
   – Discovering preliminary outcome(s) of the Team Coaching short- and long-term
   – Scheduling the sign-off session with Team Leader and Sponsor

3. Begin Team Coaching Programme: The third step is for us to tailor the most valuable Team Coaching Programme either as a 6-month programme or 12-month programme at a sign-off session with you as Team Leader and your business Sponsor. At this session the Team Coaching Programme is scoped, agreed upon and signed off together.

4. Team Coaching sessions: We kick-off the Team Coaching sessions by starting off with a team discovery and exploration session based on inquiry, listening and reflective dialogue drawing from Systemic Team Coaching, Action Learning and Balint style coaching to understand the team, its underlying challenges and internal team dynamics in its business context.
   
   Next, based on the initial discovery session, the focus of the coming Team Coaching Programme is further developed, refined, agreed and contracted.

   Coming Team Coaching sessions are scheduled and the Team Coaching Programme is executed upon together.

5. Debriefing and Learning: Lastly, the Team Coaching Programme ends by successfully having achieved your Team Coaching objective and transformative change for the team.
   
   Debriefing: The Team Coaching Programme is reviewed and we evaluate the positive transformative changes for the team. Learnings from the group are captured and used for next steps and actions.

Tailored Team Coaching Programme:

The offered Team Coaching is typically based on a 6 or 12 month programme depending on the team, its context and the dynamics of the team. The programme is tailored to your needs working closely together with you as Team Leader and team members.

Main target group: 

Newly established teams, leadership teams, agile teams, project teams, sports teams in corporations and organizations.

All Team Coaching Programmes include:

• 1 x 30 minute free discovery call prior to starting the Team Coaching collaboration.
  This is to calibrate and ensure there is a good fit between the Coach and Team Leader.
• 1 x 60-90 minute Sign-off with Team Leader and Business Sponsor: scoping and agreement of Team Coaching
• 2 x 60 minute Team Coaching sessions with Team Leader and team per month (Zoom or in person)
• Unlimited access to Coach via email and WhatsApp (typically replies within 24 hours)

Additional support options that can be added:

• 1 x 60 minute 1:1 coaching session with Team Leader every month (Zoom or in person)
• 1 x 60 minute Nature immersion session (coaching session outdoor in nature) every quarter in Zealand, Denmark
• ½-1 Day (4-8 hours) of “shadowing” of Team Leader and team in own organisation
• 1 x Deeper Signals Team Dynamic assessment of diversity and combined strengths & gaps (Core Values and Core Drivers)

Programme investment:

• 6 or 12 month programme tailored to your needs — contact me for pricing or book a discovery call

BOOK YOUR DISCOVERY CALL HERE