Team Coaching
For me, team coaching is a process of reflection and dialogue through which a team of individuals with a common purpose enhance their collective impact by proactively investing in how they work together, what they focus on together and how they engage with their stakeholder groups.
The team coach works in service of the team's unit (not the individuals within it) and on behalf of all stakeholders with a vested interest in the team’s ability to perform at its best - clients, beneficiaries, partners, trustees, and the environment.
The International Coaching Federation defines team coaching as:
“An experience that allows a team to work towards sustainable results and ongoing development. It is becoming an increasingly important intervention in corporate environments as high team performance requires aligning toward goals, remaining innovative, and adapting quickly to internal and external changes.”
What is team coaching?
Team coaching benefits
Team effectiveness (particularly leadership team effectiveness) is central to organisational performance. Team coaching is one of the most impactful interventions for building team effectiveness. Specifically, team coaching enables:
Clarity of purpose and direction, which improves the quality and speed of decision-making and consistency in communication - seen as a process that is revisited frequently through each conversation and interaction.
Collaborative, collective leadership of shared dilemmas - team members let go of their siloes, see their part in the whole and allocate resources accordingly rather than competing for what will best serve ‘their area’.
Healthy challenge, risk-taking and innovation that moves the organisation forward and better serves the evolving needs of key stakeholders - a direct result of greater levels of psychological safety and improved team dynamics.
How does team coaching work?
Team coaching starts with a diagnostic - a series of qualitative interviews with all team members to understand their roles and their perceptions of the purpose, norms, values and ways of working within the team and with the wider organisation. Feedback on themes is shared with the team as a starting point for growth.
Team coaching takes place over several months (meeting once every 4-6 weeks) as the team clarifies their purpose, builds a shared identity, defines how they want to work together and learns to engage collectively and collaboratively with their stakeholder groups.
As the coach, I manage the process in service of the team and ensure 50-50 focus on the task and the team dynamics. I call out what I am noticing in real-time and invite open, honest conversations about what is really going on.
I loosely follow Peter Hawkins's method of systemic coaching, allowing for flexibility to meet the specific needs of each team I work with. My approach draws on wider evidence from global research on what works to establish and strengthen top-performing teams, drawing from the work of Liane Davey, Patrick Lencioni, Vanessa Druskatt, Brene Brown and Daniel Goleman. I stand on the shoulders of giants!
“Astrid has an outstanding ability to engage effectively with stakeholders at different levels of seniority, facilitate complex discussions and align on expectations, and communicate competently throughout.”
Natalia Gavrilita, former Prime Minister of Republic of Moldova
“Astrid is very knowledgeable in the field of leadership and team dynamics and suggested many resources to engage with following the sessions. These have been very helpful to understand more fully why situations have arisen and why people respond in certain ways.”
Louise Pagden, Country Manager, CfBT Brunei