Teams and Groups
Team Coaching
High performing teams share some basic characteristics. Among them are: engagement, clarity of roles and responsibilities, and mutual accountability. When individuals sit as part of a good team they will know:
How they fit into the collective
How to meet expectations
How to accomplish assigned tasks by deadline
Why their assignments are important and relevant, and
How to coordinate their activities with overall work flow of the team
A widely accepted definition of a team is:
“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”
Katzenbach, J.R. & Smith, D.K. (1999). The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High Performance Organization
A team will go through predictable stages of development. When a leader and team members are aware of the stages, they can distinguish between what they are experiencing as individuals and what the team itself is going through as part of developing its independent identity. A leader is better able to support a team through highs, lows, and challenges when there is an objective understanding of team dynamics.
The stage may be set for success when a team is made up of talented motivated people. Still, the complexities of the leader’s style and the other personalities around the table introduce an overlay of relationships and behaviors which could either promote high team alignment or dysfunction.
The team executive coach helps teams look at their:
Shared vision and goals
Accountability
Behavioral norms
Common habits and assumptions versus acknowledged and accepted team operating agreements
Roles and responsibilities
Problem solving processes
Chain of command: Who works with whom? Who answers to whom?
Communication, and
Decision making
Beth follows the model advanced by Alexander Caillet of Corentus.com. She will start with the leader, because an engaged and able leader is key to a team’s long-term success.
The process follows these general steps:
Establish the primary coaching relationship with the leader
When the timing is right, the leader will introduce the coach to the team
The coach meets the team where they are at, for example, by sitting in on real time team meetings to observe
The coach may offer observations regarding team functioning either during or at the end of a meeting
The coach continues to meet with the leader to develop awareness and a leadership style most effective with the present collection of people on a team. The leader finds the balance of authority and collaboration that inspires the team to work effectively with aligned purpose and joy. The leader develops agility, clarity, and courage to be their best.
There are many effective leadership styles. The outcome we seek in team coaching is to uncover leadership strengths in the leader and the team. With heightened agility and awareness, the leader leverages positive change established during team coaching and carries it on, once the coaching comes to an end. Additionally, the desired outcome for the team is greater productivity, mutual accountability, deeper trust, and self-management, that is, less dependency on the leader for direction and reinforcement.
Group Coaching
All teams are groups, but not all groups are teams. Teams share a common purpose and strive to work together toward a common goal. In contrast, groups can be made up of individuals without a previous connection or from different departments within one organization. For example, group coaching can be offered to:
New managers
New vice presidents
New hires
Women leaders
Employees in an ethnically or racially diverse organizations
We are only limited by our imagination when it comes to identifying challenges around which small groups can be formed to learn together, build community, and share a professional goal or interest.
Ginger Cockerham, a pioneer of Group Coaching, defines group coaching as
“Group coaching is a facilitated group process that is led by a professional coach and formed with the intention of maximizing the combined energy, experience, and wisdom of individuals who chose to join in order to achieve organizational objectives and/or individual goals.”
Group Coaching: A Comprehensive Blueprint, iUniverse Books 2011
The International Coach Federation (“ICF”) defines a group (for coaching purposes) to be 15 people or less, although studies have shown that seven people in a group is optimal. The added benefits of group executive coaching over 1:1 coaching are: cost effectiveness, peer learning, and the sharing of the coaching experience in a small group context. The sessions become a ‘safe space’ in which peers have conversations about goals, key issues, best practices, challenges, opportunities, leadership skills, accountability, and more. The weight of the research shows that feeling heard, valued, and connected contributes to a happier and more engaged workforce. When people feel confident and able to enjoy one another and the time they spend at work, they want to be there, and they want to do well for their co-workers, for the organization, and for themselves.
Beth collaborates with James Ashton of Ashton Coaching to provide Group Coaching. Together, Beth and James facilitate and coach the small group on their leadership development. The experience is a hybrid of facilitation and coaching. That is, the group defines where the conversation goes during the sessions, but Beth and James dedicate each session to development of a particular leadership skill. Namely:
What’s Your Leadership Style? DISC Assessment
Exploring Effective Leadership Styles
Delegation
Giving/Receiving Feedback
Creating High -Functioning Teams
Closing/ Next Steps
As group coaches and facilitators Beth and James support the professional development, insights, and deeper awareness in each participant. The clients enjoy learning with peers and being part of a group with common issues. The coaches have the dual responsibility to create a group that works and to get to know each participant so the group can develop in a way that benefits all present. When group executive coaching is made up of individuals from one organization but across departments or functions, the relationships developed in the coaching group augment communication and active networks across an organization.
Group executive coaching still adheres to the competencies and ethical standards promoted by the International Coach Federation, so it is a true coaching experience. Individual, team, and group coaches credentialed by the ICF remain mindful of the key coaching competencies.
Through Beth's Awareness Building Program, her clients develop their abilities to:
- Be present (because today is yesterday’s tomorrow)
- Listen actively
- Recognize and evaluate opportunities
- Make better decisions
- Delegate
- Have difficult conversations and communicate effectively
- Heighten engagement at work
- Build and maintain high performing teams
- Hold themselves and others accountable
- And more