Team Coaching
What is the purpose of team coaching?
Team coaching aims to improve the performance of a team by increasing the emotional, social and systems intelligence of the group.
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It is seen most easily in sports, where players that fully understand each other and have strong relationship and systems intelligence, are better equipped to find each other on the pitch, create dynamic solutions to problems presented and perform to the highest level as a team. It is also very evident from sports that when players are expensive, talented and skilled but do not have good relationship and systems intelligence, perform well below expectations when tasked to perform together as a team on a common goal.
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Team coaching addresses many key areas of team performance, generation of ideas and visions for change, management of conflicts which are very normal in creative diverse teams, effective management of change and efficient organization of roles both formal and informal.
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As a consequence of improved relationship systems intelligence individuals are more engaged and fulfilled at work which is a common goal in itself in many organizations.
Methodology
The coaching philosophy is based on the psychological research and work of Daniel Goleman "Emotional Intelligence", John Gottman "Relationship success" and Arnold Mindell "Process Orientated Psychology" and training in ORSC (Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching). The emphasis of this methodology is to build relationship systems intelligence through guided processes or interventions that relate to the specific needs of the team.
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The belief is that the team is self-organizing, intelligent and creative and once the awareness of the relationship system has become established, the team will be more deliberate in its choices and ways of working so as to liberate the voices of the whole team, harness the innate creativity of the team and manage the challenges and changes it is faced with in a much more intelligent manner.
Examples of intervention for team coaching
Here is a simplified diagram of the areas of team performance that relationship systems intelligence addresses and some of the processes (tools) that can be applied to support the development and success of the team. Note many of the approaches below can be used in multiple situations and the key to application of the tools and techniques is having a full understanding of the team's needs and challenges.
Process for team coaching program design
In order to be most effective in the coaching program for the team there are a series of steps that are typically undertaken:
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Meet for initial assessment of the teams' strengths and weaknesses.
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Broader assessment of the team from a series of individual team member interviews.
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Broader assessment of the team from diagnostic tools
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Review of the strengths and challenges of the team and initial coaching program proposal
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Agreement of plan and subsequent execution of the plan
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Follow up and review of the experience and next steps as required
The first step is to reach out to keith@keithmilnecoaching.ch for an introductory discussion.
