Team Coaching: A Systems View

P Sherman, B Bailey International Journal of Coaching in Organizations 2009

We have all been part of a team. Some of us have been part of a high impact team while some of us have been on a low impact team-- one that couldn’t quite get off the ground. Do you ever think about teams having a unique identity, cultivating their own team leadership agility, and generating a powerful energy? The outcome of team coaching is achieving business results through the factors of energy, agility and identity. The authors illustrate how to create a top performing team and show how team coaching is a powerful intervention to drive business results. They describe the theoretical basis for team coaching, provide a model for team coaching and provide pointers about the sweet spots for team coaching as the intervention of choice. They view team coaching from the vantage point of “team as a system,” a living, breathing organism with characteristics that transcend those of its individual members. Teams evolve, and the role of the coach and coaching techniques supporting the view of team as a system is a core precept. A case study shows the before and after benefits of team coaching.