Our definition of team coaching is:

Team coaching means working with the whole team to enhance their self-awareness and the mutual regard and respect they have for each other, with the focus on improving the quality of relationships and identifying what encourages and what gets in the way of the teams' effectiveness and performance.

To coach in this way we focus on the team as a system and we explore what is going on in the system through three lenses which are; awareness process, support and human touch. During this work we are particularly interested in exploring emotional reactions and responses to working as a team.

Awareness process: The Gestalt awareness process is an important element of team coaching and involves constant attention to what is happening, i.e. team dynamics, and how teams can get stuck, i.e. team process.

Support: The way team members support themselves, and each other, is vital to high team performance. We look at how support works in the particular team context and offer approaches for strengthening support.

Human touch: Working with Trust, Openness, Understanding, Caring and Honesty are all important for team effectiveness and cohesion. We work with the team to ensure they work with a human touch.

Live team coaching

What I have described so far represents the initial work that we do with the team we are coaching. We follow this by live team coaching where we work with the team as they are working together day by day, at both regular meetings and in between.

This live coaching takes place in the workplace and on the job. It focuses on the three lenses that we have introduced earlier to the team and how these are playing out in their daily work together.

Team players and team leaders We work with both team payers and team leaders within the team context. Our definitions of team players and team leaders are shown below. We have developed these ideas based on our own experience of creating high performance winning teams who are able to sustain their success.

Team players are committed to the team's objectives; know the contributions that are expected of them; are open to giving and receiving support; value themselves as members of a high performing team, and place a high priority on responding to the team's needs ahead of their own.

Team leaders are committed to guiding the team's activities; assessing and suggesting the team's strategy; ensuring that team members have the resources they need, including training and development; offering support and encouragement when needed, and fully playing their part as a team member.