There are so many fads in business. Is team coaching just another fad?

Over last 20 years coaching has matured and is recognised as a powerful way of helping individuals to reflect and gain insights into complex issues.

More recently there’s been a growing awareness of the systems in which individuals are working. David Clutterbuck reminds us that individual performance is, in part, dependent on the team environment.  Organisations need to be responsive to their changing external environments (eg living with COVID, climate change, Brexit), continuously adapting and changing with small as well as large scale change.  It’s impossible for one person to have all the answers, heroic leadership has had its day.

To adapt to a complex, uncertain environment collaboration and team working are key. They bring collective intelligence to innovate, inspire and improve.

When teams work together effectively they deliver more than the sum of the parts. However, the complexity of teams and team dynamics means this isn’t easy, particularly when a team’s under pressure.  

Team coaching helps a team raise its game in terms of effectiveness and performance. It provides a safe space to think as a team, to have those difficult conversations, to tap into team strengths and resources, to create the conditions for thriving and high performing. A thriving team creates the conditions for individual performance as well as amplifying collaboration, team working and the organisation’s capacity for adapting to the external environment. Building on the foundations of individual coaching, team coaching is here to stay and to make a difference.