When a team begins to lose its sense of unity and strength, several changes can occur. The personal goals of team members begin to outweigh the goals of the team. Team members no longer support and recognise each other. There is mistrust, or even a lack of respect in the team. The team members tend to be tired, and the energy level is low. These are just a few examples.
How to unite, inspire, and empower a team? The answer is team coaching. It’s a structured process designed to improve team awareness and collaboration, performance and effectiveness. It involves working with the team as a whole rather than individual members. Through greater alignment, improved relationships, smoother cooperation, better performance, and higher satisfaction, the team can take the step from good to great.
Every team deserves occasional team coaching to addresses, among other things, the following:
- Aligning the team goals and values
- Clarifying the roles and responsibilities
- Formulating the team agreements
- Improving the communication patterns
- Fostering accountability
- Building trust
- Enhancing collaboration and cooperation
- Creating the strategy to meet the goals
- Identifying and overcoming the obstacles
- Encouraging continuous development
- Boosting team spirit and energy
- Strengthening the sense of unity
The team coaching process typically unfolds over several stages. The exact process can vary depending on the coach, the team’s specific needs and the organisational context. Still, the general flow can be broken down into these key phases: initial assessment, awareness creation, goal setting and agreement, development and action planning, implementation, reflection and adjustments, review and celebration.
We cannot underestimate the complexity of a team. It’s the leader’s responsibility to transform a group of people to a high-performing team. If necessary, different tools, methods and professionals need to be involved. There are various possibilities, but team coaching is one of the most effective ones – it gives your team a chance to be united, inspired and co-creators of your shared success story.
