If you want to go far, go together

January 2019 Coaching Report

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January 2019 Coaching Report
If you want to go far, go together
If you want to go far together, get a team coach

Humans have organized in groups and teams to accomplish common goals for a very long time. Organizations, as teams of teams, depend upon high quality collaboration and teamwork for organizational success. To quote Patrick Lencioni: teamwork remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and rare. 

Ruth Wageman and collaborators studied 120 leadership teams (Wageman et al, 2008) and reported that only 21% of 120 leadership teams excelled at performance, and only 24% excelled at developing the team and individuals. Not for lack of dedication and effort - a team of researchers (Salas et al, 2008) identified more than 130 different models on team performance or team effectiveness components. One model developed by Saul Brown and Tony Grant, IOC Scientific Advisory Committee member, is called GROUP, extending the GROW model to Goal, Reality, Options, Understand Others, Perform.

While organizations now turn to coaches to deliver team coaching, the field is thought to be 30 years behind individual coaching in terms of definitions, research and established training programs (Hawkins, 2014). The research literature is still fledgling, comprised mainly of case studies. David Clutterbuck’s comments (Clutterbuck, 2008) may still be relevant. The first category of team coaches “…transfer what they do in coaching individuals, add a dash of facilitation and or team building, and then wing it. The second category starts with a deep understanding of team process and dynamics, and distinguishes carefully between team coaching and facilitation…”
Here’s to finding our team coaching wings.

Happy New Year!
Margaret Moore, aka Coach Meg
Co-Founder, Co-Director, Institute of Coaching

References

Brown, S., Grant, A. (2010). From GROW to GROUP: theoretical issues and a practical model for group coaching in organisations. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice. Vol. 3. Issue 1.

Clutterbuck, D. (2008). Coaching the Team. In D.B. Drake, D, Brennan, & K. Gortz (Eds.), The Philosophy and Practice of Coaching: Insights and Issues for a New Era (pp.219-238). London: Wiley.

Hawkins, P. (2014). Leadership team coaching in Practice. London, Philadelphia.

Lawrence, P. Whyte, A. (2017). What do experienced team coaches do? Current practice in Australia and New Zealand. International Journal of Evidence-based Coaching and Mentoring. Vol. 15. No. 1.

Peters, J., Carr, C. (2013). Team Effectiveness and team coaching literature review. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice. Vol. 6, No. 2.

Salas, E., Cooke, N. J., & Rosen, M. A. (2008). On teams, teamwork, and team performance: Discoveries and developments. Human Factors, 50(3).

Wageman, R., Nunes, D., Burruss, J., & Hackman, J. R. (2008). Senior leadership teams: What it takes to make them great. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School.

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