In the book Leadership Team Coaching in Practice, edited by Peter Hawkins, we can read different case studies and learnings from a variety of industries with a variety of interventions shared by numerous coaches.

I found the section, Coaching The Team working with its core learning, by Sue Coyne and Judith Nicol, had some great insights into the process of team coaching.  Their reflections three years after the team coaching engagement were of special interest to me.  I was very curious, what makes team coaching sustainable.  Thus the question arose – are you Team Coaching or just having Team Events? – following your initial engagement. 

Their conclusion was that learning and embedding the learning remains possibly the great challenge for leadership teams and boards.  Why?  They suggest it is due to an increasing ‘overload’, the demand to do more with less at a higher quality.  This overload drives focus on cost reduction and business as usual.   They suggest this leads to a tick box mentality rather than things being done in a way to embed learning resulting in things being done differently and better. Embedded learning, reflection and doing things differently become a priority when there is a crisis and not investing in new behavior and approaches is too risky.

What makes a high cost high quality engagement sustainable?  They suggest it is the team or board leader. If the leader is the role model for the importance of reflection and learning then this becomes integrated into the way the team operates.  Starting with the CEO being the champion and having a great personal understanding and commitment will have a great impact on the sustainability of team coaching initiatives and the growth and development to better meet the future needs of the organization.

In my work with senior teams over the past years I would wholeheartedly agree with these findings.  I see the investment in team coaching along with individual coaching and the leader’s commitment to a new operating system as a partnership that may be needed to grow and sustain business in the future. 

I am curious to hear from CEOs, Senior Leaders and Team Coaches on your perspective of these findings.

Benita.smith@takatuf.om