Team coaching: a process at the service of collective performance

‍” Coming together is a start; staying together is progress; working together is success. ” Henry Ford understood it well in his day, a successful team is not built in a day. A team takes time to build a high level of trust and performance.
From the birth of the team, a stage during which individuals are focused on their task and tend to work in silos, to the united team, combining performance and the quality of interactions with other teams, many steps and processes must be respected. Team coaching allows the leader and all team members to become aware of the key factors necessary for the success of the team, and to put them into action in a conscious manner. In what situations is team coaching useful? How does team coaching take place? What is the position of the team coach? How does team coaching involve everyone's responsibility? ... So many questions and therefore answers, which allow us to lift the veil on team coaching, an approach at the service of the system and the collective.

In what situation (s) is team coaching useful?

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Many leaders today use individual coaching and yet, in many cases, it would be a question of working with the leader AND his team. Team coaching is a long-term support for the leader and all team members, whose objective is tooptimize cooperation. The power of the team is greater than that of each of its members, and the role of the team coach is to facilitate this sense of solidarity and alignment To gain maturity and reach the stage of “successful team”, team members and their leader seek, through team coaching, to improve the quality of their interactions, with each other and with the rest of the organization. Team coaching allows members toalign with common operating principles, of regulate possible difficulties, of strengthen the sense of belonging and collective pride, and finally Project yourself into the future with an action plan. The goals of team coaching are varied according to the needs of the team.

A few examples:

• Line up around a vision, a mission and a reason for being.
• Redefine the roles and responsibilities of each.
• Lancer a major transformation project and engage the whole team around these changes.
• Set up the “processes” and the operating methods of the team.
• Optimize communication and decision-making methods.
• Relaunch commitment and motivation.
• Resolve conflicts.
• Welcoming a new leader or new members
• Celebrate great successes.
• Etc...

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The goals of team coaching are related to the organization's current or future challenges.

How does team coaching take place?

Team coaching is a long-term project, with an average of 6 months to two years of support depending on the objectives defined.

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First step: diagnosis of the functioning of the team.

The first step in team coaching consists of an overview of the functioning of the team. In most cases, this involves interviewing the leader and each member of the team, and sending questionnaires to a greater number of actors in the organization. Les image feedback And the Feedback collected on the functioning of the team (the level of trust, the level of cooperation, the methods of communication, decision-making, etc.) are synthesized and highlight the team's priorities for action.

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Second step: define a clear contract and offer appropriate support.

The “Gap Analysis”, gap between the situation in which the team finds itself and the objectives pursued, are first presented to the leader In order to get their agreement on the diagnosis. The team coach offers the best support approach associated with the team's diagnosis. This diagnosis and the support process are also shared with the team to engage everyone in change and prepare for collective coaching. As with individual coaching, the coach Establish a contract of objectives with the leader and the team as to the expected results. The coach is careful to define the outlines of his role with the leader. He checks what the latter expects of him and positions himself according to the objectives: challenger, mirror of the team's behaviors, supplier of feedback and Feed Forwards, meeting facilitator, etc.

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Third step: supporting the team over the long term.

Team coaching alternate complementary sequences:

• Of team seminars (often called 'green seminars'), aimed at working on optimizing team cooperation and aligning themselves around action plans.
• Of coaching sessions In situ during which the coach observes the interactions between team members and returns feedback to support the team's progress, validate the team's progress in terms of the defined objectives.
• Of debriefing time with the leader and a few members of the team.
• Of individual coaching time if required.

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Discover our team coaching offer

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‍Focus on team seminars: Les Green seminars, in teams, are moments during which the team goes discuss its modes of operation, her vision, his objectives, his modes of communication, his conflict resolution methods, of decision, its performance, its challenges, etc...
These are particularly good times for work on specific themes such as: alignment around a vision, the construction of new values or the implementation of new behaviors. Les Feedback will be facilitated by the coach, who will give everyone a voice in order to liberate exchanges, crossing perceptions, reveal conflicts real or latent, Help the expression of pride and/or collective and individual frustrations. The coach helps the team to become aware of what she does well and what constitutes the foundations of its success. The team coach supports the team in its awareness of its assets, strengths and points of vigilance. He promotes exchanges to anchor cooperative behaviors and ways of working or to try to eliminate anti-team behaviors.

David Lencioni's model is a model that is often used by Talentis coaches when coaching a team. This valuable model makes it possible to diagnose, together with the team, the exact place where they need support:

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Fourth step: Take stock of team coaching and define the perspectives

• Team coaching deserves to be finalized by a real visualization work by the team for how far we've come, Of his current areas of progress, of return on investment of the work done.
• The balance sheet at the end of the course wins at be formalized by the manager and the coach before being shared with the team. Feedback from the manager to everyone on their contribution and on their professional development prospects for the following year can also be organized.
• Rather, the balance sheet is managed in the manner of a dynamic income statement and a development forecast for the future.

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Practical cases of team coaching:

Is it a TRUST issue?

Should everyone learn to trust each other, to say the things that need to be said? Dare to say when he or she is unable to do something? Dare to ask for help? Dare to help the other? Is everyone OK to accept that they can't succeed without others?

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> Also read: How to create trust in your teams?

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When the team lacks trust, it is common to see everyone avoid responsibility without looking for solutions to solve this problem. During team coaching, the team coach will work with the team and each of its members on alignment around dysfunctional behaviors. He goes Freeing the word so that everyone can express themselves to say what they need to be more confident. Team coaching at this stage highlights the principles and values needed to work together, the operating rules and commitment to solutions.

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Is it a problem to resolve conflicts?

A team is well when it is in a position to talk about things that need to be improved, confront problems together to solve them collectively. It is also a team where Everyone takes responsibility as for his opinion, his beliefs, while accepting to be confronted by others. Does everyone accept and give feedback?

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> See also: The 5 steps of a successful feedback

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When the team does not know how to manage conflicts, the coach A team will highlight conflicts, name them, and make them emerge. He goes Observe how the team seeks to resolve them or carefully avoids doing so. From there he will help the team to see the consequences that cannot be resolved, not said, not expressed. He goes support the team in the search for solutions.

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How is team coaching different from team building?

Team building is a team sequence designed to reinforce individual commitment, pride in belonging and knowledge on an ad hoc basis. It is often a one- or two-day seminar, combining moments that are very focused on business and others that are quite fun. Team building is very useful for maintain moments of sharing and cohesion throughout the year. It differs from team coaching because it is not organized for a long time and is instead intended to fuel the team's energy in the short term. During a team building, the team will seek to connect, build solutions, innovate, have fun, build relationships, but not necessarily to commit to profound transformations in its modes of cooperation.

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What is the coach's posture during team coaching?

The coach develops the autonomy of the team in its daily functioning. It stimulates the team's strategic thinking in relation to the problems identified by giving feedback on the behaviors and operating methods observed. Those that will allow the team to succeed, as well as those that will hinder the development of the team. His challenge is to find his right place. Without being too expert, he has a good understanding of business challenges.
The practice of team coaching requires specialized and specific skills:

• Capacity of diagnosis of a collective dynamic.
• Capacity to build an alliance with the leader and a community.
• Capacity to be confronted in a positive way while generating an energy oriented “search for solutions”.
• One ability to confront the leader in a situation in order to accelerate changes in the team.
• One ability to stay on the sidelines while getting involved by giving feedback, constructive feedback.

The team coach must be certified and must have many years of experience in this field. The leader or the team who chooses a team coach must be very careful in the criteria of their choice. You don't improvise yourself as a team coach after one or two years of practice! For the company, the choice of a team coach is a key element in the success of the approach.

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Team coaching: an individual and collective responsibility.

The success of team coaching requires a real desire for change on the part of the team leader. This desire will allow the collective to grow and develop. The leader must agree to be in parity with the whole team, to receive feedback and to hear the feelings and proposals of his team. As for the members of the team, they will also have to agree to grow independently, demonstrate their commitment, communicate transparently, accept real co-responsibility, and above all a mutual challenge and humility. Team coaching is a very powerful form of support, which gives the leader and the team real satisfaction of having benefited from time rich in exchanges, feedback, and the construction of solutions. To be fully effective, team coaching must be guided over time by specific objectives. He must also be supported by coaches with a long “business” experience within organizations, as well as significant experience as an executive coach to respond accurately to the problems and improvement challenges identified at the level of the team concerned.

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Have your teams supported on the road to performance!