What makes it team coaching?
Three things distinguish team coaching from the alternatives:
- The team is the client. Goals are collective, not a bundle of individual development plans.
- It happens over time. A series of sessions with real work in between, not a single offsite.
- It works on real business. The team practices new ways of operating on live decisions.
| Team building | Facilitation | Team coaching | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Relationships and morale | A good meeting or decision | Lasting team performance |
| Length | One event | One meeting or retreat | Months |
| Who owns the outcome | The organizer | The facilitator runs the process | The team |
The idea of the “first team”
Most executives feel their primary loyalty is to the function they lead: lending, finance, operations. Patrick Lencioni popularized the idea that members of a leadership team must instead treat the leadership team itself as their first team, putting enterprise results ahead of their own department. Much executive team coaching is about making that shift real. See Building an effective credit union executive team.
What a team coaching engagement includes
- Contracting with the team leader. The chief executive defines what success would look like, usually two or three criteria.
- Discovery. Interviews with each member, sometimes a team assessment or individual 360s.
- Foundational sessions. Building trust, shared language, and communication skills.
- Working sessions. Applying those skills to the team’s real agenda: priorities, decision rights, conflict, accountability.
- Follow-through. Checkpoints between sessions and a review against the original success criteria.
Team coaching is often paired with one-on-one coaching for the team leader, and sometimes for each member.
When does an executive team need coaching?
- A new chief executive has inherited a team
- Several new executives have joined
- After a merger, when two leadership cultures have to become one
- Decisions are made in the meeting and reopened in the hallway
- Conflict is either avoided or personal
- The chief executive is the hub of every decision and wants the team to carry more
- The team is functioning and wants to move from good to exceptional
What can go wrong
- The leader delegates it. If the chief executive is not fully in, the team will not be.
- It is treated as an event. A single retreat produces a good day, not a changed team.
- The real issue is one person. A performance problem needs a leadership decision, not a team process.
Frequently asked questions
How is team coaching different from group coaching?
In team coaching, an intact team with shared goals is coached as a unit. In group coaching, individuals who may not work together are coached side by side on their own goals.
How long does executive team coaching take?
Engagements commonly run six to eighteen months, with a full or half day together every four to eight weeks and shorter check-ins between.
Should the CEO be in the room for team coaching?
Yes. The chief executive is a member of the team and the most influential one. Team coaching without the leader present changes very little.
Can the same coach work with the CEO individually and with the team?
Yes, and it is common, provided confidentiality boundaries are explicit. Some organizations prefer different coaches from the same firm for individual and team work.
How Syntrina Leadership approaches it
Syntrina Leadership’s leadership team development engagements are designed with the chief executive around two to three success criteria, begin with foundational sessions on connection, communication, and coaching skills, and build through follow-on sessions on self-awareness, trust, decision-making, and leading change.
This page is educational and general in nature. It is not legal, regulatory, or clinical advice. Questions or corrections: coaching@syntrinaleadership.com.