Professional Team Coaching

When starting a Team Coaching journey, there is a need to align expectations around Process, Content and Relational dynamics. We spend some time to align on what is wanted and needed; and then we spend time on revealing what the opportunities and possibilities are for Team Coaching outcomes. How we get to these three things may vary: You may take an opportunity to build on what was discovered and explored in leadership team facilitated retrospectives and training by embarking on professional team coaching for example – which would sometimes already bring awareness around the Content, for example.

The Team Coaching offering will always take a systemic approach, primarily – which implies that the team is always considered to be a part of a larger system, as well as being a system itself (here are some blogs that explore the meaning of System in relation to team coaching). The Client remains the whole organisation and not only the team and any work done in service of the client will focus overall.

There are two Team Coaching approaches that may be explored.

1. Dialogic Team Coaching
2. Solutions Focused Team Coaching

The first will enable the team to develop their communicative competency and to identify, reveal, address, and change underlying relational structures within the team. This journey for team coaching is typically a longer commitment and carries with it both increased risk and increased reward. By developing communicative competency, the organisation may reap the benefits of generative relationships and interactions, where creativity, innovation, openness, accountability, and results are present.

The second approach, although reputable for its ability to solve seemingly complex problems in a relatively short amount of time, does not always guarantee the transformation of underlying structures. A solutions focused approach enables a focus on the present, ideal future, current resources and already effective solutions that can be leveraged to accelerate what everyone chooses to create as a shared future.

note the continuum of types of coaching – individual, group and team

As part of the Agile Coaching competencies that WillCoach offers, facilitation of sessions can be requested as a single service, or a series of sessions. Facilitation enables the team to reach decisions through a process led design that enables collaborative decision-making and conversation.

The stance of facilitation is different to coaching in that the facilitator designs, owns, executes and maintains the agenda, outcomes and process agreed upon for each session. The Facilitator remains neutral and ensures that the appropriate level of authority is used to reach the outcome and address what is in the room, in the session, to reach said outcome.

Each session is designed, based on a briefing meeting with a sponsor. The sponsor is responsible for bringing the purpose and outcome for the meeting, choosing how decisions will be made, and for providing input into the design as the facilitator elicits it.

The facilitator will play back the design and process, which must be approved by the sponsor. There may be several sessions between the sponsor and facilitator before consensus is reached and the session goes ahead, and each session may also have an optional debrief after the session.

The facilitator gives the feedback to the sponsor and publishes the outcomes and notes from each session to the team.

This blog post explains more about the differences between facilitation and team coaching

The Team Coaching approach chosen by the Client will determine the scope of work and the time commitment given for the work. Each approach has phases of engagement which are shared as a common framework of engagement.

1. Onboarding phase
2. Contracting Phase
3. Execution phase
4. Debrief phase

Note that elements from both approaches may find their way into the work and the dominant stance of systemic focus for team coaching. The approach, however, decides the structure of the overall journey the team embarks on.

This approach focuses on developing communicative competency and range of leadership for individuals in the team and the team itself. It is based on Structural Dynamics and Dialogic principles.

There is an element of teaching and learning that is required in this journey that will touch on:

• Levels 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the structure of communication (2 hours each)
• Levels of Listening and developing listening competency (2 hours)
• Communicating to create accountability and giving feedback (2 hours)
• Creating the environment for dialogue as leaders (2 hours)

Depending on the pace of the team, all, or some of these modular learning sessions will be covered as the need arises and as the team progresses. There is a dependency and progressive aspect to each learning module and not all competencies or skills may be required for the team. This will be contracted and re-contracted as the work emerges.

1.1 Onboarding of Dialogic Team Coaching

In this phase, the coach engages with the team and the coaching sponsor to understand the need of the work. This is done by meeting with the sponsor first. Here the nature and scope of coaching and team coaching is discussed, the challenge and hoped for outcome from the sponsor is discussed and an initial decision is made together on whether there is agreement to continue.

What follows is a session to meet the team and briefly outline what lies ahead. From this, a series of individual interviews with team members, asking the same questions, possibly doing an assessment for each person’s communication competency preference and the compilation of all information into a collective feedback workshop will follow.

This workshop includes the sponsor and team in which all information is played back to the team without exposing any individual input, or assessment profile.

Lastly, the team is invited to workshop their foci for the team coaching from which a backlog is formed, or outcomes are decided. Once there is shared understanding between the team, the coach and the sponsor on the foci or outcomes for the work; and there is a mutual agreement to continue – the onboarding phase is completed and the contracting phase may begin.

If there is not an appetite to continue at that present moment, the process terminates or pauses.

1.2 Contracting of Dialogic Team Coaching

In the contracting phase, the team, coach and sponsor agree on how they want to work together. This includes:

• The nature and scope of coaching and team coaching (ensuring a shared understanding)
• Creation of an alliance for the team coaching
• Length of the engagement
• Agreements around termination of, discontinuation of, leaving of, or referral of the team coaching
• Feedback cycles throughout the team coaching
• Decision-making protocols
• How conflict is dealt with
• Confidentiality
• Duration of the journey
• What we will welcome and what is not welcome
• Frequency of meeting, and when we may reschedule
• Agreement around finances with the sponsor
• The role of the sponsor and where other forms of support may be acquired

Should the team and sponsor choose to only focus on one aspect of Dialogic team development for a while, the engagement can be paused or stopped. For example, the Client may choose to only focus on working with the Communication domains and Action Propensities in team communication together with accountability. This work may take several months to mature, and thereafter, the Client engages and re-contracts for the next focus.

Due to the challenging nature of this work, from the date of accepting the team coaching assignment when the Contracting phase has commenced; the coaching journey may be terminated permanently with payment of the full journey. Said differently, the team commits to completing the contracted journey (with a minimum of 1 session every 2 weeks or with a minimum of 1 session per week), paid up-front. A session is a minimum of 90 minutes and can go up to 4 hours.

It is therefore recommended that the Client take an experimental approach to this work by committing to a scope of work, and inspecting how it unfolds; or, committing to the full scope and seeing it through in order to get the best value. Each journey is different and this is designed to ensure accountability and commitment, together with critical evaluation of the journey.

The Client is aware that this work is very likely to bring about the breakdown of the existing relationship structure within the team and between the team and other entities or persons in the organisation. It may challenge the underlying culture of the organisation, challenging leaders in a developmental way. This may impact on project deliverables, committed timelines and may even result in individuals choosing to exit the process, join other teams or resign. The work is always done with the appropriate level of support.

The coach will also be transparent about whether a second coach may be needed for the journey and what the implications of this might be. Doing so serves the system in ensuring multiple perspectives, and building a strong environment in which the challenging work can be done. This becomes especially relevant when dealing with the advanced stages of communicative competency or team breakdown.

1.3 Execution phase

This phase pertains to the forementioned training of dialogic concepts, and the application thereof by the team; with the coach working with the team to address their backlog of challenges. The coach may step into the role of facilitator if there is a specific need for a chosen approach to be taken to support the team in addressing a specific outcome. However, this will be done as a means to start the process, after which the coach will step back into the coaching role to work with the emerging engagement.

In this phase, the coach has the permission to observe what is happening and to address it in real time, based on what has been covered in the communicative competencies. This may result in:

• decisions made by the team
• triggering of high stakes for individuals
• reactive behaviours from individuals such as conflict, outbursts, withdrawal, breakdowns, laughter, joking, teasing, dismissing, diminishing and more.
• The coach working with all responses in a respectful, compassionate, neutral and coaching manner with the permission to challenge, name or vocalise what is happening, offer observations or interrupt
• Bringing conversations into the room to address together as a team

Depending on the pace, this phase may be longer or shorter, depending on the specific system and the depth to which the team explores their engagements. More sessions may be requested than the suggested weekly engagements and will be billed in addition on a pro-rata basis.

A session is at least 90 minutes long and can be as long as 4 hours. The Client commits to enabling the time and space for emergent work in this domain by agreeing to make capacity for sessions of this length and variability at the agreed times.

The coach and team commits to adhering to their alliance for the duration of this phase and the debrief phase, while continually updating and refining it during the work. This becomes a map that the team can use long after the coaching journey has come to an end.

1.4 Debrief phase of Dialogic Team Coaching

In this phase, the team is invited to reflect on their journey as a team. We will look at the backlog of challenges, what has been addressed, what is in progress and what is in the backlog (if anything) – specifically focusing on whether they have the ability to address this with their communicative competency as a team and what their approach might be in doing so.

Feedback is given to the organisation in a way that is appropriate and feedback is formally presented back to the sponsor in a way that honours the agreement.

The coach offers their observations and welcomes feedback from the sponsor and team.

The solution focused approach has the same number of phases, but work differently. Solutions Focused work does not seek to address the underlying structure of the system or relational engagements, but seeks to bring awareness and attention to the present possibilities and the desired future.  Sometimes, in doing so, the underlying structures surface and address themselves; and sometimes they don’t.

2.1Onboarding of Solutions Focused Team Coaching

In this phase, the coach and sponsor engage in a series of conversations to align on the challenges, outcomes, needs and perceived problems the team faces. The purpose of this series of conversations is to enable the definition and crystalisation of what is desired instead of the current reality – defining this in detail, and looking at the current capacity, resources and foci that might make this possible.

What follows is a session to meet the team and briefly outline what lies ahead. From this, a series of individual interviews with team members, asking the same questions, possibly doing an assessment for each person’s communication competency preference and the compilation of all information into a collective feedback workshop will follow.

This workshop includes the sponsor and team in which all information is played back to the team without exposing any individual input, or assessment profile.

Lastly, the team is invited to workshop their foci for the team coaching from which a backlog is formed, or outcomes are decided. Once there is shared understanding between the team, the coach and the sponsor on the foci or outcomes for the work; and there is a mutual agreement to continue – the onboarding phase is completed and the contracting phase may begin.

If there is not an appetite to continue at that present moment, the process terminates or pauses.

2.2 Contracting of Solutions Focused Team Coaching

In the contracting phase, the team, coach and sponsor agree on how they want to work together. This includes:

• The nature and scope of coaching and team coaching (ensuring a shared understanding)
• Creation of an alliance for the team coaching
• Length of the engagement
• Agreements around termination of, discontinuation of, leaving of, or referral of the team coaching
• Feedback cycles throughout the team coaching
• Decision-making protocols
• How conflict is dealt with
• Confidentiality
• Duration of the journey
• What we will welcome and what is not welcome
• Frequency of meeting, and when we may reschedule
• Agreement around finances with the sponsor
• The role of the sponsor and where other forms of support may be acquired

The Client decides on whether work will be done on one, several or all of the items identified in the backlog or outcomes identified from phase 1.1. This will be contracted and billed up front and executed by having the below structure in place for each focus topic:

1. Define the problem and hypothesis
2. Define the test experiment, with true and false criteria
3. Design the team coaching engagement and outcomes
4. Conduct the engagement and inspect the results against the hypothesis (steps 1, 2 and 3)
5. Adapt where necessary with new learning and information revealed in the process (1, 2 & 3)
6. Give feedback to all parties involved (done by the team and coach)

Practically, this may be a session by session exploration where the Client engages the coach for single sessions as the team continues their journey; or, it may be a series of several sessions executed in batches of intense bursts; or ad hoc engagements. This remains the responsibility of the Client to manage.

2.3 Execution phase

Each session is planned with input from the team in terms of what the outcomes, hypothesis or experiment is they want to work with. The coach prepares a team coaching engagement with several options for the team to choose from, while remaining flexible to work with what emerges in the moment with the team.

Unlike facilitation, if there is emergent work that takes the team into a direction that is unexpected, the coach will work with the team in this vein if this is what they choose to focus on and will not enforce the agenda or outcomes as is done in facilitation. The team remains responsible for their decisions, their journey and the feedback to the sponsor around the work they do.

The solutions focused approach will be followed as a baseline for each session, and each session will focus on defining the challenge, the desired future, their current progress towards this state, what is already working in their favour, how they want to manage progress and measures, how they can work with existing resources and opportunities, what they can continue doing, and how they will manage progress, feedback and results.

The hope is that the team will be able to address their own problems in the future using this same approach, thanks to its simplicity and flexibility.

2.4 Debrief phase of Dialogic Team Coaching

In this phase, the team is invited to reflect on their journey as a team. We will look at the backlog of challenges, what has been addressed, what is in progress and what is in the backlog (if anything) – specifically focusing on whether they have the ability to address this with what they have learned along their journey so far.

Feedback is given to the organisation in a way that is appropriate and feedback is formally presented back to the sponsor in a way that honours the agreement.

The coach offers their observations and welcomes feedback from the sponsor and team.