Teamwork is the cornerstone of an organization’s success. At least that’s how I feel about it. No man is an island. Without collaboration in your team, you will limit your success. It is the collaborative mindset that drives your success.
Teamwork or collaboration needs a collaborative mindset from all team members involved. Working together in a team also requires working similarly. Or at least to work following similar rules. If one of the team members is not playing by the team rules, that member will slow down the whole team.
Ego comes into play
Compare it to your favorite sports team. Imagine that one of the players in that team is too self-centered. He is an excellent player, but he has a big ego and is always looking for personal scores. Will that benefit the team’s result or hurt it?
Some people might feel their team is different. Let’s take for example a sales team that looks after a geography. Every member of the team is looking after a different country. Thus they argue that their country has a different culture and way of working. They don’t see the benefits in working together as a team. After all, they are different, they will say. Ego comes into play again.
In team coaching, the coach will work with the team members for improvement. In the case of the sales team, he will help them open their eyes. He will help them understand that, even though their territory is different, there are many similarities. These similarities are the foundation for synergy in a team.
What if your team could become measurably more effective?
In my previous article, I described the benefits of coaching. In the article referenced, Atul Gawande described how he became measurable better in his job.
The measurement of becoming better in your job will be different for everyone. For Atul, it was the fact that his complication rate as a surgeon went down since working with a coach. For salespeople, it might be in a rise in customer satisfaction or in net promoter score. For alliance people, it might be in partner satisfaction and partner of choice scoring.
The benefits of team coaching will even multiply over working with a personal coach. Team coaching takes place on the job and starts with a baseline measurement. Over time we will measure progress in team coaching, to ensure that your overall team performance will become better.
When working with a personal coach, you will have a one-on-one coaching relationship. In team coaching your team members are involved in each other’s coaching. Team coaching ties directly to the business objectives and strategic challenges your organization is facing. As such not only your team and its members will improve, also your business results and your personal results will improve.
Is team coaching for you?
Team coaching can apply to any team, that consists ideally of between 5 and 12 team members. Team coaching creates an open culture of personal leadership and team culture change. It is suitable for you and your team if you want to improve your overall team effectiveness measurably.
Is team coaching something for your team?