Coaching, as the direction of the spontaneous development of a person without direct intervention in his decisions, and so is not an easy task. What to say about cooperation with the whole team. Team coaching requires the activation of all talents and skills of a coach. After all, you have to work with a group of people, each of which has its own individuality and world views. How hard is it? What is team coaching? How does it differ from group and organizational? What types of team coaching are there, and when can they come in handy? Let's talk about all this further.
Team coaching, what is it?
Team coaching is a form of coaching, aimed at interacting with the team in order to harmonize it and achieve common goals. This team is different from the group of people in which each is an independent component. Accordingly, team coaching works with the team as a single mechanism. Therefore, it is not like a group, whose task is the individual development of each participant without generalized results. Organizational, in contrast to the command, is aimed at training the management staff, and not the whole team, being individual.
Types of team coaching
There are the following types of team coaching:
- Teem building - aimed at team building, searching for common points of contact;
- Agile coaching - a relatively new look that helps teams achieve impressive results;
- Classic Team Coaching - based on the principles of moderation (teamwork management) and facilitation (team problem solving).
The easiest subspecies is team building (Teem building). Its essence is to create an environment where people realize the importance of combination and synergy. To accomplish the task, the coach does not necessarily understand the specifics of the work of the team, since the principles of rallying people are similar. It is worth noting that Teem-building was practiced at the household level in Soviet times, and was very popular among citizens. Only then he was called Sabantuy, later turning into a corporate party.
Agile coaching - expands the duties of a coach, turning him into a mentor and teacher for the team. He must convey to the team the necessary experience and knowledge, and not only activate their personal potential. Thus, a double effect is achieved. People better understand themselves and get the new information they need, which allows them to quickly develop suitable skills.
There is also a classic team coaching. In this case, the work is carried out in two interrelated directions of facilitation and moderation. Facilitation - increasing collective efficiency in decision making. Moderation - assistance in establishing a dialogue between various team members.
When do you need team coaching?
Team coaching is used to solve specific problems and tasks that arise in front of an organization's team. Among them are the following:
- Lack of cohesion and team spirit;
- The need to motivate team members;
- The presence of conflict situations and misunderstandings;
- Excessive egocentrism and ambitiousness of employees;
- Lack of common goals and joint tasks;
- Ambitious plans that need mobilization;
- Misunderstanding of problems that hinder the work of the team;
- Weak involvement of employees in the common cause;
- Not established communication between structural units;
- Lack of a unified strategy;
- Low level of collective creativity;
- Ignoring of corporate style and rules;
- Inefficient use of labor resources;
- The destructive role of informal leaders in the team.
In varying degrees, each team is faced with such problems. It is not always possible to establish the work of the company on its own. In such cases, and turn to coaches. Immediately, we note that pleasure is not cheap, but the result of such a coaching session should improve the work of the company many times.
Team Coaching Tools
All techniques are built on the maximum cohesion of the team, when each team member makes a necessary contribution to the common cause. A synergy of many self-sufficient personalities is being built. For this, any items, games, contests, etc. may be involved.
One of the most popular team coaching techniques is brainstorm, allowing to find the necessary decision as a result of collective discussion. The main condition for brainstorming is complete freedom in expressing your ideas. No one criticizes anyone until the last thought sounds. The coach absolutely does not need to suggest something. His role is reduced to moderation of communication. Employees of the company themselves must solve the task, because this is one of the basic principles of this approach.
The next way is a change of sceneryknocking people out of the comfort zone. Team coaching can take place in any location. From the forest or the desert to the mountains or the sandy beach. Getting into unexpected conditions, people "take off their masks", manifesting themselves real. Then they are much easier to combine and synchronize than in a familiar environment. After all, it becomes clear who is who, in fact.
Group Dynamic Training - imitates the real life conditions of the team in order to identify its shortcomings. Thanks to this approach, it is possible to develop the necessary attitudes and behavioral norms in the team. In this case, the coach not only moderates communication, but also diagnoses the causes of the problems.
This is not the end of team coaching. Each coach develops their own personal techniques. But, even applying the above techniques, it is possible to significantly adapt the team to perform common tasks.
Having considered team coaching, it becomes clear that the direction is relevant in the conditions of modern business. Tough competition makes "squeeze all the juice" out of your team. Without cohesion and mutual understanding this cannot be achieved. Thus, team coaching becomes not only a means of development, but also a survival mechanism. Because, no matter how successful the company is, there will definitely be those who will breathe it in the back of the head.