As we enter one weird period into another weird period, there’s a lot on our minds. The Great Resignation, is Covid over? How can I be a better manager? These are all common and frequent conversation topics that I hear. Another frequently visited topic is team coaching.
First: What is it?
Second: Should I get it?
I mean, everyone is doing it….Reverb recently hosted an HR Meetup with two of our amazing coaches, Kristiina Hiukka + Jeff McAuliffe, on this very topic.
What exactly is Team Coaching?
First off, team coaching is a collaborative tool meant to help even the best teams work through periodic moments of misalignment and conflict. Team coaching can be used to help provide clarity around fuzzy roles, mixed priorities, or interpersonal relationship dynamics that affect team happiness and stability. Our experience on teams is not a linear experience, but a living one, that changes over time.
What are some common situations for Team Coaching?
As we return to the office, whether full-time, hybrid, or intermittently, we may encounter gaps in our relationships or in our priorities. You may have hired a lot of people during the pandemic who have never worked together, or brought on additions to your leadership team.
Team Coaching:
- Engages a neutral and unbiased third party, who will first get the pulse of each team member and bring the team together to co-author a plan on how to get on the same page.
- Requires commitment and begins with a minimum of four sessions.
- Can also be used to augment any management/ leadership development resource. Too frequently, we learn in siloes.
- Can help expand the learning by engaging peers to discuss their application and share success stories and/or pitfalls.
At Reverb, we describe these sessions as Community of Practice and can be added to any Reverb workshop.
But could Team Coaching really help me and my team?
One of the coaches shared a mnemonic on the core elements of a functioning and successful team:
Task – There is clarity around your role
Empathy – Your work and actions are tied to others; you know what it is to be in their position
Alignment – You share the same end goal as others on your team
Meaning – You care about your team and find value in your work
If any of these are missing or need a little TLC, you may consider team coaching. If you’re interested in learning more, please feel free to reach out to me: marlyn@reverbpeople.com (Hi, I’m Marlyn. I’m a recovering attorney, who likes to eat, match people to coaches, and I wrote this blog).
