EXPLORING THE ART OF TEAM COACHING€¦ · the 3 higher-order meta-skills which form a powerful methodology for change, and the 12 team coaching competencies which are fundamental

by Georgina Woudstra, MCC, Principal and Founder, Team Coaching Studio Ltd

WALES COACHINGCONFERENCE 2021Coaching for Tomorrow

EXPLORINGTHE ART OF TEAMCOACHING

University ofSouth WalesPrifysgolDe Cymru

#coachfest

www.teamcoachingstudio.com ©Team Coaching Studio 2021. All rights reserved.

Dear Coach

The complexity of the world’s problems today demands brilliant collaboration and collective leadership.

This requires teams to learn to think together and to collaborate better. There’s a huge role for coaching

as a means of accessing the intelligence and coordinated power of teams.

Our profession is exploding with new team coaching books and models, but as practitioners we have

found that these do not always reflect the messy reality of team coaching. At the Team Coaching Studio,

we develop courageous team coaches who develop awesome teams. We do this by giving you the practical

knowledge that you need, combined with the practice that is essential to become an effective intervener.

in this white paper we further explore the concepts from our session at the Wales Coaching Conference

where we looked at Being a Team Coach. We will now look at your philosophy and stance as a team coach,

the 3 higher-order meta-skills which form a powerful methodology for change, and the 12 team coaching

competencies which are fundamental to practice.

• What is the TCS Team Coaching Wheel and why you should use it in your practice

• How and what you need to create the conditions for Team Coaching

• What makes a masterful practitioner

• What are the 12 Team Coaching Competencies and why they are fundamental to

your coaching

We would love to welcome you into the team coaching family within our free community or practice which

you can find www.teamcoachingstudio.com/community

Happy coaching.

Georgina, Allard and the Team Coaching Studio Faculty

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Introduction: Driving better outcomes for people, organisations and the planetIn today’s fast-moving, complex world, there has never been a greater need for teams

to collaborate and drive towards new and better outcomes for people, organisations

and the planet. These challenges cannot be overcome by working in silos or where

toxic cultures prevail.

The impact of COVID-19 has been felt worldwide and virtual team working has become

the ‘new normal’. Post-pandemic, virtual teaming will continue to some degree as

many organisations have decided not to return to co-located working.

Yet few teams reach their potential. The good news is that the skills required to make

this work are identifiable and can be developed. Team coaches are there to guide

and challenge teams to work more effectively together in their own team – and with

other teams across alliances and partnerships.

Team coaching is critical to the success of tomorrow’s organisations. This work is vitally

important, and we are all part of a movement that has the capacity to help navigate

through the troubles and challenges that confront us. More and more organisations

are seeking team coaching to support their teams in being the best they can be, as we

work to bring about collaboration for change around the planet.

The TCS team coaching wheel©

Your journey to team coaching mastery

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Setting the standards: The journey to team coaching masteryTeam Coaching Studio (TCS) is the leading specialist in the development of courageous

team coaches. At TCS we believe that mastery as a team coach lies beyond theory and

tools. Instead, skilful team coaches work emergently with teams, fully presenting to

them the needs and possibilities that are unfolding in the here and now.

Georgina Woudstra, MCC and colleagues at TCS developed a set of team coaching

competencies offering a framework to guide team coaching practice. The first

organisation worldwide to offer coach training with team coaching competencies at

its core, the TCS Team Coaching Wheel© is founded on the competencies defined

by the leading professional bodies for coaching, including the International Coach Fed-

eration and the Association for Coaching.

Combined with Team Coaching Studio’s deep understanding of executive coaching

and coaching top teams with insight gathered from over 20 years’ experience, this

approach sets the standard for excellence in team coaching.



www.teamcoachingstudio.com ©Team Coaching Studio 2021. All rights reserved.

PRES

ENCE USE OF SELF

ACTIVE EXPERIMENTS

FOSTERINGEFFECTIVE

COMMUNICATION

WORKINGWITH SYSTEMS

& DYNAMICS

FACILITATINGLEARNING& GROWTH

SETTING THEFOUNDATION

CO-CREATINGTHE

RELATIONSHIP

PHILOSOPHY

STANCE

8. RelationshipSystems

9. Wider Context

& Stakeholders

10. Power &

Authority

Results12. Generating

Awareness

11. Creatin

gTOOLS TECHNIQUES

MODELS

FRAME W

ORKS

2. Contracting1. Ethical Practice

5. Active

Listening6. PowerfulQuestioning

7. DirectCommunication

3. P

sych

olog

ical

Safe

ty &

Tru

st

4. Effe

ctiv

eRela

ting

3

TCS team coaching wheel©

Philosophy and Stance sit firmly at the heart of the wheel. Like yin and yang, they are

complementary forces that interact as a dynamic system – a team coach’s mindset -

in which the whole is greater than the assembled parts.

A coach’s mindset informs a coach’s way of being and every single intervention; it is

what makes the difference between an OK coach and coach mastery. It is also what

distinguishes the role of team coach from ‘similar’ roles such as consulting, teaching,

training and facilitation.

3 Meta Skills wrap around the heart of the TCS Team Coaching Wheel. These are the

highest-order skills that supercharge every aspect of team coaching. Originating from

the Greek word meta, meaning “after” or “beyond”, meta skills transcend all other

skills. These three skills, Presence, Use of Self and Active Experiments are essential

to mastering the art of evoking awareness and provoking action and experimentation.

Together, they provide the methodology for change.



3 Meta Skills: A Methodology for ChangePresencePresence focuses on employing a coaching style that is open, flexible and confident.

It centres on the coach using who they are; their personality, experience and their

unique style or way of being. This is a holistic approach; the coach remains completely

connected to the team, observing who the team is, what the team does, how the team

interacts and collaborates and how the team learns.

The coach stays curious to the needs, wants and desires of the team and is prepared

to have a fully engaged and partnered conversation with them, without any need or

urge to ‘perform’ or control the coaching situation. The coach remains curious when

exposed to new dynamics, they trust their gut and their intuition whilst at the same

time use humour to create energy and a sense of lightness. The coach trusts that the

value is inherent in the coaching process itself rather than having any

necessity to create ‘forced’ value.

Exhibiting a sense of Presence takes confidence; being able to ‘dance in the moment,

not fixed on outcomes and expectations’. The coach adopts a range of ways of being,

shifting fluidly and appropriately to the situations as they arise. The coach sees many

perspectives and experiments creatively with new possibilities.

Finally, presence requires the self-awareness to work with strong emotions.

The coach is able to self- manage and not be overpowered by emotions or the team’s

dynamics, maintaining their own presence under pressure. Being ‘pulled into’ the

team’s dramas will lead to an unhealthy, unhelpful and ultimately ineffective team

coaching relationship.

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Presence is the ability to be fully present and conscious in order to create a spontaneous relationship with the team.

Use of SelfA coach’s primary resource is Self. Learning to apply Use of Self as an instrument,

making intentional interventions, is a core skill. The aim is to create awareness of

patterns that help or hinder the team’s performance and to raise awareness about

the impact the team may be having. In this way, the coach inspires and supports the

team to find the courage, energy, hope and perseverance necessary to reach its

desired goals and expand its possibilities. This creates opportunities for targeted and

transformational change born from the ‘lived’ experience of working with and

experiencing the team.

Self-awareness, self-management and social awareness are all necessary proficiencies.

A coach needs to be fully aware of their own habitual responses in triggers. Self is very

much about ‘being the message’ rather than simply ‘being the messenger’.

In Use of Self, the coach shares how he or she is impacted by the team and the system

in service of the coaching contract, inviting exploration around their own experience of

the dynamics without attachment.

Use of Self may take many forms, including sensations, feelings, thoughts, images

or metaphors; anything that is evoked in the coach when working with the team.

The coach knows and understands their own triggers and is able to separate these

from their work with the team. Ongoing supervision is therefore recommended for

anyone undetaking team coaching, to support the unpacking of any potential triggers

and responses to the coaching process, allowing the coach to be fully resourced.

Active ExperimentsActive Experiments are about creating a real-time shift in the team’s perspectives

and behaviour. They emerge spontaneously out of the team’s process playing out

in the here and now. Experiments are a vehicle through which the team can try

out new ways of behaving and working together in an active and dynamic way, as a

‘sandbox’ for necessary change.

Active Experiments not only facilitate here-and-now learning, they also provide

a channel for the release of emotion and leverage opportunities for learning and

growth. These opportunities may focus on alternative ideas and solutions or new

options to be evaluated. By encouraging experimentation, the coach helps the team

develop more powerful, effective action and team successes, and new capabilities

can be celebrated.


Presence and use of self heighten awareness. Without awareness, there is no choice and no change. Active experiments convert insight into action and change

Active experimentation leads to self-discovery, enabling the team to immediately apply what has been discussed and learned during the session to its work together

Use of Self is the ability to leverage your presence to make intentional interventions

Presence is all that you bring to the here and now moment; use of self is responding to what is happening in the moment. Presence in action is other-wise called “use of self”.


Coaches raise awareness as a catalyst for action, change learning and growth.

And in team coaching, the ‘client’ is the team.

Fundamentally, team coaching is about using reflection, dialogue and experimentation

to increase connection and collaboration. Team coaches support the team in learning

how to work better together (as a team and with stakeholders) so that their capacity

grows over time. When combined, these factors become a powerful driving force for

team effectiveness.

Universally shared team coaching beliefsFundamentally, professional coaches around the world passionately share the belief that clients:

Are creative, resourceful and whole

Have the wisdom to find their own answers and solutions

Are full of the most amazing untapped potential

Therefore, the client sets the agenda for coaching.

They also know that the coach’s role is to:

Discover, clarify and align with what the client wants to achieve

Encourage client (team) self-discovery

Elicit client-generated solutions and strategies

Hold the client responsible and accountable

Woudstra (2018) suggests a definition of team coaching based on the ICF definition as:

“Partnering with the team and it’s dynamics, relationships and wider context to maximize the synergy of their collective abilities and potential, to achieve their common purpose or shared goals.”


Creating the conditions: The use of competency frameworksThe coaching field has boomed in recent years as organisations experience the benefits.

Consequently, the quality of coaching provision is being reviewed and examined as

never before. The emergence of the professionalisation of the industry has also led to

a growth in accreditation for professional coaches. The first coaching competencies

were identified and articulated in the 1990s, to create a greater understanding about

the knowledge and skills needed for effective coaching, and have provided a strong

foundation for coach credentialing processes ever since.

Competence is the demonstrated ability to perform an activity within a coaching

environment that leads to expected outcomes based on defined and accepted standards.

Most coaching professional bodies use competency frameworks as they are intended:

a) To be observable

b) To support the coach in progressing through different levels of accreditation

towards coach mastery

c) To provide guidance on the specific content necessary for the development skills

of the coach

Team coaching is far more complex in action than individual one-to-one coaching

because each team member arrives with different thoughts, feelings, energy and

history. Ask a team of eight people an open question and at the explicit level you will

get eight different answers. At the implicit, unspoken level you will get at least eight

different emotional responses, at least eight different sets of beliefs, human needs,

wants and desires. Ultimately, the aim is for team members to join up and to channel

their disparate energies towards a common purpose. This requires them to connect

differently, to think differently and to act differently.

The role of the coach is not to drive change but to create the conditions necessary

to support the team in growing towards its potential

Effective team coaching is systemic and involves multi-level interactive communication.

It focuses on active co-emergence with stakeholders and the context, and is a dialogic

form of interacting with organisations.

Taking a coaching stance means being in service to the team rather than the owner or the architect of the team performance.


What makes a masterful practitioner?The ultimate aim, of course, is to take the coach beyond mere understanding of the

core competencies and towards the journey of mastery. Becoming a masterful team

coach is about more than paying attention to a greater volume of data; it’s also about

demonstrating a far wider skill set. Mastery is like a helix, with the elements consisting

of the underpinning philosophy and stance, metaskills, competencies, a body of work,

learning through practice, feedback and reflection, along with the personal work to

master oneself.

Team coaching mastery demands more of a coach. It requires them to engage in

deeper personal development, raising both their awareness and consciousness. Skilful

team coaches flex their presence, contain the space, authentically self-manage and

intervene effectively, even with the most conflicted teams. Mastery requires a deeper

self-examination and is as much about unlearning as learning. It can be a vulnerable

experience, but it is ultimately liberating and deeply rewarding.

The road to team coaching mastery takes years and experienced coaches have

embodied a way of existing that supports the coach in being an active instrument of

change. Subsequently, this has led to major debate on the effectiveness of competencies

versus capabilities in the assessment and accreditation of coaches.




A. SETTING THE FOUNDATION 1. Meeting Ethical Guidelines and Professional Standards 2. Contracting

B. CO-CREATING THE RELATIONSHIP 3. Psychological Safety and Trust 4. Effective Relating

C. FOSTERING EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION 5. Active Listening 6. Powerful Questioning 7. Direct Communication

D. WORKING WITH SYSTEMS AND DYNAMICS 8. Focussing on Relationships in the System 9. Engaging with the Wider Context and Stakeholder Expectations 10. Working with Power and Authority

E. FACILITATING LEARNING AND GROWTH 11. Creating Awareness 12. Generating Results

The 12 Team Coaching CompetenciesRadiating out from the core of the TCS Team Coaching Wheel, 12 team coaching competencies sit within five

clusters. These competencies set the foundations for a team coach’s journey towards mastery:

PRES

ENCE USE OF SELF

ACTIVE EXPERIMENTS

FOSTERINGEFFECTIVE

COMMUNICATION

WORKINGWITH SYSTEMS

& DYNAMICS

FACILITATINGLEARNING& GROWTH

SETTING THEFOUNDATION

CO-CREATINGTHE

RELATIONSHIP

PHILOSOPHY

STANCE

8. Relationship

Systems

9. Wider Context

& Stakeholders

10. Power &

Authority

Results12. Generating

Awareness

11. Creatin

gTOOLS TECHNIQUES

MODELS

FRAME W

ORKS

2. Contracting

1. Ethical Practice

5. Active

Listening6. PowerfulQuestioning

7. DirectCommunication

3. P

sych

olog

ical

Safe

ty &

Tru

st

4. Effe

ctiv

eRela

ting


Setting The Foundation The coaching journey begins with Setting the Foundation – preparing the ground on

which all coaching relationships are built. There are two core competencies here that

weave together to provide a good grounding for team coaching:

1. Ethical Practice 2. Contracting

The coach understands and follows their professional body’s code of ethics, clearly

communicating the distinctions between other similar roles, such as consulting, training,

facilitation and mentoring. The coach refers the client to another team coach or support

professional as and when appropriate.

A code of ethics is important in a coaching situation, providing guidance when dilemmas

occur. An ethical stance shapes the coach’s attitude and behaviour, enabling them

to show up to every moment and operate from the fundamental belief that the team

is creative, resourceful and whole.

It enables the coach to remain clear minded about their role and its boundaries, preventing

the coach from falling into the trap of advising, teaching or training.

A primary objective of the team coach is to make themselves redundant and leave the team

with the capabilities needed to continue functioning without them. Independence of the

coach is to be encouraged, leading to ownership and investment in the issues by the team.

“Team coaching is not the same as facilitation, nor is it the same as coaching individuals, but both coaching and facilitation skills may form a sound foundation upon which to build the ability to work purposefully with team dynamics.”

(LAWRENCE, 2018).


The second core competency is Contracting, establishing the ‘rules of engagement’ between coach and team, creating focus and a pathway forward according to the team’s needs and wants. The coaching agreement can be established in three distinct ways; at the outset of any initial formal discussions, at the beginning of each individual coaching session, and at significant points during a coaching session where specific focus is required. We call these mini-contracts.

Firstly, the coach clearly describes their own team coaching approach and how they work with teams. It is important to be crystal clear about what is and what is not being offered in order to avoid any misinterpretations.

Secondly, the coach identifies who exactly the client is and identifies parties with whom the team coaching will ultimately be agreed, reviewed and updated. Any subsequent agreement or contract clearly outlines the roles and responsibilities of both coach and team. Aims, measurable outcomes, benchmarks, accountabilities, deadlines, fees, scheduling and work boundaries are clearly established, discussed and agreed. Mutually agreed expectations with the team’s leader and other stake-holders will engender both confidence and a healthy engagement in the team coaching process.

Thirdly, it is important that the coach explores fully what the team expects and needs, and that suitable measures for success are put in place for each session. As the value of the coaching is the co-responsibility of both coach and team, it is helpful for both to offer feedback, checking in regularly with each other and revisiting the agreed mini-contracts to determine that the coaching is continuing to serve the team’s purpose.

Finally, the coach flexes and changes direction willingly and collaboratively based on the team’s progress and feedback, and the ever-changing context that most teams are operating in. If the match between coach and team is ineffective, then the coach is willing to gracefully pass the team onto another team coaching provider.

Setting The Foundation

Smart team coaches continually re-contract throughout the programme, thereby co-creating a series of ‘mini-contracts’ for each piece of work within the team.


Co-Creating The Relationship The coaching relationship is not stand-alone with the coach leading and the team

passively absorbing information. It is a vibrant, dynamic and organic relationship

between two highly invested parties. Psychological Safety & Trust is the third competency

and centres on the co-creation of a safe and supportive environment that produces

ongoing mutual respect and trust. As human beings we are far more eager to self-disclose,

experiment and innovate if our basic needs of safety are met.

It is the duty of the coach to set a strong foundation upfront with the team, establishing

expectations for an open and honest relationship. The coach demonstrates integrity,

confidentiality, respect and support in their personal behaviour and attitude. The team

feels valued, listened to and held in high regard. The coach shows genuine concern for

the team’s welfare. They keep any promises they make, show respect and understanding

for the team’s learning style and personal being, and they endeavour to provide ongoing

support for any new behaviours and actions.

Amy Edmondson says that

“Psychological safety is a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes”.


The coach asks the team’s permission before coaching in any new and/or sensitive areas, making sure to respect the team’s sensibilities at all times. When the team takes risks, these are validated and honoured. The coach trusts the process, embraces not knowing and goes with the flow. This requires the coach to have a profound belief that the team knows what is best.

Finally, in order to establish trust and intimacy the coach invites significant input from the team. The coach demonstrates self-awareness, personal responsibility and self-confidence, ultimately trusting in the process and allowing the team to be a full, participating partner in the relationship.

The final core competency in the cluster Co-creating The Relationship, is Effective Relating. This competency is reliant on open and meaningful communication with both the team and any co-coaches. Effective Relating encourages the team members to address each other directly and to develop effective communication by listening to, hearing and building on each other’s ideas: to reflect on what is happening between the individual team members or occurring within the team in the moment. This means focusing on what is happening in the room, in the here and now, rather than on what happened ‘back then’ or ‘out there.’ Its strength lies in immediacy and recognising the value of the here and now.

This competency operates from an ‘I’m OK, you’re OK, they’re OK’ mindset. Coach and team members are able to name their own experience and make requests which pertain to their immediate needs. Here, the coach is willing to hold a different perspective without either feeling intimidated or being intimidating. They are willing and able to work through any apparent differences constructively and without conflict, whilst at the same time creating a safe space for any unsaid issues to surface. When any unsaid issues do surface, the coach is attuned to the vulnerability of the speaker and attends to them respectfully and sensitively. In this way, any tensions and differences can be explored safely and dialogue is more meaningful.

Co-Creating the Relationship

Establishing trust and intimacy is hard work. It requires openness and a willingness to engage by both parties. It involves allowing oneself to be vulnerable and the possibility of being ‘ejected from the village’.


Fostering Effective CommunicationEffective communication is the lynchpin of all human interaction. The sixth core

competency is Active Listening. The key word here is ‘active’.

The coach attends to the team’s agenda rather than their own prescribed agenda for

the team. Once this is mutually agreed, the coach summarises; paraphrasing, reiterating

and mirroring what the team has said in order to increase clarity and understanding.

As the team verbalises its issues, needs, wants and desires, the role of the coach is to

encourage, accept, explore and reinforce those feelings and thoughts that the team

expresses. By listening without an agenda, the coach is able to distinguish between the

words, tone of voice and body language of the team. These are all clues that the coach

uses to fully understand the essence of the team’s communication.

The role of the coach in active listening is to hear the team’s perceptions, concerns,

beliefs and suggestions without criticism or trying to ‘fix’ any perceived problem. As the

coach explores the team’s concerns, they seek to build on ideas and suggestions that

emerge. In turn, this enables the team to clear the space or vent their feelings without

judgment or attachment in order to feel accepted, move on and be more present.

Listening is not a passive endeavour by the coach, it is active and collaborative.

It is vitally important that the coach hears the team’s concerns, goals, values and beliefs and demonstrates their understanding through both their non-verbal and verbal behaviour.


Active listening is a dynamic process. To be truly effective, the coach listens at the logical and emotional level as well as the organic and systems levels. The coach recognises both their and the team members’ ability to perceive intuitively and energetically when a team member speaks of something powerful, when growth is occurring for the team, and when the team or individual team member is finding a powerful sense of self.

Although the coach listens ‘in the present’, they are also attuned to the team’s potential. Any limiting beliefs and patterns are ‘heard’ in the same way as the team’s aspirations and their greatness.

Coaches practice cumulative listening from session to session, and throughout each individual session. Active listening appears natural and is never forced or performative. The result is that the team feels complete acceptance, trust and openness from the coach and is able to respond accordingly.

Powerful Questioning is the sixth core competency, connecting seamlessly with the skill of active listening. Powerful questioning reflects the coach’s understanding of the team’s perspective, providing tangible support. There are numerous effective questioning skills and the most appropriate in a coaching scenario is the use of open-ended questions like ‘what?’, ‘how?’. These evoke discovery and encourage insight, commitment or action – especially any open questions that may challenge the team’s previously held assumptions.

Powerful questions require significant thought by the client. They raise awareness of the context and any stakeholder needs, and lead to greater clarity and the possibility of new learning.

Master coaches mirror the team’s language (as well as non-verbal communication) and learning style to craft their questions. The coach asks questions that help the team create an inspiring picture of the future and explore obstacles and limiting assumptions. The coach asks challenging questions with curiosity, opening the conversation to further exploration. Powerful questions help the team to find ‘hidden power’ within itself, and to take responsibility for making choices. Ultimately, the role of the coach is to create awareness beyond current understanding and reveal information that is necessary for the maximum benefit of the coaching relationship.

Fostering Effective Communication

The role of powerful questioning is to ask questions that raise awareness of what is happening in the ‘here and now’. They are designed to take the team to a new place, to a new way of thinking about an issue.


Direct communication is the seventh and final core competency in the cluster ‘fostering effective communication’. Direct communication focusses on the ability to communicate effectively during coaching sessions, using language that has the greatest impact on the team. The coach remains clear, articulate and direct in questions, observations and feedback. The coach is also clear in articulating the purpose of any activities within the coaching framework. The aim of direct communication is to alleviate any misunderstanding, misperception and confusion on the part of the team.

The intention is for the coach to make frequent use of the team’s learning, thinking and creating styles. The coach aims to notice the language used by the team and in turn mirrors that language in order to support them.

The dialogic approach in team coaching creates sufficient space for the team to have equal or more voice than the coach. It also allows for the coach to freely share their thoughts and feelings without attachment. The coach trusts the team to choose the responses to the coach’s communication that best suits the team and encourages the team to communicate freely and openly without fear of judgment or evaluation.

A major part of direct communication is the ability to name and challenge any assumptions and limiting beliefs in a way that opens up dialogue. By reframing certain perspectives, the coach is able to help the team understand and acknowledge any differing viewpoints, creating a space for the team to engage in deeper-level thinking, learning and discovery.

Fostering Effective Communication

By using metaphor and analogy, as well as language that is appropriate and respectful, the coach is able to illustrate a point or paint a verbal picture.


Working With Systems & DynamicsThe eighth core competency is Focus on Relationships in the System. A system is

a set of connected things that operate together. Systemic thinking is about “taking a

holistic approach that views the team and its environment as interconnected and

complex” (Clutterbuck, 2007).

A system gathers information from the wider environment in the form of feedback,

in order to direct the functioning of the system towards a pre-determined state.

Organisational systems are made up of teams. Information flows in and out, impacting

on the system as a whole. A system is always emerging and ever-changing, whilst

continually striving to rebalance itself.

The coach serves the whole team as a collective system, leveraging the interests, strengths,

values and needs of each individual in service of the overall team’s effectiveness.

Both coach and team are working within a system, their conversations and actions continually responding to the changing environment. Change in one system can lead to change in another, and if it is a positive change the knock-on effects can be tremendous.


The task of the team coach is to support the creation of an environment in which dialogue can take place. The coach encourages team members to connect and interact directly with each other, rather than through the coach. They build relationships by noticing any disconnections within the system and seeking to re-connect them. The coach uses their own ‘here and now’ experience to engage with and understand the team’s dynamics. Interdependencies and opportunities for collaboration are identified and supported, moving the team to a position of alignment and growth.

This is easier said than done. When a coach works with a team there are likely to be twenty or more relationships in the room. Each relationship impacts another; each is dynamic and evolving.

The ninth core competency is Engaging with the Wider Context and Stakeholder Expectations. The coach demonstrates understanding and knowledge of the wider context within which the team is located, including any strategic and commercial drivers and organisational values and culture. The coach encourages the team to identify, clarify and engage with stakeholder expectations and needs. This requires the coach to embolden the team to engage in deeper-level thinking and to delve into any complexities and challenges before moving into action.

By engaging with the wider context and stakeholder expectations, both the coach and the team value that they are part of a wider system which is affected by constant change and fluctuations, over which they may have little control.

The tenth (and final) core competency under the heading of Working with Systems and Dynamics is Working with Power and Authority. All human systems have power and authority structures, which the coach seeks to identify and clarify at the start of any coaching programme. Authority structures influence choices about possible intervention approaches; for example, working with the team leader versus working holistically with the whole team. The coach clarifies who is responsible for decision making, direction setting, monitoring, managing processes and executing the team tasks. The coach respects and works with this team’s culture and power structure rather than attempting to super-impose his or her own.

Working With Systems & Dynamics


Facilitating Learning & GrowthCreating Awareness is the eleventh competency in the cluster Facilitating Learning

and Growth. Creating Awareness focusses on the coach’s ability to integrate and

accurately evaluate multiple sources of information, making interpretations that help

the team gain awareness and achieve results. Creating awareness evokes greater

understanding and clarity, helping the team to identify underlying concerns and

disparities between thoughts, feelings and actions. In this way, the team strengthens

its ability to take action and ultimately achieve success. The coach listens but doesn’t

get ‘hooked into’ the team’s ‘story’.

The coach identifies any interactional and behavioural patterns which may be helping

or hindering the team’s success. The coach remains curious, naming and challenging

any limiting beliefs, incongruities or unhelpful mindsets and behaviours that may arise

in the coaching session.

Creating awareness invites the wider contextual and stakeholder perspective into the

coaching dialogue and allows for substantial exploration to take place before inviting

any solutions to any perceived problems.

Learning and growth is facilitated by giving the team space to broaden their perspective

and shift their viewpoints, leading to the possibility of new ideas and new action.

The coach becomes a co-explorer with the team. A safe space for exploration is the key here rather than focussing on a rigid task or pre-conceived set of rules.


Creating awareness means that the coach embraces ‘not-knowing’– not having the answers to the team’s concerns. The coach’s role is not to fix the team’s problems but instead, to coach the team to find its own solutions, increasing the team’s autonomy and sense of ownership. The role of the coach is to encourage the team to use their own intuition, thinking and learning to create awareness. The goal here is one of ‘connected observation’ where coach and team engage in a mutually supportive dialogue of awareness, thinking and learning.

The twelfth and final core competency in the cluster Facilitating Learning and Growth is Generating Results. This is fundamentally about managing progress and accountability. Together, coach and team co-create actions that will enable the team to experiment, practice and embed their new skills. The coach helps the team to explore specific concerns and opportunities that are central to the agreed coaching goals, and engages them in exploring alternative ideas and solutions, evaluating options and making related decisions.

Coach and team co-develop and maintain an effective coaching plan and the coach helps the team identify and access different learning resources. Although the role of the coach is to hold attention on what is important for the team, the coach ultimately leaves responsibility with the team for any action. The coach checks for progress and invites the team to monitor any progress themselves against the agreed plan.

The coach and team determine their own methods of accountability and the coach offers support to these methods. The coach’s role is one of support between sessions, helping the team stay on track and championing the team’s self-discipline and accountability. The coach, however, is responsible for the coaching process only, not the team leadership, any actions, follow-up or performance.

Facilitating Learning & Growth


Conclusion: A starting point from which coaching capabilities may grow and developUnderpinning the idea of team coaching is the notion of core competencies - a set

of skills that demonstrate and measure effectiveness of the individual coach and the

overall coaching process.

Assessment of competencies ensures quality of provision and professional bodies

assess coaches as part of their accreditation system by using competency frameworks.

The twelve core competencies outlined are a set of basic criteria necessary for the

standardised measurement of excellence in team coaching. We believe that they are a

primary starting point from which coaching mastery may grow and develop. From here,

we can work towards the development of team coaches around the world, consistently

improving how teams work and collaborate together and driving change around

the planet.

The TCS team Coaching wheel©



References:Clutterbuck, D. (2000). Coaching the Team at Work. UK: Nicholas Brealey International.

Lawrence, P. (2018) Teaching Leaders to Coach Teams, Centre for Coaching in Organisations, White Paper.

Woudstra, G. (2017) How to BE a Team Coach. International Coaching News. 9, 52-55.

Woudstra, G. (2019) The new revolution: How can we define the role of the team coach? Coaching at Work. 14(2), 19.

Woudstra, G. (2019) Competencies for Team Coaching, Coaching at Work, 14(5), 16.

Woudstra, G (2019) ECS Team Coaching Competencies: 1 Meeting Ethical Guidelines and Professional Standards.Coaching at Work, 14(6), 50

The TCS team Coaching wheel©


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About Team Coaching Studio Team Coaching Studio is a leading specialist in the development of team coaches,

providing internationally recognised, ICF accredited experiential learning experiences

for aspiring and experienced team coaches.

Our programmes are all led by experienced industry practitioners who bring knowledge, wisdom

and practical know how, helping coaches realise their potential and inspire success.

Our continual drive for excellence in team coaching enables us to share the very latest thinking

in this fast-growing area, with both passion and commitment.

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EXPLORING THE ART OF TEAM COACHING€¦ · the 3 higher-order meta-skills which form a powerful methodology for change, and the 12 team coaching competencies which are fundamental