Key Benefits of Team Coaching

Too often, group coaching is dismissed as a “lighter” or “cheaper” version of 1:1 coaching. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Group coaching is a distinct, evidence-based practice with unique benefits - especially powerful when it comes to leadership, inclusion, and equity in organisations. Here are 5 of the most common myths I hear - and why they hold companies back: 1️⃣ “It’s just a cheaper version of 1:1” In reality, group coaching creates something individual coaching cannot: peer learning, shared accountability, and the validating experience of hearing others speak openly about similar challenges. This can be transformational for confidence and resilience. 2️⃣ “It’s only for junior employees” Group coaching is powerful at every level - especially for senior leaders. It builds social capital, creates cross-functional connections, and helps leaders see challenges through multiple perspectives. 3️⃣ “People won’t open up in a group” Confidentiality and trust are not barriers when sessions are skilfully facilitated. With the right contracting and psychological safety in place, people often share more openly than they expect - and the depth of reflection can be extraordinary. 4️⃣ “It’s basically training” Unlike training, which follows a fixed curriculum, group coaching is adaptive and participant-led. It creates space for reflection, exploration, and personalised learning that is sustained over time. 5️⃣ “You can’t get individual attention” While it’s not 1:1, group coaching ensures every voice is heard. Participants also gain something they can’t get in a private coaching room: multiple perspectives and the support of peers who ‘get it’. Why does this matter for equity and inclusion? Because so many leadership challenges - especially those faced by women and underrepresented groups - are collective, systemic, and relational. Group coaching makes those dynamics visible, creates belonging, and helps participants see they are not alone. ✅ It’s not second-best.  ✅ It’s not a downgrade.  ✅ It’s a powerful developmental experience in its own right. If your organisation is serious about equity, inclusion, and sustainable leadership development - group coaching should be part of your strategy.    And if you’d like to dive deeper into the research and practice, you can download our white paper on “The Power of Group Coaching for Women” here: https://lnkd.in/eFPXH468    I’d love to hear: what has surprised you most about group coaching?    

Coaching is a force multiplier. I talk to business leaders every week who are navigating tighter budgets, a faster pace, and the relentless pressure to do more with less. The challenges are real--and the instinct is often to turn to better tools, processes, or systems. But here’s the thing: many of these problems aren’t technical. They’re people-related. Most sales teams, for example, have been remixing the same ingredients for years or decades. They rarely consider coaching as core (real coaching, not problem solving). This is a mistake, and research backs this up. Equipping sales leaders and sellers with coaching skills unlocks performance in ways that processes and tools can’t. A study in the International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management shows coaching helps salespeople manage pressure, build stronger customer connections, and drive more revenue. It’s especially effective at fostering customer orientation, enabling sales teams to balance immediate wins with lasting relationships—a key driver of long-term success. We are seeing this in many organizations today, especially as the landscape for success in sales shifts, becoming more relationship-oriented than ever before. Want to grow your sales? Teach your salespeople to coach. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gEkSP53b Teresa Proença

Imagine if a professional sports team only watched a game tape and got feedback once a week—no daily practice drills, no focused skill-building, no individualised development. Unthinkable, right? Yet, many businesses approach performance this way. In high-performance sports, athletes break down every move, practice specific drills, and constantly refine their craft. That's exactly what great coaching should look like in the workplace. Coaching isn't just about feedback—it's about maximizing the overall performance of each individual in their specific role and unlocking their full development potential. At its core, coaching is about getting people to think differently and ultimately act differently to drive performance. 💰 Here's why it matters: 1. Maximizing Individual Performance: Coaching tailors development to each person, focusing on specific needs, strengths, and growth opportunities. Gallup reports that companies investing in coaching see 21% greater profitability and 17% higher productivity. 2. Changing Mindsets for Better Results: Great coaching challenges current thinking patterns, helping people break through mental barriers. Organizations with strong coaching cultures experience 70% higher employee engagement (Bersin & Associates). 3. Driving Action & Accountability: Coaching turns insight into action, helping employees build habits that lead to sustained performance. Teams with effective coaching see 7X higher business impact (Human Capital Institute). 💪 What does great coaching focus on? 1. Deep Focus: Narrow down on one area at a time. Don't try to fix everything at once. 2. Asking the Right Questions: True coaching is about guiding with questions, not just giving answers. 3. Repetition and Practice: Team members need to practice a skill repeatedly until it becomes second nature. 4. Caring: It starts with genuine investment in your team's success. If you want to boost performance and cultivate future leaders, investing in coaching isn't just beneficial—it's essential. It's the key to unlocking potential, both in the present and the future. Are you coaching like your team like a high performing professional sports team or are you just watching a game tape every now and then... 🤔

When I built and led Google's global sales coaching program, the impact was crystal clear: Coaching isn’t a “nice to have” at companies like Google. It’s a strategic investment that drives better performance. Especially in sales. The reality? The "best" sellers aren't necessarily the most naturally talented, tenured, or even the most senior. In fact, the most senior and tenured sellers often perform much worse than their peers without proper investment in coaching. So who are the best performers? They are the ones who have managers who coached them consistently and are also eager to be coached themselves. The same applies to leaders. Whether you’re in your first leadership role or have been doing it for awhile, you often can't see your own blind spots. Coaching creates the space to think more clearly, make better decisions, and stay connected to what really matters. As a full-time executive coach now working with sales leaders across companies from many different industries and sizes, I continue to see the same thing I saw at Google. Coaching makes a meaningful impact in both the insights it drives and the business results it creates. If you’re leading a team, coaching shouldn't be deemed optional. The best companies in the world already know this. Why? Because it is your hidden advantage to driving higher performance for yourself and your team and the data backs it up. Curious what coaching might unlock for you or your team? Let’s talk. #leadership #sales #coaching #salesleadership #executivecoaching #growthmindset

You don’t need to do more to grow your business. You need a team that can rise without you. Most founders don’t realize the real bottleneck isn’t hiring more people—it’s how much the current team still relies on you to make decisions, fix problems, or move projects forward. The good news? It can be addressed. With the right coaching, your team can: ✔️ Think like leaders, not task-completers ✔️ Solve problems without pinging you on Slack ✔️ Step up into roles that actually free you up I’ve coached dozens of founder-led teams. I’ve watched virtual assistants turn into strategic operators, junior hires grow into true leaders, and individuals finally operating as a team. That kind of growth isn’t just good for your team. It’s how you get your time back so you can finally focus on vision and take a real break without chaos waiting on the other side.

Coaching used to be a luxury at the top. Now, across sectors, from firms like Sensiba LLP to SAP to global financial services, we’re seeing the same pattern when coaching is scaled beyond executives: It stops being a benefit and starts being a capability. The 2025 Coaching Report in partnership with ICF has four in-depth case studies revealing the different approaches global organizations are taking to bring the power of coaching to tens of thousands of employees. These three themes showed up everywhere: 1. Holistic support beats “performance-only” support: Programs that allow the whole person, not just the employee, to show up in coaching see higher engagement, better retention, and stronger goal completion. 2. Tiered & targeted beats one-size-fits-all: When early-career, mid-career, first-time managers, and senior leaders get different coaching, relevance goes up and outcomes compound. 3. Data turns coaching into a leadership signal: With tech-enabled tagging, trends from sessions reveal hotspots and development gaps that never show up in surveys or through managers, without breaking confidentiality. Here are just a few results from our research: → SAP enables unlimited coaching for 100K+ employees through 600+ certified internal coaches, with higher development goal completion vs. non-coached peers. → A global insurer doubled usage in a year and saw higher retention and career mobility among coached employees. → Sensiba LLP reports that coaching as infrastructure improves satisfaction, confidence, and role progression. The report makes me think about whether we treat coaching as a benefit… or as a core system of how talent is built? Read the report here: https://lnkd.in/e_mfFTUM

Many leaders think they’re coaching when they’re actually just giving instructions. A recent HBR article breaks this down well, showing how effective coaching means knowing when to guide and when to help others take the lead. This is in line with what Ashley Wendel and I focus on in our 'Leader as Coach' training program with physicians. We emphasize leaders learn to actively listen, ask more questions, and create space for others to find their own solutions. When leaders practice this, teams become more innovative, collaborative, and develop greater ownership over decisions and outcomes. You'll notice improved engagement and a culture where people aren't waiting to be told what to do but are actively contributing their best ideas. The real power of coaching is building teams that can solve complex challenges long after you've left the room. #healthcare #leadership #coaching #teamwork #leadershipdevelopment

Leadership Laid Bare: The Crucial Role of Team Coaching As a leader we are often a 'player-coach'. By that I mean we have a job to do and a need to develop our team. In my case I deliver training and run a business. As John Adair promotes in Action Centred Leadership, it's our ability to do tasks, develop individuals, and develop our team that is crucial for our success as a leader. You could also argue we are also a manager, a coach and a leader. I'll talk more about that in another post. For now let's have a look at our role as a Team Coach. I truly believe that Team Coaching is a game-changer in the corporate arena. Certainly from my experience of developing outstanding leaders for over 30 years, in many different sectors and cultures, I've seen a massive difference in the results gained when leaders implement team coaching themselves. I've witnessed teams evolve from individual thinking and being overly competitive against each other, to seamlessly collaborating teams with profound human connection. It's about transforming a group of individuals into a cohesive force driving extraordinary results. Team coaching becomes the catalyst for innovation, resilience, and shared victories. Imagine your team as a finely tuned orchestra. Each member, an instrument contributing to a harmonious symphony of success. That's the power of effective team coaching – it orchestrates collaboration, amplifies performance, and elevates your team's potential. Here are my five tips for coaching your team: 1. Know Your Team Members: Understand each team member individually. Recognise their strengths, weaknesses, and what motivates them. Build human connection and trust through empathy. 2. Establish A Team Canvas: Create a roadmap for success together. Work together to clearly define purpose, goals, milestones, and ways of working for your team. This not only gives them a sense of direction but also helps in reviewing team performance. Our 6Ps process works well for this. Set up regular team reviews to promote learning and performance improvement. 3. Encourage Open Communication: Build a culture of open dialogue. Create an environment where team members feel safe and comfortable sharing their thoughts, feelings, concerns, and ideas. 4. Cultivate a Growth Mindset: Foster a mindset that embraces challenges and values continuous improvement. Encourage your team to view setbacks as learning opportunities. A growth mindset promotes resilience and innovation. 5. Lead by Example: Be the kind of leader you would follow. Demonstrate qualities like resilience, adaptability, and a commitment to ongoing development. Your actions set the tone for the team and inspire them to strive for excellence. So, embrace these tips, and let your team coaching journey take your team to new heights! Together, let's create a legacy of leadership excellence! #Leadership #TeamCoaching #LeadershipLaidBare

What separates a good team from a great one? Every team has talent, but not every team has alignment That’s where a Team Coach makes all the difference A recent Harvard Business Review article found that the most effective teams aren’t just well-staffed, they are intentionally developed   Team coaches help teams build the foundations of trust, communication & clarity that enable performance to thrive They provide structure & guidance to help teams: ✅ Create psychological safety. Where people feel comfortable speaking up & sharing ideas ✅ Identify blind spots & strengthen collaboration ✅ Clarify goals & align individual strengths to a shared purpose ✅ Manage conflict before it escalates & erodes trust McKinsey research reinforces this. High-performing teams are built, not born. They are deliberately shaped by how members communicate, make decisions & hold one another accountable From my own experience, I’ve seen this play out. Every high-performing team I’ve worked with had one thing in common, a Team Charter, or what I call the Team Bible It sets out how the team will communicate, collaborate & resolve problems Without it, things can get messy very quickly! 😱 Misaligned expectations 😱 Poor communication 😱 Mounting frustration With it, the team has clarity, cohesion & a shared understanding of how we work together A Team Charter also becomes invaluable when new members join. People come & go. So a Team Charter acts as an orientation guide that preserves the culture & standards of a high-performing team When paired with a skilled Team Coach, it becomes a living framework that turns intention into action & potential into performance Because the best teams don’t just work together, they grow together What’s one thing you think every team needs to be successful? Share your thoughts below 👇

🔹𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴: 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱🔹 In my latest blog, “Coaching Over Controlling: Why Great Leaders Step Back to Move Teams Forward”, I explore why moving from command to coaching transforms performance, loyalty, and culture. Too many managers still default to control. It breeds compliance, not commitment. Coaching builds confidence, unlocks creativity, and helps teams thrive. 💡𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: ✅ Retains top talent by showing their voice counts ✅ Builds ownership instead of dependence ✅ Meets generational expectations for growth and purpose ✅ Strengthens performance while deepening trust 🔍𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁: 1️⃣ Ask open questions instead of giving answers 2️⃣ Listen fully before jumping in with advice 3️⃣ Give autonomy while holding people accountable 4️⃣ Create safe spaces where mistakes fuel learning 5️⃣ Build skills like problem-solving and critical thinking through coaching conversations ✨𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗴: ✔️ Coaching is not about fixing people, it is about unlocking their thinking ✔️ Psychological safety makes coaching more effective ✔️ Coaching develops critical skills that stick because they connect to real work ✔️ Organisations that scale coaching into culture see higher trust and more innovation 📌𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳: A fintech firm introduced weekly coaching check-ins, asking developers about energy, blockers, and ideas. Within six months, retention rose 20% and innovation accelerated. Coaching worked where more control had failed. The leadership lesson is simple. Stop trying to provide all the answers. Start asking the questions that let your people find them. 🔗 𝗙𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗴 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://lnkd.in/eGJbabxz What is the most powerful coaching question you have ever asked or been asked? Share it in the comments - your insight could help another leader grow. #Leadership #Coaching #TeamDevelopment #BusinessAgility #ModernLeadership #ExecutiveDevelopment