Coaching Real Teams to Build Their High-Performance Edge

Research has made it crystal clear that the capacity of an organization to build and use teams provides a major competitive advantage. In fact, real teams might be the most viable tools modern organizations have for increasing financial, technical, and human performance. Although teams are more important today than ever before, the ways and means of improving their performance and effectiveness are often misunderstood.

Establishing High-Performance Team Basics

A group engages in a fun team building activity that involves nonverbal communication

The primary purpose of my team coaching programs is to help team leaders and members establish high-performance team basics. To do so, I apply a functional team development approach, which focuses on directly transferring performance gains to the work setting. The endgame is to improve team effectiveness in ways that are quantifiable in the workplace, which is to say they are evidence-based.

Functional Team Development Performance Factors

Functional team development coaching helps improve team effectiveness by enhancing any of eight essential team performance factors. In high-performance teams, all of these factors will be in alignment.

A model deicing the characteristics of high-performance teams
High-Performance Team Characteristics

Types of Team Coaching I Offer

Coaching teams is never a one-size-fits-all proposition. A team’s life stage, purpose, industry dynamics. and organizational culture all determine the categories of coaching required. My team coaching interventions typically involve a combination of a few of the following initiatives:

  • High-Performance Team Basics
  • Team Design & Formation
  • Team Performance Assessment
  • Team Communication
  • Team Roles & Processes
  • Team Norms & Values
  • Team Morale & Engagement
  • Team Leadership

Investing in Teams Pays Major Dividends

A business team engages in a team building activity that stresses team communication and coordination

I have found that some team performance factors are best addressed in offsite events. This gives the teams a chance to stand back, reflect, and see their human performance factors and workplace dynamics more clearly and objectively. Typically, what’s happening on the inside of team members is having a greater impact on performance than external factors. Just clearing the air and resetting the team’s vision, purpose, and strategic action plan can work miracles.

Other team development initiatives need to take place in the actual work setting, so that work processes and performance factors can be evaluated and optimized pragmatically. Our team assessment process includes steps that help identify areas to develop first to maximize performance gains and leverage the organization’s investment.