Effects of a team coaching

In an article for the journal “Wissenschaftsmanagement”, Jens Engelke, Principal Consultant at CHE Consult, presents an example of how team coaching is carried out, including all the essential steps.

The article is based on a team coaching that was carried out at a university. At the same time, the article generalises corresponding procedures in order to give the reader suggestions for team coaching.

The initial situation for the team coaching was characterised by a certain dissatisfaction of the employees in an organisational unit of the university administration. The team consisted of seven people and a manager. Some of the people had been working in the same position for many years, others were new to the team. The team’s areas of responsibility were partly changed, processes were digitalised and thus also modified. All in all, there were numerous major and minor changes for the team.

Jens Engelke describes three phases of team coaching:

Phase 1: Preparing the team for coaching and establishing a trusting working relationship.

Phase 2: Conducting a workshop to identify and discuss the team’s strengths and weaknesses, agreeing on solutions.

Phase 3: Introduce a feedback culture in which positive aspects are mentioned and negative aspects are communicated constructively.

According to the authors, teams or working groups should use team coaching when there is potential for improving cooperation and not only when there is conflict.

Successful team coaching requires an internal or external expert to ensure that critical situations are always discussed constructively at crucial moments, thus maintaining the positive dynamics of a team coaching workshop.