CRA Inc

23 May 05 @ 6:14 pm

The Latest on Team Coaching

As a former academic, I find myself still perusing academic journals from time to time (yes, I’m a nerd!). More often than not, however, I find an interesting article consisting of great theory and impressive empirical results, but, let’s be honest here…… such articles can be painfully boring to read. Still, an article published in the most recent issue of one of the most prestigious management journals, The Academy of Management Review, is worth a closer look. Hence, I offer you my quick and dirty translation of this article……

In our coaching business, many of our clients are taking advantage of a program we call “Coaching4Teams” an innovative program which combines one-on-one coaching and team based learning. In their latest article, A Theory of Team Coaching, Richard Hackman of Harvard University and Ruth Wageman of Dartmouth College tackle the question: How much of a difference does team coaching make to team performance effectiveness? Great question, right? I thought so.
According to the authors, coaching behaviors can and do help teams achieve and sustain team performance effectiveness, but only under certain conditions which may surprise you……

In particular, to achieve team performance effectiveness, heed to the following two criteria:

1. Stray away from coaching that focuses on team members’ interpersonal relationships in favor of teams’ task performance processes.

Hackman and Wageman argue that coaching literature and practice has incorrectly assumed that interpersonal processes such as personality difficulties, communication breakdowns, conflict among members, leadership struggles etc. cause performance outcomes. While certainly these phenomenon do undermine team performance, it does not follow that proper coaching behaviors will enhance interpersonal relationships. Recent research has suggested that task focused and not interpersonally focused interventions most impact team performance effectiveness. How exactly do you achieve excellence in task process coaching? Another great question for which Hackman and Wageman have an answer:

Coach as the motivator. Focus on increasing the effort of members collectively. The goal is to minimize free riding and to build commitment to the teams’ work tasks.

Coach as the consultant. Attempt to increase the appropriateness to the task of the performance strategies the group uses in its work. This is done by encouraging less routine execution of tasks in favor of new ways of proceeding with the work that are especially well aligned with the task requirements.

Coach as the educator. Focus on developing the knowledge and skill each team member bears on a task.

Overall, any team that expends sufficient effort in its work, deploys a task appropriate performance strategy, and brings ample talent to bear on its work is quite likely to achieve high performance effectiveness. If one or more of these are unfulfilled, however, the team will fall short.

2. Pay careful attention to the timing of when you coach.
Ill timed coaching interventions may actually do more harm than good by distracting or diverting a team from other issues that require their attention at that time. If there are other, more compelling, matters on the mind of team members at the time of the coaching session, you probably won’t get through to them. Perhaps most critical to the timing issue is when you actually begin the coaching session. A good launch for any intervention is critical as it enhances members’ commitment to the team and the task as well as their motivation to perform the work of the team as well as they can.

posted in category(s): Coaching Points