The Day I Rediscovered the Transformative Power of Team Coaching
When people think about coaching, they usually picture one-on-one sessions—a coach and an individual working through goals, challenges, or opportunities. And that’s understandable; one-on-one coaching is the most well-known coaching format. But team coaching can be equally, if not more, impactful. As someone who has worked extensively with teams, I’ve seen firsthand how transformative it can be. One particular experience with a leader named David and his team reinforced just how powerful this approach can be—both for the team and for me as their coach.
The Challenge: A Team Struggling to Align
David led a Finance and Compliance team at a company specializing in designing and manufacturing components for heavy machinery. His team was highly skilled but struggling—not just with their work, but with how they operated as a team. They weren’t aligning on priorities, nor were they effectively connecting their department’s goals to the company’s larger business objectives.
David reached out because he was frustrated. Despite the team’s technical expertise, they defaulted to working in silos, struggling to set meaningful, actionable goals. In the high-stakes world of compliance and finance—where regulations change rapidly and technology is evolving—staying reactive wasn’t enough. His team needed to move beyond processing transactions to actively supporting the business’s growth. He knew they needed help, but he wasn’t sure where to start.
Digging Deeper: Uncovering the Core Issue
When I began working with David and his team, I didn’t come in with a predefined solution. Effective team coaching isn’t about prescribing answers—it’s about creating an environment where the team can uncover solutions together. To set the tone for openness and trust, we began with a reflective exercise: sharing stories about the best teams they had ever been part of. What made those teams great? What did they contribute?
This exercise quickly surfaced key patterns. While everyone valued high performance and accountability, a glaring issue became clear: a lack of trust. Leadership—unintentionally—had reinforced an individual performance culture at the expense of collaboration. Team members felt the need to protect their own work rather than openly share insights. David admitted that this was something he had never fully recognized before.
A Transformative Session: Building Alignment and Connection
To address these dynamics, I collaborated with David and his deputy leader to co-design a session focused on two key elements: alignment and connection.
Alignment: We started by redefining the company’s business goals in a way that was meaningful for the team. This wasn’t about reciting mission statements but rather identifying how their work could directly support the company’s success. We explored how they could ensure international expansion was done efficiently and how they could create compliance-support processes that were both rigorous and user-friendly for other departments. David played a central role, asking thoughtful questions and shifting his perspective on how he communicated priorities. The breakthrough wasn’t just about clarifying the goals—it was about seeing their work as a shared effort rather than disconnected individual contributions.
Connection: The second part of the session focused on trust and collaboration. Building on the openness from the initial exercise, I guided an activity where team members shared one strength and one challenge they brought to the group. The emphasis was on growth rather than blame, creating a safe space for honest dialogue.
This wasn’t easy. Admitting challenges in front of peers is uncomfortable. But David’s willingness to participate—sharing both his strengths and areas for growth—set the tone. One team member admitted they often felt unheard in meetings, while another shared that their focus on deadlines sometimes made them dismissive of others’ input. These realizations led to tangible action steps, including creating meeting norms that ensured balanced contributions and committing to following up on unresolved discussions.
The Outcome: David’s Transformation and a New Path Forward
By the end of the session, the team had set both tactical and behavioral goals. On the tactical side, they established clear priorities for supporting the business, such as refining compliance processes and upskilling on emerging technologies. On the behavioral side, they committed to fostering collaboration rather than competition, ensuring that every team member’s voice was heard.
David’s response to the session was one of the most rewarding moments for me. He was thrilled with the team’s progress and shared how much he had learned about himself as a leader. “I didn’t realize how much my actions were contributing to the dynamic,” he told me. “This session didn’t just help my team—it helped me see how I can show up differently for them.” The transformation wasn’t just about team alignment—it was about David stepping into a new level of leadership.
The Broader Lesson: Why Team Coaching Matters
This experience reinforced why I’m so passionate about team coaching. The challenges David and his team faced—misalignment, lack of trust, poor communication—are universal. But what makes team coaching distinct is that it doesn’t just solve a momentary issue—it creates a system for sustainable, long-term effectiveness.
The best team coaching engagements go beyond fixing immediate concerns and focus on shifting team culture, deepening relationships, and fostering ongoing adaptability. The process isn’t about imposing solutions from the outside—it’s about helping the team develop its own capabilities to solve challenges now and in the future. When done well, it not only clarifies strategic objectives and strengthens relationships, but also ensures that the team is equipped to navigate future challenges together. The goal isn’t just to fix today’s issues but to build a team that is adaptable, resilient, and continuously improving.
Looking Ahead: Team Coaching as a Competitive Advantage
As businesses continue to evolve, the ability to develop and sustain high-performing teams will be a key differentiator. Organizations that invest in team coaching won’t just build stronger teams—they’ll create cultures that thrive on collaboration, trust, and shared success.
If you’re part of a team that’s struggling, know this: it’s never too late to reset, reconnect, and start moving forward together. And if you’re leading a team, the way you show up matters. Coaching isn’t about telling people what to do—it’s about helping them uncover their own best path forward. When teams thrive, businesses thrive. That’s a lesson I’ll carry with me forever.
**AUTHOR NOTE:** To protect the privacy of individuals and organizations, names and facts have been changed, and some details have been altered to highlight key learnings and insights.