Team coaching and individual coaching are two distinct coaching interventions, focusing on different levels of engagement and objectives. Here’s are some of the key differences between the two:

Scope and Focus:

Individual Coaching: Individual coaching is a one-on-one coaching process that concentrates on developing the skills, performance, and personal growth of an individual. It primarily revolves around the individual’s goals, challenges, and aspirations.

Team Coaching: Team coaching involves working with a team or a group of individuals who collaborate towards a common goal. The focus is on enhancing team dynamics, improving collaboration, and achieving collective performance outcomes. It’s about the team learning and growing as a team.

Level of Engagement:

Individual Coaching: Individual coaching is highly personalized and tailored to the specific needs, strengths, and development areas of an individual. It provides dedicated attention and support to the individual throughout the coaching engagement.

Team Coaching: Team coaching requires engaging with multiple individuals simultaneously, each with their own personal and unique background, skills, attitude, strengths and development areas. The coach works with the entire team, facilitating interactions, addressing group dynamics, and guiding the team towards achieving their collective objectives.

Goals and Outcomes:

Individual Coaching: The primary objectives of individual coaching include enhancing self-awareness, developing specific skills, overcoming personal barriers, and achieving individual goals. It focuses on individual performance improvement, career development, and personal transformation.

Team Coaching: Team coaching aims to improve team dynamics, communication, collaboration, and overall team performance. It assists in aligning team members around shared goals, resolving conflicts, and building a high-performing team culture.

Interventions and Techniques:

Individual Coaching: Individual coaching sessions typically involve one-on-one conversations, assessments, goal setting, action planning, and accountability. The coach may use various techniques like active listening, powerful questioning, rapport building and providing feedback to facilitate individual growth.

Team Coaching: Team coaching interventions may include team workshops, facilitated discussions, exercises, and experiential learning activities. The coach helps team members develop trust, improve communication, and establish effective collaboration processes.

Impact and Evaluation:

Individual Coaching: The impact of individual coaching is primarily assessed based on the individual’s progress, growth, and achievement of personal goals. Evaluation can involve self-assessments, feedback from stakeholders, and observation of behavioural changes.

Team Coaching: The effectiveness of team coaching is measured by the team’s collective performance, enhanced collaboration, and achievement of team goals. Evaluation methods may include team assessments, feedback from team members, and observation of team dynamics.

Team coaching skills

Team coaches will use all the same fundamental skills of coaches who focuses on helping individual leaders, but in addition team coaches also need to have:

• Strong facilitation skills to guide team discussions, ensure equal participation and manage conflicts constructively. They must create a safe and inclusive environment for open communication and collaboration.
• A high level of emotional intelligence to understand and manage their own emotions and those of the team members, in order to foster a positive emotional climate within the team.
• Systems thinking to understand the organisational context in which the team operates and recognise the interdependencies between teams, departments and other stakeholders.
• Effective conflict resolution skills to help the team raise and address conflicts and disagreements. They must facilitate open dialogue, understand different perspectives and help the team members find mutually beneficial resolutions.
• Cultural awareness: Team coaches work with diverse teams, so having cultural awareness and sensitivity is essential. They must appreciate and respect different cultural backgrounds, perspectives and values, creating an inclusive and respective team environment.

Coaching a team is a more complex intervention and we strongly suggest that you get specific training in this area to enhance your existing coaching skills and experience.

Not mutually exclusive

It’s important to note that these two coaching approaches are not mutually exclusive. They can complement each other in an organisational context. Depending on the needs and objectives of the team, we will often provide both individual and team coaching to support individual and collective growth.