Action Learning: Research and Practice

ISSN: 1476-7333 (Print) 1476-7341 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/calr20

Leadership team coaching in practice: developing

high-performing teams

Mary Holmes

To cite this article: Mary Holmes (2016): Leadership team coaching in practice:
developing high-performing teams, Action Learning: Research and Practice, DOI:
10.1080/14767333.2015.1130355

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14767333.2015.1130355

Published online: 13 Jan 2016.

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 ACTION LEARNING: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE, 2016

BOOK REVIEW

Leadership team coaching in practice: developing high-performing teams,

edited by Peter Hawkins, London, Kogan Press, 2014, 278 pp., £26.99 (paperback),
ISBN: 978 0 7494 6972 6

In his introduction Peter Hawkins (the editor) paints a beautiful picture of being in woods and
talks about ‘woodlanders’, people who live and work in woods. He then proceeds to talk about
‘teamlanders’, those of us who are probably reading this book because we live and work in
teams. Thus, he states, ‘we need to open our sense to listen, watch and experience teams
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through our bodies, be sensitive to how it changes, how it resides in its wider landscapes
and watch the changing weather blowing through its branches’ (3). He invites us, as teamlan-
ders, to engage with important questions and offers us an easy to follow map, thus inviting us
into the wood of teams with a clear guide and opening up the opportunity to explore.
In the first few chapters particularly there are many references to the earlier books on team
coaching. Some may find this less than helpful, especially if one has not read these books.
However, it can be intriguing as they can serve to show how the concepts are being developed.
In Chapter 2 there is a detailed discussion of the five disciplines of high-performing teams,
with a clear exploration of each discipline. The chapter also offers a clear definition of team
coaching, with comments upon how the author’s thinking has developed. This is offered as
a ‘rich frame and perspective’ for considering the case-studies, which follow in Chapter 3.
The authors are keen that whoever is reading the case-studies can learn from them. To
support this they offer seven questions to inform the reader’s reflections upon the chapter.
Before going into the variety of case-studies, they offer a summary of the level of team coach-
ing, its goal and the disciplines it draws upon. This then informs how they present the case-
studies, thus enabling the reader to appreciate the context in which one may adopt the
primary approaches to team coaching and the desired outcomes. This ensures a practical appli-
cation for the reader who is seeking to develop his/her work with teams.
Chapter 3 is vital to the reader, as it lays down how the authors intend one to learn from the
ensuing chapters. The conclusion to this chapter states that

it has also described some methods for maximising your learning from reading the case-
studies of team coaching carried out by others, including:
• How to reflect on what form of team coaching is being carried out using the Hawkins con-
tinuum of team coaching approaches;
• How to evaluate each of the case-studies through the five lenses of the Hawkins five disci-
plines model;
• How to reflect on the relationship between the coach and the team being coached and how
this developed over time;
• Also, how then to reflect on how you might have handled the challenges and the needs of
the team differently if you were (a) the team leader and (b) the team coach. (34)

The following chapters offer a varied range of case-studies, set in many different contexts; a
real globe-trot. Chapter 4 is a professional services team, starting at a time of turmoil for them.
The case clearly describes the context: the two stages of contracting, inquiry and diagnosis
before describing how this case progresses, engaging individuals, team members and stake-
holders beyond the team. Great emphasis is placed upon the application of Hawkins’ five dis-
ciplines, especially commissioning and focusing the team on who they serve, their commission
 2 BOOK REVIEW

and how they align with the wider organisational objectives. The authors explain how their
work focused on individual coaching to develop leadership, team coaching to connect team
members and share learning and work with subgroups in the team to engage connections
with the wider stakeholder community.
Similar themes are picked up in Chapter 6 although in a very different context – the appoint-
ment of a new CEO to a UK National Health Service (NHS) organisation. The work will take in the
breadth of the leadership population, with the aim of embedding values, focus and priorities.
An NHS organisation is also the context for Chapter 10 where, once more, the importance of
the opening conversation and the contracting is highlighted. The chapter illustrates the use
of the High Performing Questionnaire and its relationship to the five dimensions of team
coaching. This chapter is highly relevant to those interested in Board development and con-
necting with the wider system. In reflecting on this period of transformation the CEO stated
that ‘the key learning for me was the value of adopting a consistent coaching approach
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with each of the different layers within the new structure from Board through to the divisional
leadership teams’ (145).
These cases, like many others presented, involve two authors. This allows for an honest dis-
cussion of the coaches’ varying styles and their personal impact, in addition to sharing of learn-
ing. Chapter 5 is the application of a team coaching process within a doctoral research project.
The aim of the authors is to ‘explore the experience of team coaching through the participants’
lens’ (51). Each author works with a Canadian team adopting a similar process, one working
with a Government team and one a corporate team. They both start by using the Team Diag-
nostic Survey (TDS): this offers another dimension to the significant point of commissioning
that underpins this book. The TDS focuses on how well team members feel the team is func-
tioning. The conclusion discusses the different styles of these two coaches and draws out their
learning.
Chapter 7 also emphasises diagnostics at the outset of a team coaching programme. The
focus of this case-study is the central dimension of core learning: the authors demonstrate
how it is integrated into the design, modelling behaviour of being a reflective practitioner
and how participants are encouraged to apply learning in their workplace. For example, the
first session starts with ‘this is not a 100-metre sprint! We will be practising a little today and
then ask you to go away and practice some more’ (88).The authors also describe how they
use other tools and techniques to achieve the desired outcomes. What they offer the reader
illustrates their stated belief that leadership teams must continue to learn and grow if they
are to stay relevant and fit for purpose.
Into the next chapter and again a change of context and focus. Chapter 8 is team coaching
in a large company to support organisational transformation. There is an interesting discussion
about culture and how this influences the design of the intervention. As in previous chapters
we are offered a description of the intervention, all valuable material to stimulate practitioners
and leaders alike. During this work there was a testing time for the senior team (the culture
fighting back?), and this opens up pertinent questions for us all to reflect upon. The conclusions
make a strong statement that team coaching made a significant impact on the achievement of
organisational transformation; this provides the type of evidence that is often needed to per-
suade less willing leaders to dip their toe into team coaching.
Another shift as Chapter 9 takes the reader to an Australian pharmaceutical subsidiary, with
the emphasis on team coaching to develop organisational learning: the outcomes include
higher innovation (as recognised by the premier business magazine, Business Review
Weekly) and engagement, so more evidence of the benefits that can be achieved. As with
earlier case-studies this shows how 1–1 coaching can lead into team coaching. Early on the
team, and reader, are treated to three simple and highly significant questions about the
 ACTION LEARNING: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 3

integration of new members of the leadership team and the teams’ ability to become a highly
effective team that fosters learning across the organisation. The conclusions are clearly pre-
sented under ten headings.
Chapters 11–13 offer a broad discussion of key themes, including work with Boards, identi-
fying and getting action within teams and the importance of commitment. The chapters build
on the case-studies, drawing effectively on relevant theory and providing a range of tools.
Chapters 14 and 15 move into the field of developing the team coach. And finally, in
Chapter 16 an exploration of the continuing growth of team coaching.
What is NOT in this book? There is no discussion of action learning and how it may be similar
and/or different. Although the action learning facilitator can learn from this text, the focus is
clearly on teams and ‘helping the team to improve performance and the process by which per-
formance is achieved, through reflection and dialogue’ (17, from Clutterbuck 2007). Equally the
five disciplines model is team-orientated, with the central question being about core learning –
‘how is your team learning from its experience and developing as a team?’ (16). In this question
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and the attention to reflection, one can draw parallels with action learning. Personally I would
suggest that action learning has developed over the years, and can foresee that it may be
timely for researchers to explore these two approaches, seeking to draw out possible differ-
ences, both philosophical and practical. Is there scope for synergy between the two or are
they quite distinct entities? These authors choose not to enter this territory, perhaps leaving
it open for others to explore – a different wood into which we could venture?
Who should read this book? It will have a broad appeal to anyone who is a ‘teamlander’ or is
entering this world. It is a book that draws on a wealth of practical experience, grounded in a
depth of analysis and a range of theories. It offers the reader challenge, interest and practical
approaches.

References
Clutterbuck, D. 2007. Coaching the Team at Work. London: Nicholas Brealey.

Mary Holmes
Development Solutions (Headspace) Ltd, www.developmentsolutions.org.uk
University of Bradford, West Yorkshire LS 28 5UY, UK
mary@developmentsolutions.org.uk
© 2016 Mary Holmes
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14767333.2015.1130355