THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIFE COACHING AND TEAM COACHING
As a certified professional co-active coach I’m trained to work with individuals or groups.
Life Coaching can be done with one or more persons at the same time. The question you need to ask yourself when choosing either of these formats is “What do I want to achieve?”.
In a one-on-one life coaching session, the coach fully concentrates on the individual person, listens to each word, discusses values and passions, and discovers patterns and derailers of the client. Conflict, frustration and “bad mood” are reflected on from different perspectives. The awareness for one’s own inner processes increases and the ability to choose between different paths develops.
Having a coach is like taking a tour-guide on a self-guided tour.
This work can also be done in groups. The group setting has a deep impact on each group member because questions and topics shared are expanding one’s own thoughts. This dynamic leads to a deep inner and collective reflection.
Group coaching is a powerful way to establish communication with yourself and others at the same time. The coach will not only pay attention to the individual members but also to the group as a whole. If someone in the group is not attentive, is unmotivated or always puts themself in the center of the attention, this could reflect on the whole group. In such a case, the Coach needs to act without generating irritation. Both, Life Coaching in individual one-on-one meetings and group coaching are highly effective ways to start your inner journey.
But, what is the difference between Team Coaching and Life Coaching?
As the words itself imply, in Team Coaching an entire team is coached. Usually, a team works in the same company or on the same issue. The team ideally has a shared purpose and understanding about the processes and behaviors that enable them to achieve the common goal.
A team is defined by its purpose and not its members. Teamwork means to intentionally collaborate with others. The team succeeds as a whole.
In Team Coaching the coach works with the team, deepens the awareness of the shared purpose and the delivery of the common goal. The efficiency of the team is increased by helping the team to recognize how agile it is, how resilient, how to reflect together, how to intercept team derailers, and to define its common values. Team Coaching is about team effectiveness and value creation. Internal and external processes and systems that influence the working life of the members are uncovered. As a Team Coach one has to always keep the system in mind – what else is going on? A professional Team Coach enables the team to co-create and helps the Team Leader to adopt coaching skills they can use in the future.
As a current student at the Global Team Coaching Institute, I am trained in using tools to coach a team systemically.
