Why Teams Need a Coach?

Why a Team needs a Coach?

When we see a basketball or football team play, we never question the presence of a coach on the sidelines giving directions, calling for a time out to help the team regroup, defining tactical opportunities, making changes in the makeup of the team. Furthermore, no high-performance individual athlete trains by herself/himself Googling a training routine.  We do not have any history of any world-renowned sportsman as Michael Phelps or Roger Federer saying that they could have become who they are without help, only by themselves.

 There have been cases in which teams tried having a coach that was also a player. It turned up to be a very unsuccessful proposition.    

The coach is there not only to advise but to help players manage their blind spots. Team members, including the leader of the team, are not always aware of all that is going on in the field: the different perspectives presented, when team members are not listening with empathy, the not so explicit tensions that occur among members, issues of trust, fear of speaking truth to power, etc.

How come this best practice hasn’t crossed over to the non-sport business arenas? Why is it that we do not see executives that are accountable for the productivity and well-being of their teams consistently rely on the available knowledge of team coaching?

 As with any team sports, a coach can make a significant difference in helping the team improve the efficiency of their interactions by listening without judgment, inquiring about the other position with the true interest to understand, acting to create a safe and open space to discuss crucial issues and therefore foment trust, think systemically not looking for whom to blame. The team coach can become a teacher by using ‘time out’ periods to help the team reflect and become aware of situations that escalated which will allow the team to become unstuck and offering in time management tools that may be applied to future daily situations.

Better teams lead to higher performance. Higher performance leads to improved results.