Systemic Team Coaching – Development, Assumptions and Interconnectedness

There is a new focus on the way we do business – a change is in the air, in the editorials and in the business schools. The blind approach to profit has been discredited and new paradigms are emerging, including a systemic approach towards organizations and their components, including teams. As a systemic team coach, I am engaged with teams for long term interventions as they come to terms with their way of being and the impact they want to have.

As a team coach certified through the Xenergie Systemic Team Coaching Program, I recognize three areas that are currently the foundations for my work. Although I imagine these three areas will evolve over time, they serve me well thus far. They are Development, Assumptions and Interconnectedness.

Development – From the day we are born, humans are in a development mode. We are learning, growing, taking risks, and this continues until we begin the consolidation phase in later life. As professionals we continue learning and developing, and even have departments in large organizations to support us. Sometimes though, people block themselves by thinking that they know it all, are already perfect, and need to play that role in the organization. Through team coaching, team members have an opportunity for personal and professional development through the experiences they have with the team, and the personal coaching they receive on the side. Team coaching is not simply about building skills, but about looking at ourselves and our personal growth.

Assumptions – Personally I am in wonder by the assumptions and stories that drive our behaviours, including my own. As humans, we have personal beliefs which we reinforce with evidence, and which eventually drive our behaviours. These assumptions may have been developed through our family, friends, cultures, organizations, professional function, politics, and other influences. The nature vs nurture discussion is always interesting on a conceptual level, but in my work I find that people attribute more to nature on a personal level than to nurture “This is just the way I am”, without recognizing, this is in fact who I have become. During the team coaching process, we try to shed light on these assumptions, on a business, team and personal level. By shedding light, participants become more conscious of their own thoughts and behaviours, and accept or release those assumptions which had been holding them back.

Interconnectedness – The philosophy of Systemic Team Coaching includes the concept of connection, that we are part of systems, and that complex problems often require more holistic solutions. The interconnection of people, both within a team, and between teams, is a foundation of team coaching, but also of many spiritual practices. Through meditation and other practices, reflections on interconnectedness may lead to love and compassion for others and for ourselves. I find this to have a profound impact on my coaching, both for teams and individuals. When I begin from a position of love and compassion, I put my ego aside, I listen deeper, I show vulnerability, and I give all to the other. As a coach, I am a vessel through which they can grow and create, and this happens when I, as a coach, recognize my interconnection and the impact I have on the process. With compassion and love, our interaction provides the space for growth, development and creation.

Through the Systemic Team Coaching Program and my work with Xenergie, I have continued to explore and develop these three foundations of my systemic team coaching practice.

by Theresa Sigillito Hollema  theresa@interact-global.net