Group and Team Coaching This book offers a new perspective on the subconscious and non- verbal processes through which people learn and communicate with each other in groups. Describing these processes in the con- text of modern organizational life, it provides practical advice about how to do group and team coaching. Introducing key concepts from psychology, group analysis and systems theory, Group and Team Coaching gives practical guidance on core areas of group coaching: team coaching, group supervision, action learning sets and other learning groups. Casting new light on the ‘secret life’ of groups and teams, it discusses: (cid:127) the invisible processes of group dynamics (cid:127) pitfalls of group coaching and how to avoid them (cid:127) how to design coaching interventions (cid:127) common dilemmas (cid:127) ethics and supervision. With many vignettes and case studies, Group and Team Coaching is essential reading for coaches who work with groups and teams. Christine Thornton is a group analyst and coach who has con- sulted to individuals, teams and organizations for over twenty years. She holds an MSc in Psychology and is a Member of the Institute of Group Analysis and the British Association for Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Supervision. Essential Coaching Skills and Knowledge Series Editors: Gladeana McMahon, Stephen Palmer & Averil Leimon The Essential Coaching Skills and Knowledge series pro- vides an accessible and lively introduction to key areas in the developing field of coaching. Each title in the series is written by leading coaches with extensive experience and has a strong practical emphasis, including illustrative vignettes, summary boxes, exercises and activities. Assuming no prior knowledge, these books will appeal to professionals in business, management, human resources, psychology, counselling and psychotherapy, as well as students and tutors of coaching and coaching psychology. www.routledgementalhealth.com/essential-coaching-skills Titles in the series: Essential Business Coaching Averil Leimon, François Moscovici & Gladeana McMahon Achieving Excellence in Your Coaching Practice: How to Run a Highly Successful Coaching Business Gladeana McMahon, Stephen Palmer & Christine Wilding A Guide to Coaching and Mental Health: The Recognition and Management of Psychological Issues Andrew Buckley & Carole Buckley Essential Life Coaching Skills Angela Dunbar The Coaching Relationship: Putting People First Stephen Palmer & Almuth McDowall 101 Coaching Strategies and Techniques Edited by Gladeana McMahon & Anne Archer Group and Team Coaching: The Essential Guide Christine Thornton Group and Team Coaching The Essential Guide Christine Thornton First published 2010 by Routledge 27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 2FA Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010. To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk. Copyright © 2010 Christine Thornton All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. This publication has been produced with paper manufactured to strict environmental standards and with pulp derived from sustainable forests. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Thornton, Christine, 1958–. Group & team coaching : the essential guide / Christine Thornton. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–0–415–47227–2 (hbk) – ISBN 978–0–415–47228–9 (pbk) 1. Personal coaching. 2. Teams in the workplace. I. Title. II. Title: Group and team coaching BF637.P36T464 2010 158′.35–dc22 2009043133 ISBN 0-203-85238-9 Master e-book ISBN ISBN: 978–0–415–47228–9 (hbk) ISBN: 978–0–415–47227–2 (pbk) Dedication For John, who makes everything possible. Contents Foreword ix KATHERINE TULPA Preface: what this book does xi Acknowledgements xiii Part1 1 1 Introduction: what is group coaching? 3 Part2 21 2 Learning, holding and exchange 23 3 Looking deeper: the secret life of groups 44 4 Eight group factors influencing learning and change 64 Part3 85 5 Understanding organizations, groups and teams: systems thinking 87 Part4 115 6 Team coaching 117 7 Learning group coaching 147 8 Supervision groups 164 viii CONTENTS Part5 191 9 Strategies for tackling problem behaviour 193 10 Groups that do not work: understanding and tackling dysfunctional patterns in group behaviour 214 11 Managing beginnings, middles and endings: boundaries of the group 233 Afterword 250 Part6 251 Suggested further reading 253 Continuous professional development in the unconscious dynamics of groups and organizations 255 Frequently asked questions 258 References and bibliography 260 Index 269 Foreword This book comes at a pivotal stage, as coaching emerges as a profession, rapidly becoming one of the most accepted ways to accelerate people and business performance. While coaching started off as an intervention to facilitate a man- ager’s or leader’s individual learning and development, it is now being used to drive organizational change and transformation. At the heart of this change comes a greater understand- ing for coaches and those involved in driving the organiza- tion’s learning agenda to be open to new perspectives in getting maximum returns from both their current and future talent. We need to look beyond conventional coaching and learning methods (i.e. 1:1 development, ‘content-led’ train- ing), and tap into the wisdom of groups. It seems we are only at the brink of what this can generate. This book contributes to that change at many levels. The timing is right for Group and Team Coaching: The Essential Guide. It is the first book to cover this growing and important area of coaching to the depth that the author, Christine Thornton, shares with us. Her experience as a coach practitioner, as well as someone well educated in the areas of group analysis and systems theory, certainly shines through here. Throughout the pages, she strikes a nice bal- ance between what informs group coaching – the bedrock, if you will – and practical, real-world examples from her twenty-five years’ experience in this field. The coaching profession needs a book like this to appreciate where group and team coaching has evolved from