Expanding Your Group and Team Coaching Toolkit - Identity (22)

This week’s building your group and team coaching toolkit brings us to the topic of IDENTITY. It helps us describe "Who we are, How we Do things, and What’s important to us”. In any context we may have multiple identities – my identity as a team, as an individual, as a parent. Our identity is a key part of organizational culture work.

In the team coaching context, it’s likely that we will be working around topics including team identity.

 Exploring the notion of WHO We are can take us in to a number of different areas including:

Who are we as individuals?

What makes us unique?

What are our styles?

What are our strengths?

HOW We Do things speaks to our NORMS. What’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable on this team or in this group. What are the behaviors and practices which are acceptable? What is taboo?

The clearer we can be with our norms, the more safety is created. In a team coaching context, it may become apparent that alignment and conflict exists because norms are not clear, and therefore, behaviors are also not aligned. Spending time with a team clarifying the ACCEPTABLE and NOT ACCEPTABLE behaviors, while also talking about what happens when these are violated helps to build connection and trust.

What’s important to us speaks to our values. What are the things that we will stand up and fight for? What will we go to bat for? 

Working with Identity as a group or team coach will take us into a series of conversations -from strengths and styles, to values, and norms. What are the conversational touchpoints you want to make sure you have built into your engagements?

Questions to consider around identity:

1.       Who are we?

2.       What is important to us?

3.       What is acceptable on this team?

4.       What is taboo?

5.       What are the 3-5 things we value most as a team (consider how we work, who we are, etc)?

6.       What do we want to make sure new members know about us, our history and our strengths?

Enjoy your conversations,

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, CPCC, PCC – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development)

Join us for an upcoming ICF CCE approved program - Group Coaching Essentials (8.75 CCEs), Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum ( 10 CCEs) or the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program (8.5 CCES) starting October 24th.