Can Captains of leadership teams also be coaches?

Can captains of teams in organizations also play the role of coaches for those teams?

It is natural to expect the leader of a team who is like the captain, to perform some of the functions of a coach as far as that team is concerned.

Ideally, the leader of the team should be able to assemble all members of that team, onboard them, co-create the vision and strategy, have the benefit of strong relationships and lived experiences of a reasonable tenure and operate in a reasonably stable environment. The leader should also be gifted with a reasonable amount of skills to read the team climate and facilitate the right team processes and also promote candour, build trust, surface conflicts and enhance awareness of team behaviours.

If all of these conditions are met, then it is fair to say that the captain of the team can also be the team coach.

But look at the context today. The shared tenure of an intact team is often extremely low. Team members are coming in and going out. Team leaders themselves are coming in and going out. Expectations from teams are often steep. Teams are also often filled with competent and competitive individuals who want to win.

Given these emotionally charged circumstances and the fact that the captain of the team is “inside the bottle” it is very hard for him or her to “read the label of the bottle” so to speak – to sense and know how much everyone is open? How much does everyone trust each other? How well does everyone communicate? How does the team make decisions? How well do they hold each other accountable? How healthy is the team environment for it to give great results?

It is under these circumstances that it is becoming not just useful but necessary for team leaders to rely on some form of outside perspectives and support. Someone who is “outside the bottle and can read the label.”

A team coach is typically a skilled practitioner with a strong business background as well as training in individual and team coaching with the specific ability to understand and intervene in the group processes.

Such a team coach is available to the team and its leader over a reasonable period of time so that while the captain of the team performs the task of getting the team to move forward towards its vision, the coach assists the captain and the team members to look at themselves, look at how they are working and make changes to their behaviours to make the team more effective.

Such a team coach can effectively complement the outside help that team leaders currently tend to rely on – from consultants, facilitators, board members, advisors and so on.

Yes, I think in today’s context every team captain in a business context should seriously consider working along with a coach especially when the stakes are high and the setting are less than perfect.