Group and Team Coaching by Thornton, Christine;

Short description:

Group and Team Coaching offers a new perspective on the ?secret life of groups?, the subconscious and non-verbal processes through which people learn and communicate in groups and teams. Updated with new research and including a wealth of vignettes and case studies.

Long description:

Group and Team Coaching offers a new perspective on the ?secret life of groups?, the subconscious and non-verbal processes through which people learn and communicate in groups and teams. Updated with new research and including a wealth of vignettes and case studies, it will be essential reading for coaches who work with groups and teams as well as leaders commissioning coaching; the second edition features new guidance for leaders and managers, an updated introduction and new expanded practical sections on working with teams, working on the phone, and supervising and being supervised.

The author uses key concepts from psychology, group analysis and systems theory as well as her own extensive experience to give practical advice, including:

• The invisible processes of group dynamics








• Pitfalls of team coaching and how to avoid them








• How to design coaching interventions








• Common dilemmas








• Ethics and supervision.

?Christine?s book has made an important contribution; she brings together three important root strands of this field and valuably integrates them: analytic groups, human systems and Action Learning?Christine also provides thoughtful guidance to practitioners about traps to be avoided and sage advice for how best to use tools and what tool are best suited to different presenting issues and situations. She shows us how being a group or team coach requires not only a thorough training to develop the discipline needed to practice the art and craft of group and team coaching, but also a life time?s personal development and reflective practice to develop the holding presence combined with the humility to step back and enable the team or group to do their own work.? - Peter Hawkins, from the foreword

?A very lucid, clear and pragmatic exposition what groups are for, how they function, how they malfunction and how they can be worked with much more competently...indispensable to leaders, managers and psychology professionals.? - Gerhard Wilke, Ashridge Business School & Hon. Fellow I.A.G.P.

?As team coaching becomes more widely used, this book provides invaluable insights into the complexities and unconscious processes in groups which coaches need to understand. . Christine Thornton shares theory in a very accessible way, and gives practical pointers to help coaches work at a deeper level and more effectively.? - Gill Smith, Chair, Association for Coaching UK

"She strikes a nice balance between what informs group coaching ? the bedrock, if you will ? and practical, real-world examples from her twenty-five years? experience in the field. The Coaching profession needs a book like this."?Katherine Tulpa, Chair of Association for Coaching [Global], from the foreword

?Breaking down complex systems and group analytic theory into understandable parts of a whole?permeating Thornton?s approach to coaching is the science and psychodynamics of how we learn?.a real celebration of group analysis.? - Group Analysis

?I found?Group and Team Coaching: The Essential Guide?refreshing in its honesty and willingness to confront the often unconscious "dark side" of group and organizational experience that so frequently interferes with task achievement?a recommended and refreshing work especially for social workers who manage teams, divisions, and organizations.? - Social Work with Groups

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction: what is group coaching?  2. Learning, holding and exchange  3. Looking deeper: the secret life of groups  4. Eight group factors influencing learning and change  5. Understanding organizations, groups and teams: systems and complexity thinking  6. Team coaching  7. Learning group coaching  8. Supervision groups  8a. Supervising in groups  8b. The art of being supervised  9. Strategies for tackling problem behaviour  10. Teams and groups that do not work: understanding and tackling dysfunctional patterns  11. Managing beginnings, middles and endings: boundaries of the group