For thousands of coaches over the past five years or so, stepping up to the role of team coach has been a stretch. It’s also been beneficial for their practice as 1-2-1 coaches – not least because it raises their awareness of what is happening in a client’s immediate systems. However, we can now see substantial differences in the value these new team coaches offer, based on their ability to work at different levels of systems complexity. 

We can now identify four levels of team coach value-added. At the first and most basic level are team coaches, whose practice is very similar to facilitation. They help a team explore a specific issue of collaborative performance and create practical solutions in how the team works together. Their primary focus is on the team’s internal systems. 

At the second level come what is commonly referred to as “systemic team coaches”. They help the team explore its relationships with key stakeholders and how to see the world through the eyes of those stakeholders. 

At a much higher level of complexity are team coaches working at the level of complex, adaptive systems. The help the team develop its awareness of how internal and external systems overlap. Most importantly, they help the team understand and work with the relationships and spaces between the stakeholders. They enable the team to influence the system as a whole, rather than bit by bit.

The fourth level shifts attention to teams of teams. The nature of organisational structures typically means that there are inefficiencies between interdependent teams. The remedy isn’t to exert more control from above. It is to enable each team to see the system as a whole and to adapt what it does and how it does it to the needs of the wider system, not just to its own KPIs. We now have a growing portfolio of tools and approaches to accomplish this.

The majority of team coaches are operating at level one or two. If you are keen to differentiate yourself in the market, you will need to develop an advanced skill set to operate at level three or four. If you would like to explore what that looks like our next Team Coaching programmes can all be found here.

© David Clutterbuck 2025