The Thrills and Challenges of Team Coaching with Alison Hodge – 16 October 2018

Highlights from our full-day workshop with Dr Alison Hodge

by Dana Lefeuvre, ICF Paris International co-organiser.

ICF Paris International was pleased to welcome, Dr. Alison Hodge, EMCC accredited Master Coach, for the second time in Paris. This time for a full-day workshop around the challenges and specificities of Team Coaching. A surprisingly humble disposition from such an accomplished Master Coach and Supervisor.

Her humane, interactive approach made for an eye-opening and thought-provoking experience. The day began with an icebreaker in triads using Visual Cards and pertinent questions to model a way of creating safety with teams and small groups.

To further emphasize the necessity of creating a safe space to maximize learning, the morning then segued into the complexities of contracting. Who knew there could be soooo much involved ! Contracting is conducted not only at the beginning of the workshop, but also throughout.

Further value was added in the afternoon with discussions around the differences between group and team coaching, how we manage ourselves when the team ‘comes alive’ and team coaching models. Tuckman, Bion, Yalom, Belbin, Lencioni and Katzenbach & Smith models were presented and we discussed the main points of each.

The afternoon was enriched by recounts of Alison’s experiences which emphasized holding the balance between tasks and relationships in team coaching.

The day ended with individual reflection and dyads on the business aspects of how we would present our team coaching services to potential clients. Participants also created their own metaphors for team coaching : ‘helping clients make sense of the mess’, ‘a spider web – complicated, organized and beautiful’, ‘an orchestra’ – just to name a few.