Team coaching or individual coaching – which to choose when?

Individual coaching

In individual coaching, the individual person is considered. The principle of individual coaching essentially is, that the coached person (“coachee”) is capable of mastering their life or a certain situation alone, only temporary support is needed. Therefore it is about selective support for a specific question or challenge over a certain period of time until the individual can cope independently in this area and feels comfortable again. Questions of a coachee can be:

• How do I master the professional challenges placed on me in harmony with my private life?
• Or someone feels insecure because they may lack experience or information. How can anyone deal with it?

At Edl, however, we not only look at the individual itself, but also see them as part of the social environment in which they move. We take different perspectives into action and accompany them through a phase.

Team coaching

Team coaching always involves a group of minimum two individuals. In this case, a common task or challenge within the team is tackled. So the coaching focuses on the questions such as:

• What is the goal and how can we achieve it together?

In contrast to individual coaching, many different individuals have to be considered here (system of individuals), which in turn presupposes that differences and inconsistencies within the group are also pronounced. This is where the coach comes into play: the different interests and points of view are communicated by the coach like a catalyst and placed in the room so that the group can work on it together.

An important aspect here is also team building. We apply proven approaches to improve team performance, communication and collaboration in order to resolve such conflicts.

Whether a team or individual coaching makes more sense depends entirely on the challenges and personalities of the employees and individuals. Sometimes an entire group is faced with the challenge of showing new ways of thinking and behaving in order to master the cooperation with a new customer. Team coaching might be appropriate here.

Again, there are challenges that only affect an individual person, such as a difficult private life situation paired with a new leadership role in a company. Not only individual coaching, but also targeted leadership coaching can be very useful here. In our leadership coaching, for example, we deal specifically with the challenges of leadership roles.

For the effectiveness of a coaching, it is therefore always worthwhile to first discuss which questions and challenges one or more individuals have to face in order to then carry out the appropriate coaching over time. In conclusion, one or the other form is not automatically better or more effective, it depends entirely on whether the coaching form fits the challenge and was chosen appropriately for the point in time.

Are you considering coaching for yourself, your team or a colleague? Would you like to know how you can start the selection of a coach, define the coaching setting and the process?

Contact us for a non-binding discussion to discover our pool of coaches.