What Do Team Coaches Experience at the End of a Client Relationship

Abstract

All coaching and business relationships have an ending. Here we explore the reflections of experienced team coaches at this key stage of the client relationship. This is where coaches consider the choices they have made, how they responded to the client, their relationship to the wider organisation and the other key stakeholders. By seeking to explore how seasoned coaches interpret their experiences, we gain a window into how they have developed a mastery of their craft. Using an IPA methodology, this study contributes to evidence-based research in the discipline, practice, and purpose of systemic team coaching. This paper includes a literature review tracking the evolution of systemic team coaching as a discipline, relevant social science, and business management research. The methodology provides an overview of the design process, sampling, and data collection also a diagrammatic overview of the core elements of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The findings give a voice to the coaches themselves. The analysis and discussion are divided into three core themes: The Team Coach in the Field; The Team Coach as Guide; The Team Coach Withdrawal. The conclusion explores the implications for contracting, practice, coach development and reflexivity.