Team Advantage is a proven team coaching program designed to transform teams and their leaders through a sustainable process that goes beyond the typical two-day team-building event. The program is presented as an organizational “game.” The process is oriented around a stretch goal that is meaningful to the organization’s success and includes the role of a coach who supports the team leader as well as the entire team. The process includes four phases of team development implemented over the course of 16 weeks.

Phase One: Pre-game preparation
This involves coaching the leader and interviews for each team member that set the stage for the program.
Phase Two: Kickoff workshop
The team creates its own game plan oriented around the stretch goal, with a point system for scoring the weekly accomplishments.
Phase Three: Coaching the game
Coaches check in during weekly virtual sessions via teleconference to drive the game plan. During this phase, team members provide progress updates and learn to support teammates as they move through tough challenges that could prevent the team from achieving their goal, and winning the game.
Phase Four: Celebration
This is the review of team accomplishments and its transformation — where this newly energized team takes time to assimilate learning and celebrate their wins. They also determine and claim components of the process that they will continue to implement after the completion of this program.

Team Coaching is the most significant and unique component of this program. Teams often leave a team-building event with a lot of enthusiasm but no real understanding of what it takes to change behaviors or go beyond their habitual daily activities. They go back to work and it is business as usual.

This program will change that typical team training behavior. During this process, the coach works as a partner, often giving the team leader reminders and new language for communicating celebrations as well as challenges. The coach also requests the team determine ways to overcome their barriers to success. The coaching provides momentum and a complete framework for each phase of the game. Through this model the team is in a constant state of maximizing the adult learning processes – observing and adjusting behaviors and actions to ensure the success of the game.

The key objective is to provide a complete framework for driving team performance resulting in a transformational experience.

Other key learning objectives:
• Convey core and advanced coaching skills to the team leader
• Provide a forum for real conversations, truth telling, and surfacing conflict as a natural part of team development and essential to the creative process
• Have each team member take responsibility for the team win – “everyone wins, or no one wins”
• Leave the team with a replicable process for continuing to grow together as they accomplish their potential

The acceleration of change in organizations, emerging needs for innovation, and alignment of values are all factors creating a need for new leadership and new ways for people to succeed. Leaders want to know how to stretch an already high performing team, turn around a team that is underperforming or stuck, or assimilate a new leader so they have a strong start with teams that are weary of too many changes. There are many obstacles that can cause a team to get off track. It is paramount that leaders develop their people in a way that is integrated with the demands of their formal roles in the organization.

There are four main features of this package that make it work for driving high team performance:

Real business goals
The goal addresses a real business need and can often reshape or catapult the entire business, even beyond the individual team.
Coaching
The coaching component in this process stretches people to become consciously aware of what motivates their behaviors and actions and how they impact others. Coaching holds people accountable for honoring their commitments.
Ownership
The team creates and takes ownership of the game plan to achieve something extraordinary. It is THEIR game plan and design.
Sustainability
Teams will have a replicable process along with new habits and behaviors discovered during the team coaching, as well as an easily adaptable business planning format they can apply to any future stretch goal.

This kit includes three components:

Coach’s Facilitation Guide
This comprehensive Facilitator’s Guide package includes detailed instructions for setting up the program in either a one- or two-day kickoff session as well as for the 16 weekly follow-up coaching sessions.
Team Leader Guide
The Team Leader’s Field Guide outlines a coaching model, exercises, and tips for coaching team members toward execution and accountability. Additionally, there will be instructions and ideas for setting up the
game with the team.
Team Member Guide
This practical, easy-to-use guide and workbook outlines the model and process for team members, and provides information on ways they can excel in the execution and accountability phases of the game, and exercises to keep them on track.

Using Team Advantage can be a rewarding experience for any team leader who wants to accelerate a team’s performance. The program can be useful for either project/temporary teams or more traditional intact teams.

The Coach’s Facilitation Guide will be a valuable resource for any coach leading this process. Additionally, the coach should have the general qualifications and attributes of a qualified coach including confidence in guiding a team through a process, speaking directly to label observable behaviors, business acumen, facilitation experience and training in coaching and/or facilitation skills.

For the team leader, the Team Leader Guide is a detailed resource to guide them through the process. Additionally, it is important for the team leader to be open to accept coaching, be willing to drive the process utilizing their leadership abilities, and have a commitment to the team’s success.

For the team members, the Team Member Guide will help facilitate the process. Team members also need to be open to coaching and reflective on their own opportunities for growth, be fully engaged in the process, and be accountable for the results.

The Coach’s Facilitation Package (which includes all three components) provides all the materials you’ll need to understand and prepare to use Team Advantage. To deliver the program, you’ll need a copy of the Team Leader’s Guide for the Team Leader and a copy of the Team Member Guide for all participating team members.

The actual game is a 16-week process. The pre-game preparation will take 1-2 months, to allow for scheduling and pre-game interviews. It can be longer, if there is advanced coaching provided to the team leader. The advanced coaching is optimal for the best success, but not required to use this product. There are four phases in the process: pre-game preparation, the kickoff workshop which can be anywhere from 1 to 2 days, the coaching process as outlined above, and, finally, the celebration for achieving the goal.