Book review

Elaine Cox (Oxford Brookes University Business School, UK)

This is a timely and a much needed handbook for team coaches. Drawing on her extensive knowledge and experience in the field of team coaching, and drawing on her recent doctoral research, Gill Graves has produced an informative and well written text to support team coaches and their supervisors.

In the book, Gill presents a framework for team coaching practice focusing on the process and activities involved. There are six chapters. Chapter one looks at definitions of team coaching and introduces the PiE team coaching model. This model was developed from research with team coaches and is a framework for managing practice. PiE is an acronym for Preparation, Intervention and Evaluation and the chapters that follow explore each aspect of the model in more detail. Chapter 2 focuses on preparatory questions such as, ‘what special care does the team leader need?’ in order to prompt thinking about what the team coaching assignment might involve.

Chapters 3 and 4 then examine the intervention in more detail and include how to create optimal conditions for safety and growth, the roles a team coach might consciously adopt and the ones they may have thrust upon them. Chapter 4 also gives examples of team coaching assignments, their structures and activities.

Chapter 5 is about evaluating success and reflection on practice and Chapter 6 deals with the important topic of self-care and supervision. Overall, the variety of topics included in the book are most pertinent to team coaching, but could be relevant to all coaches.

The book is refreshingly practical, straightforward, and clearly written. There are also several helpful appendices, including an example of a team effectiveness survey. I believe this book is a ‘must read’ for any team coach: it has useful reminders for the experienced and vital information for aspiring team coaches.