A reading list for team coaching, group facilitation and supervision

The last time I posted this reading list, we were in the midst of the Covid crisis. I think it’s fair to say that a lot has changed for so many of us since then. While Covid gave many people more time for reading, it also gave time to write, and there are some exciting new texts related to team coaching and supervision that have been published that I include here now.

I am conscious that significant socio-economic-political and climatic events are impacting us all hugely on an almost daily basis, but I have tried to stay in the realms of team coaching, groups and supervision. New additions to the list are signposted, and I’m sure many of you will have other ‘favourite books’ that I may have missed. Feel free to message me with any that you’d like to see included next time!

I developed the reading list for group facilitators, team coaches, and coaching supervisors. It explores the multiple lenses we need as we work to understand and develop the extensive, transdisciplinary practice of team coaching. The list encompasses groups and teams, the psychodynamics of relationship, facilitation, leadership, group dynamics, team development, and much more. It opens up the many different avenues of enquiry which have informed how I have developed my own practice.

I know that some practitioners are tentative about looking at a reading list, but I think that is often an issue of learning style. As an experiential learner myself, I would prefer to get the experience and then check out the reference, rather than reading a book and then applying it to my practice. It’s a learning preference, rather than an either/or, and reading lists can be useful however you prefer to learn.

Team coaching has continued to develop since I posted the original list, with professional bodies creating accreditation standards for practitioners. Increasingly, with the explosion of online global access, organisations realise and appreciate the importance of developing teams and team work across functions and cultures. For an executive coach, it’s not a simple transition to go from one-to-one to team coaching, for all the reasons I’ve written about in my paper, ‘Mapping the dynamics of team coaching’. Follow the link below to read it:

Mapping the dynamics of team coaching

What has excited me in reading or referring to the books in the reading list, is the sense that we are each and all contributing to the growing body of knowledge about group work and team coaching. It’s a hybrid practice that we are all still learning about. Practising in this field, and reading about what others have experienced and discovered, helps us gain clarity, because there is no one model of team coaching yet that really captures the complexity of the process. I imagine that this list may continue to evolve as the literature around team coaching and supervision expands.

Team Coaching Supervision Workshop

Beginning this November, in collaboration with CSA Ltd, I am offering an online team coaching supervision workshop, for practitioners who have an established supervision practice.

Find out more about the workshop
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Photo by Simon Jenkins