A process by which a team coach works with a whole team,
both when they are together and when they are apart,
in order to help them improve both their collective performance and how they work together, and also how they develop their collective leadership to more effectively engage
with all their key stakeholder groups to jointly transform the wider business.

(Hawkins 2014:80)

The Five Disciplines Model:

In developing Systemic Team Coaching, Dr. Peter Hawkins reviewed all the best research on team performance, including Katzenbach and Smith (1993 &1999); Clutterbuck (2007); Kets de Fries (2005 &2011); Wageman et al (2008); and West (2012). From this research and from reviewing in depth the practice of ourselves and our colleagues, Peter developed the Hawkins Five Disciplines Model of Team Effectiveness. This model proposes that to be effective, teams need to have mastered all five disciplines and that systemic team coaching needs to be able to coach teams both within each discipline and on connecting these disciplines.

Team development can involve many modalities, including team coaching, team building, team training, team consulting, team mentoring, and team facilitation. The team coach should partner with other experts when the demands of a specific team coaching engagement warrant or when specific knowledge and skill levels are required. While the distinction between these modalities may not always need to be highlighted, caution must be applied if interventions beyond coaching are undertaken. Team coaches may need to refer clients to many types of professionals and also receive assistance from a co-coach, a supervisor, or other team development professionals.