Group and Team Coaching: The Secret Life of Groups

Group and Team Coaching is a best-seller offering a new perspective on the ’secret life of groups’, the subconscious and non-verbal processes through which people learn and communicate in groups and teams. Originally published in 2010 and designed for easy navigation, it is a highly regarded team coaching handbook, and required reading on many courses.

This new edition is fully updated, with a completely new chapter on working with groups and teams on virtual platforms, including hybrid and blended working. Christine Thornton uses key concepts from psychology, group analysis and systems theory as well as her own extensive experience to give practical advice. Topics include: the invisible processes of group dynamics; common dilemmas; pitfalls of team coaching and how to avoid them; pros and cons and best practice online; how to design coaching interventions; supervising coaching; ethics.

Based on research and including many vignettes and case studies, this new edition is essential reading for coaches working with groups and teams, and leaders working with their own teams or commissioning coaching.

Christine Thornton is an organisational consultant and supervisor, helping business leaders and coaches think through complex systemic and relationship dynamics, for better performance. Author of several books and papers her most recent book, The art and science of working together (Routledge 2019), develops her analysis of team coaching further. Christine’s career encompasses senior leadership, 30 years’ consulting and writing, and recognition of lifetime contributions to the coaching profession. www.thorntonconsulting.org