Unlocking Growth: Is Group Coaching or Team Building the Key for Your Business?

For HR and talent leaders, choosing the most suitable approach to develop your people and teams can be challenging.

Two effective options - group coaching and team building - are often confused, yet they serve very different purposes. Understanding these differences is key to making the best decision that will benefit your organisation.

What is group coaching?

Group coaching is a structured process where an experienced coach works with a group of individuals, each working on their own personal development goals.

While they learn and grow together, the focus remains on individual progress. Participants benefit from shared insights, peer support and practical exercises created by a structure that encourages reflection and accountability.

Group coaching helps people improve their individual skills and behaviours, and it does so in a way that is both cost-effective and scalable.

How does this differ from team building?

Team building activity on the other hand, centres on strengthening the bonds and collaboration within an existing team.

The individuals within each team usually share common goals and rely on each other to perform effectively.

Team building activities are designed to enhance trust, communication, and cooperation, often through interactive or experiential exercises. The aim is to improve how the team functions as a unit, boosting morale and collective performance.

When is group coaching the right choice?

Group coaching is particularly valuable if you want to support individuals’ growth within a collective setting, especially when:

• People in your organisation have similar needs or experiences, like new managers or teams going through change

• There’s evidence of skill gaps across a number of people who would benefit from learning together and sharing ideas

• People need to build connections, cross functional relationships and increase wider business knowledge

• You need a practical and cost-effective way to develop several people simultaneously, without compromising on quality

It’s important to note, though, that group coaching won’t fix team-specific issues like trust breakdown in relationships or unclear decision-making. Those require targeted team interventions, such as team building or even a third option, systemic team coaching.

Why does the distinction between group coaching and team building matter?

Resources are limited, and as you know, every choice has to be well considered, goal focused and able to evidence a return on your organisation’s investment.

Group coaching and team building serve fundamentally different purposes, they focus on different dynamics, and they lead to very different outcomes.

For those commissioning development activity within an organisation, a thoughtful assessment of current needs and goals will ensure that any investment in coaching or other team development delivers real and lasting impact.

And if you’d like to find out more about how we help our clients to make the choices that are right for them and their needs, please contact us.