1:1 Coaching vs. Team Coaching: What’s the Difference?
Today, I want to talk about one of the most common questions I've been asked throughout my coaching career…
1:1 Coaching and Team Coaching are both coaching — but what's the difference?
…They work at different levels of change.
In 1:1 Coaching, the focus is on the individual.
The conversation may explore questions such as:
How do I lead more effectively?
How can I handle this difficult situation more effectively?
What is holding me back from moving forward?
The goal is to help the individual develop greater self-awareness, clarity and confidence – and translate these into intentional actions that support desired results, personal objectives, or goals.
Team Coaching is different.
According to the ICF, Team Coaching works with the team as a collective entity, including its dynamics and relationships, to support a common purpose and shared goals.
So the questions become:
How do we communicate better?
How do we make decisions for this project?
How do we handle disagreement?
How do we build trust, alignment and shared accountability?
A simple way I often explain it is :
1:1 Coaching → "How can I lead differently?"
Team Coaching → "How can we work and lead differently together?"
After working with both individual leaders and management teams, I have learned that choosing the right intervention matters.
Sometimes the challenge lies within one leader.
Sometimes it lies between people – in communication, relationships, alignment, or ways of working.
As an ICF PCC and ACTC Team Coach, with more than 20 years of business and corporate leadership experience, my role is not simply to provide coaching…
It is to first understand :
What is really happening? What needs to change? And where should the coaching conversation take place?
Because the right coaching approach starts with the right diagnosis.
