New Executive Team? Build Your Teaming Operating System Before Full Team Coaching

“If your executive team is too new to have established patterns…you won't get the best results from team coaching.”

Your leadership team just came together. People are still finding their footing, learning each other’s quirks, and (let’s be honest) being a little too polite. There’s excitement, possibility—and a blank slate.

And that’s a huge advantage.

Executive team coaching is a powerful lever for shifting habits that slow performance into more productive patterns.

But with a new team, it’s the perfect time to leverage a team coach as an expert facilitator—helping your team build relationships and co-create your teaming operating system right from the start.

Watch Out for the New Team Mirage

It’s tempting to jump straight to team coaching, hoping to fast-track performance. But first, ask yourself:

Is the team…

• Still learning each other’s communication styles and ways of working?

• Having surface-level meetings, more about updates than decisions?

• Being extra careful, with no real norms for debate or healthy conflict?

If so, it’s a sign the teaming foundation still needs to be laid—not optimized.

Where to Start When Teaming Patterns Are Still Forming

• Strategic facilitation sessions to build relationships, clarify roles, and co-create your teaming operating system—the agreements, rituals, and ways you want to work together.

• Foundation-setting workshops to define your team charter, decision paths, and how you’ll handle the inevitable bumps in the road.The goal isn’t to avoid team development. It’s to be smart about timing and approach. Start with what the team can actually handle.

When things stabilize, then bring in executive team coaching to uplevel performance, making you even more resilient for the next “urgent, unexpected”.

What’s the best place to start growing your team’s capacity? Schedule time with us; we’re ready to help you figure it out. Let’s talk.