Coaching clarity

Professor Andrew Corbett-Nolan says the best teams are coached to success and introduces the concept of the whole-board coach

We are familiar with the role of a coach in a sports context, but perhaps not in terms of a board. However, in an impactful board development programme, the role of the whole-board coach is key.

GGI developed the concept of the whole-board coach to describe the specialised facilitator who enhances the collective performance of a board, usually through coordinating a board development programme.

Emerging in the 2000s, the role draws on team coaching principles from experts like David Clutterbuck and Peter Hawkins, integrated with UK governance reforms. Unlike individual coaching, whole-board coaching focuses on the board as a unified team, improving group dynamics, strategic alignment, and decision-making effectiveness.

David Clutterbuck, a UK-based coaching expert, emphasised systemic team coaching, which considers the group as a whole and its interactions with the broader organisation. His work, including books like Coaching the Team at Work (2007), laid groundwork for coaching approaches that could be adapted to boards.

Peter Hawkins’ Creating a Coaching Culture (2012) and his focus on systemic team coaching highlighted the importance of aligning teams with organisational goals, a principle central to whole-board coaching.

Whole-board coaches facilitate processes such as board development programmes, strategy retreats or team-building sessions to strengthen cohesion and performance. For example, they might help a board to improve collaboration, to better oversee complex challenges, or support a board in aligning on strategic priorities. The coach does not directly address specific issues such as patient safety or budget management but enables the board to function more effectively as a team to tackle such matters themselves. Whole-board coaching ensures boards operate as high-performing teams, delivering public value and meeting stakeholder expectations with greater clarity and unity.

Whole-board coaching is a structured process designed to enhance collective performance, alignment, and decision-making. It encompasses:

Facilitation

• How it works: A whole-board coach acts as a neutral facilitator, guiding discussions to ensure all voices are heard and fostering an environment for open, constructive dialogue.
• Delivers change: Encourages inclusive decision-making, reducing dominant voices or groupthink, leading to better-informed strategies.

Alignment

• How it works: The coach helps the board clarify shared goals, values, and priorities, ensuring all members work toward a common purpose.
• Delivers change: Creates unified strategic direction, improving the board’s ability to address complex challenges effectively.

Dynamics

• How it works: The coach observes and addresses interpersonal and group dynamics, identifying tensions, communication gaps, or unproductive behaviours.
• Delivers change: Enhances trust and collaboration, enabling the board to function as a cohesive unit.

Reflection

• How it works: Through facilitated exercises like board evaluations or reflective discussions, the coach encourages the board to assess its performance and processes.
• Delivers change: Promotes self-awareness, leading to improved governance practices and accountability.

Clarity

• How it works: The coach uses tools like structured workshops to clarify roles, responsibilities, and decision-making processes.
• Delivers change: Reduces confusion, ensuring efficient and effective board operations.

Engagement

• How it works: The coach fosters active participation, ensuring board members meaningfully engage with each other and stakeholders.
• Delivers change: Strengthens stakeholder relationships and enhances the board’s responsiveness to public sector demands.

Systemic thinking

• How it works: The coach helps the board consider its role within the broader organisational and stakeholder ecosystem.
• Delivers change: Aligns board decisions with organisational goals, improving strategic oversight.

Accountability

• How it works: The coach introduces frameworks to track progress on board commitments and goals, often tied to governance standards.
• Delivers change: Enhances board responsibility, ensuring decisions translate into impactful outcomes.

Conflict resolution

• How it works: The coach mediates conflicts or differing perspectives, using techniques to find common ground.
• Delivers change: Transforms tensions into constructive dialogue, strengthening board unity.

In the context of a board development programme, the coach helps build the board’s collective skills, such as strategic thinking or stakeholder engagement and elevates the board’s capability to navigate complex challenges.

The coach will agree with the programme’s sponsor (invariably the board chair but perhaps others too) on the aims or outcomes of a development programme and then design and agree a programme that will deliver the desired impact. As a facilitator, the coach may deliver some sessions within a board development programme but will also coordinate sessions delivered by others in a way that weaves into a larger ongoing development programme.

In the context of whole-board coaching for a UK public sector board, the chair and the whole-board coach play distinct but complementary roles in enhancing board performance. Using a sports analogy, the chair is like the team captain on the field, leading and directing the team during the game, while the coach is the team coach on the sidelines, supporting the team’s preparation and development to perform better as a unit.

Like all team coaching, the whole-board coach concept works by creating a safe, structured space where a board can reflect, align, and grow as a unit. For example, the coach might facilitate a workshop to address misaligned priorities, using reflective exercises to uncover underlying tensions and align members on shared goals.

This process fosters trust, clarifies roles, and enhances decision-making, ultimately enabling the board to govern more effectively without the coach directly intervening in specific operational issues like patient safety.