Creating Gathering Spaces in Team Coaching
As team coaches, one of our most crucial responsibilities is to intentionally create a space where team members can show up fully, both alone and as a collective. We are not just guiding conversations. We invite teams to co-create a physical, mental, and emotional environment that invites vulnerability, collaboration, and growth.
The space we create directly impacts the energy that drives the team’s work, especially when coaching is challenging or uncomfortable.
Gathering is more than just bringing people together. To nurture connection, reflection, and transformation, we need to consider the three aspects of the environment. This is true both in person and in a virtual setting.
Physical Space - Removing Barriers to Connection
The physical environment is the foundation for team coaching. It’s where we feel collective energy and where we begin the work. When coaching in person, consider arrangements that allow for openness and connection. Seating the team in a U-shape, with no tables, helps remove physical barriers and makes the space feel inclusive and accessible. This design fosters equal engagement. Every voice can be heard and every participant can see one another.
It's also important to adjust for neuroinclusion needs. For example, some team members may need adjustments to lighting or sensory elements to feel comfortable and present. Essential oils or ambient music can help set a calming atmosphere, or dimming harsh lights may reduce distractions for those who are sensitive to sensory overload. Virtual settings can also be adjusted.
With virtual teams, we must still consider how to make the digital space conducive to connection. Cameras on, microphones unmuted (when appropriate), and a focus on everyone’s visibility and engagement are all ways to replicate the openness of an in-person setting. Make sure that participants can be seen equally. If the platform allows, enable features like gallery view so that everyone’s presence is felt.
Mental Space - Co-Coaching with the System
In team coaching, the relationship between coach and team is dynamic. As coaches, we work with the system of the team not just as external facilitators but as active participants in the process. Our role is to observe, reflect, and adjust, supporting the team through challenges while staying attuned to the system as a whole.
This requires mindfulness. We stay present to the team’s dynamics, both spoken and unspoken. The mental space is about noticing patterns, identifying tensions, and offering interventions that will shift the energy toward what’s needed for growth.
Emotional Space - Reflecting and Shifting Energy
Emotional space is where deep transformation takes place. As coaches, we hold the emotional energy of the group, reflecting it back and subtly shifting it when necessary. This requires sensitivity and intuition, as well as the use of metaskills - adjustments to our own emotional energy that allow us to influence the emotional tone of the room. Whether through tone of voice, body language, or pacing, we can create an environment where difficult emotions are held with care and reflection.
As much as possible, we are ensuring that everyone is able to engage fully, without feeling overwhelmed or excluded.
Invitation to Co-Create
What are we inviting the team into when we gather them? We’re creating a space where they can feel, see, and hear each other. This is a space where each person can be fully present, engaging in both internal reflection and collective action. The energy in this space is co-created by the team and the coaches, and we support the process by being attentive to the needs of the group.
For virtual teams, this can mean making space for quiet reflection before jumping into discussion, allowing time for participants to process internally. It can also mean using various communication channels—chat, video, and breakout rooms—to ensure that everyone’s voice is heard, and that there’s room for all types of contributions, whether verbal, written, or reflective.
The work of team coaching involves so much more than just guiding a conversation. We curate a place to gather - an environment where physical, mental, and emotional spaces align to support the team’s growth. By creating a welcoming (and neuroinclusive) space, we help the team engage fully in the challenging and transformative work they’re called to do.
The way we gather matters. As coaches, we are setting the stage for teams to show up fully and co-create meaningful change.
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Love this reflection? Our full article on gathering with purpose contains more.