The Practitioner’s Handbook of Team Coaching

34 How does coaching help to support team working?

Vera Woodhead

 

There is an implied requirement for team working in the National Health Service (NHS), as emphasised in many NHS policies and reforms (Department of Health, 2000, 2002, 2008a, 2008b) and where healthcare is delivered by professionals from different disciplines who work together to fulfil interdependent tasks (West & Lyubovnikova, 2013). But can professionals who have their own identities, memberships and who function independently and autonomously within their own specialised fields, work together as a real team?

In an NHS staff survey (Care Quality Commission, 2010) over 90% of NHS employees said that they worked in teams, however, only 40% reported that their team has clear ...