Sustaining Team Development: Practical Insights from a Coaching Approach
Creating strong teams takes more than one good session. It needs steady support, good conversations, and a clear understanding of what helps people work well together. In a recent Facet5 Live session led by Grant Gemmell and Tracy Arnold, professionals discussed the real challenges teams face and how we can better support team development in the long term. This blog captures the main lessons and ideas from that event.
What Is Team Development?
Team development is the ongoing process of helping a group of people work better together. It includes building trust, improving communication, setting clear goals, and creating a supportive culture.
It isn’t something that happens in a day. While team-building sessions can be useful, lasting development comes from what happens in between – the conversations, reflections, and behaviours that teams build over time.
Healthy Teams Are the Foundation for High Performance
One of the strongest messages from the Facet5 session was that health comes before high performance. Teams that are mentally, emotionally, and socially well tend to perform better over time.
What makes a team healthy?
- Psychological safety – people feel safe to speak up and ask for help
- Shared understanding – team members know what they’re working towards
- Respect and inclusion – differences are accepted and valued
- Supportive relationships – people check in and look out for each other
Without these things, performance often comes at a cost—burnout, poor communication, or low morale. A team that only focuses on hitting targets may find success is short-lived if well-being is ignored.
Common Challenges That Impact Team Development
The facilitators and participants shared a number of team challenges they encounter regularly. Many of these were not technical problems, but people-centred issues that slow or block progress.
Some of the most common included:
- Inexperienced team leaders: People are often promoted without training in how to lead others.
- Too little time for thinking: Many teams rush from task to task without time to reflect.
- Disconnected teams: Hybrid working makes it harder to build strong team relationships.
- Quick fix culture: Organisations want instant results from single workshops.
- Misunderstood requests: Coaches are often asked to deliver workshops on resilience or trust, but the root cause is often unclear or ignored.
Each of these challenges can damage team development if left unaddressed. A coaching approach helps uncover the deeper issues and gives teams the support they need to grow.
Planning Before the Development Session Makes All the Difference
A strong theme from the event was the need to spend more time planning before team sessions.
This includes asking:
- Does this group need to function as a team, or just coordinate efforts?
- What is the team’s purpose?
- What is already working well?
- What challenges keep coming up?
Instead of launching straight into activities, coaches and facilitators can create better outcomes by taking the time to listen, ask questions, and learn more about the team’s real needs.
Meaningful Conversation Is Key to Team Development
While there are many tools and methods that support team growth, one thing stood out as essential: conversation.
High-performing teams talk. They make space for real, honest, and helpful dialogue.
That doesn’t just mean status updates.
It means:
- Asking open, curious questions
- Sharing stories and listening without judgement
- Reflecting on what is and isn’t working
- Making time for both personal and professional connection
Participants used the phrase “conscious conversations” – where both sides are aware of the purpose of the discussion and how they are showing up. These kinds of conversations create the environment needed for sustainable development.
Designing Sessions That Support Long-Term Team Development
To help teams stay on track after a session, facilitators and coaches can:
1. Leave space for thinking
Avoid back-to-back tasks. Build in breaks, time for reflection, and moments where nothing is expected except space to think.
2. Stay with the problem
Many teams rush to fix issues without fully understanding them. Encourage the team to explore the problem for longer. This helps uncover root causes, not just surface-level symptoms.
3. Ask better questions
Instead of asking “What went wrong?”, try:
- What is getting in the way of us working well?
- When have we done this well before?
- What’s something you wish you could say more openly?
4. Support peer conversations
Tools like Facet5’s relationship reports or structured dialogue guides can help team members connect more deeply and understand one another better.
5. Model what healthy looks like
As a coach or facilitator, how you design and lead the session sets the tone. Prioritise well-being, reflection, and connection. Don’t let the pressure for “outputs” overshadow the quality of the experience.
Why Progress Often Stalls After the Session
One-off sessions can feel good at the time, but real development happens in between.
Teams often struggle to keep up momentum because:
- There’s no time set aside for follow-up
- Leaders revert to old habits
- There’s no shared language to keep the learning alive
- Relationship tensions aren’t addressed
Supporting a team beyond the initial session takes planning and effort. A coaching mindset, where the leader focuses on growth and conversation, helps keep development going.
Supporting Remote and Hybrid Teams
With more teams working remotely or across multiple locations, staying connected can be a challenge.
This can lead to:
- Lower trust
- Missed signals and misunderstandings
- Isolation or feeling overlooked
To support team development in these settings:
- Build regular check-in time into calendars
- Encourage personal as well as task-related updates
- Use video for more human interaction
- Share updates that help people feel seen and included
Remote teams can still develop well, but it takes more intention and support.
A Simple Framework to Guide Ongoing Development
One useful model mentioned in the session was Peter Hawkins’ Five Cs Framework.
It helps teams and coaches reflect on different parts of the team experience:
- Commissioning – What is the team here to do?
- Clarifying – Are goals and roles clear?
- Co-creating – How do team members work together?
- Connecting – How well does the team relate to the wider organisation?
- Core learning – What is the team learning from experience?
This framework can be used in coaching, reflection sessions, or team reviews. It helps teams spot what’s missing and where to focus next.
The Role of Psychometric Tools in Sustaining Team Development
Personality tools like Facet5 give teams useful insight into how they work. While conversations are at the heart of development, data from tools like these helps shape and guide those conversations.
Using psychometrics early in the team journey helps by:
- Building self-awareness
- Helping people understand how they impact others
- Creating a shared language for behaviour and preferences
- Supporting clear, respectful conversations
Facet5 offers reports that help people explore their own personality, team dynamics, and relationships. Tools like TeamScape and MyFacet5 help teams continue learning between sessions, with practical prompts for reflection and dialogue.
Team development doesn’t happen all at once. It takes time, care, and commitment from everyone involved. By focusing on meaningful conversations, coaching-style leadership, and shared reflection, teams can grow stronger and more effective together.
Using practical frameworks and tools like Facet5 makes this work easier, clearer, and more sustainable.
Watch the Full Facet5 Live Session: Beyond the Team Session: Sustaining Team Development
To hear more from Managing Director of Facet5 Global, Grant Gemmell, and Tracy Arnold as they dive deeper into practical tools and strategies, you can watch the full recording of the Facet5 Live session:
👉 Watch now on Facet5Global.com
You’ll learn more about:
- Understanding the Team Development Journey – How to support leaders with a team development plan.
- Embedding Insights into Daily Interactions – Practical ways to reinforce learning in real time.
- Leveraging Personality Data for Continued Growth – Using Facet5 insights to shape ongoing team dynamics.
- Sustaining Collaboration and Accountability – Strategies for maintaining commitment and action.
- Creating a Culture of Continuous Development – Shifting from a one-time intervention to lasting change.
Content for this blog post is taken from a recording of Beyond the Team Session: Sustaining Team Development. Hosted by Managing Director of Facet5 Global, Grant Gemmell, and Tracy Arnold – Founder of Double Yolk Consulting.
Need help sustaining team development in your organisation?
Facet5 offers tools, training, and support for coaches, consultants, and organisations of all sizes. Reach out to learn how we can support your team development journey.
About Grant Gemmell
Grant is the Managing Director at Facet5 Global. With a multi-faceted (no pun intended) career, Grant started following his passion for plants and growing with a degree in Botany and Plant sciences. Since then, he has worked and lived in over 7 countries and visited over 92. Working in a diverse range of industries and having the privilege of leading the amazing Facet5 team. Grant’s passion for developing potential sits at the heart of the Facet5 strategy.
Connect with Grant on LinkedIn
About Tracy Arnold
Tracy believes potential is realised through the strength of relationships and connections. She always starts from a position that prioritises the relationship – with clients, with a Coachee, with a team or with an organisation. In her own words – I have been lucky to work across a range of businesses in a variety of roles over the last 25+ years, and this has proved to me time and time again that creating shared purpose and building relationships of trust makes so much more possible. This is the approach I take when working with all my clients.
