Which improves performance more, team coaching or individual coaching?

That is the wrong question. The better question is what the team actually needs. If the difficulty concentrates around one leader, individual coaching is often the more direct route. If it shows up in how the team functions together, team coaching fits better. Signs from a 360 assessment, exec observations, or a change in performance can help locate where the strain sits, and it is reasonable to start in one format and switch if you are not seeing results.

How is team coaching different for a revenue or GTM team?

For a revenue or GTM team, it is important to include the whole go-to-market motion, not just the sales leaders. Leaving out sales engineering, customer success, and marketing misses the point, because GTM is the entire motion of finding new customers and growing existing ones. The tension that shows up between those teams is usually where team coaching travels the furthest and has the most lasting impact.

Team vs. Individual Coaching for Revenue Leadership Teams

Q: What is the difference between team coaching and individual coaching?

The way coaching works is broadly similar in both, uncovering new insights around the focus of the engagement. The difference is the unit of focus. Individual coaching centers on how one leader operates and where they can grow. Team coaching centers on how the team operates together, moving between team-level work and zooming in on how each individual can help the team make the changes it wants.

Q: What does team coaching do that individual coaching cannot?

Team coaching creates space for work that only happens with the group in the room, such as defining shared values and goals and agreeing on how the team wants to communicate and handle conflict. With a coach guiding the discussion, those conversations can happen safely and productively rather than stalling or turning tense.

Team Coaching vs. Individual Coaching for a Revenue Leadership Team

Both team coaching and individual coaching are strong ways to develop a revenue leadership team, and the answer to "which improves performance more" is that it's the wrong question. The better question is what your team actually needs. Individual coaching focuses on how a single leader operates, while team coaching focuses on how the group operates together, and the right choice depends on where the strain actually sits. Here's how to think it through.

The two are more alike than you'd expect

The way coaching works is broadly similar in both formats. An engagement is looking to uncover new insights around whatever the focus of the coaching is. Naturally, that development travels further the more people who are part of it.

The difference is the unit of focus. Individual coaching centers on how one leader operates and where they can grow. Team coaching centers on how the team can operate more effectively going forward. So the mechanics are similiar, but what you're working on is different.

What team coaching does that individual coaching can't

Team coaching tends to move between two levels. It works at the team level on the bigger picture, and then zooms in on individuals and how each of them can best help the team make the changes it's after. That oscillation is a lot of where the value comes from.

It's also an opportunity to do things that only really work with the group in the room: defining shared values and goals, and agreeing on how the team wants to communicate and handle conflict. Doing that with a coach in the room means those conversations can happen safely and productively, with someone guiding and supporting the discussion rather than letting it stall or turn tense.

What individual coaching does that team coaching can't

Individual coaching goes deeper on a single leader. It's the space to work on how that one person leads, decides, and carries the role, at a level of depth and privacy that a team setting isn't built for. When the thing holding a team back is really about how its leader operates, individual coaching is often the more direct route.

So how do you choose?

Rather than asking which improves performance more, ask what the situation actually calls for. Does the leader alone need support to move the team forward, or is this a collective challenge that needs focus across the whole team?

There are usually signs that point one way or the other. A 360 assessment, observations from execs, or a change in performance can all help locate where the strain is. If the difficulty concentrates around one leader, that points toward individual work. If it shows up in how the team functions together, that points toward team coaching.

And you don't have to get it perfect at the outset. It's reasonable to start an engagement in one format and switch to the other if you're not seeing the results you're after. The two aren't mutually exclusive, and the right answer for many teams involves both over time.

One thing that's specific to revenue teams

There's an important caveat when the group is a revenue or GTM team: include the whole go-to-market motion, not just the sales leaders.

It doesn't work to coach the sales leaders and leave out sales engineering, customer success, marketing, and the other functions involved. GTM teams are named that way for a reason. It's not only about selling; it's the entire motion of finding new customers and growing existing ones. The tension that shows up between those teams is usually exactly where team coaching travels the furthest and has the most lasting impact. If you scope team coaching narrowly around sales alone, you miss the friction points where the work would do the most good.

Written by Garret Moniz

Garret is the founder of Revem, an executive coaching practice focused on revenue, GTM, and sales enablement leaders. He is an ICF Associate Certified Coach (ACC) and spent 15 leading revenue teams before founding Revem.