South African coaches share their theory and practice, commonality, and divergence, their shared learning and debate. The team of authors behind this project include: Maryse Barak, Lloyd Chapman, Michael Cooper, Helena Dolny, Tim Goodenough, Marti Janse Van Rensburg, Grommick Thulani Ndlovu, Khatija Saley, and Ray Sher. Some of the aims of the title are as follows: Is there something more that we would want to achieve besides the generally desired optimisation of team performance? What could we include in the coaching intervention that would increase individual self-awareness and enhance their ability to adapt to others' styles, and hence their capacity to be effective team members wherever and whenever? The authors don't aspire to write The seminal book on coaching. Their aim is more modestly to start the ball rolling, and encourage other South Africans to write and contribute to a body of work on coaching as a component of societal and cultural transformation, work that knows no national boundaries. Our unique national heritage of apartheid and struggle, of conflict, reconciliation and transition has created "edges" that propel us into zones of discomfort, but which also equip us to more readily step onto the "high wire". Part one of the title is a set of short stories. They are about the writers. When the writers created a circle on their first morning at Quiet Mountain and deliberated how to start, they discussed the power of personal storytelling and how that is used in team coaching, and therefore how appropriate it would to do this for themselves. Part Two is an offering by each of the writers in which they outline the process they use that works well for them consistently, and they unpack the theoretical underpinning of their work. Part Three describes the tools used that the writers chose to pool and demonstrate. They didn't just describe to one another how the "tool" works, they tried it out for themselves as a group and in doing so had fun and learned more about one another. Part Four outlines what the team came up with as a possible framework for a team coaching intervention, in terms of commonality of content, timing, identifying outcomes, measurability and evaluation.
