Get a FREE ebook with your print copy when you select the "bundle" option. T&Cs apply.
- Shop
- KoganPage+
- Discover
- Resources For...
- Authors
- About
- Shop
- KoganPage+
- Discover
- Resources For...
- Authors
- About

Building Top-Performing Teams
A practical guide to team coaching for organizational success
Publishing partner
FREE UK and US delivery
Bulk buying for your team?
Contact us for exclusive discounts!
About the book
Are you unlocking the full potential of your teams?
Building Top-Performing Teams by Lucy Widdowson and Paul J Barbour is a strategic guide for leaders, executives and coaches who want to maximize collaboration, engagement and performance across diverse, multi-skilled teams.
Updated with new research on team coaching, diversity, neurodiversity and inclusion, this edition provides proven tools for fostering purpose-driven teams that deliver measurable business results. With more than 60 tools for both virtual and in-person environments, it equips team coaches to drive collective performance, resolve conflict and align teams with strategic objectives.
You'll discover how to:
- Build team cultures that prioritize collaboration over individual silos
- Motivate, develop and reward teams with diverse skills and priorities
- Manage conflict constructively and sustain high performance
- Apply reflective questions and exercises to embed learning and action
Combining strategic models, evidence-based insights and practical exercises, Building Top-Performing Teams enables senior decision-makers and coaches to lead teams that are engaged, aligned and delivering results that drive enterprise success.
Themes include: leadership, team performance, diversity and inclusion, governance, conflict resolution
About the authors
Lucy Widdowson MSc MCC ACTC FCIPD is an accredited executive and team coach, Director of Performance Edge and a lead tutor on team coaching at Henley Business School, UK. During her 30 year corporate career, she has worked as a HR Director and is a UK board member for team coaching for the ICF.
Paul J Barbour MSc PCC ACTC CBP is an accredited executive and team coach, with 20 years prior experience leading businesses and teams in Kerry Group plc. A writer and speaker with strong interests in human collaboration and conflict resolution, he is also a lead tutor on team coaching at Henley Business School, UK.
Table of contents
- Chapter - 01: Introduction – why the world needs top-performing teams and the argument for team coaching;
- Chapter - 02: Beyond tools and techniques;
- Chapter - 03: Team coaching frameworks, models and approaches;
- Chapter - 04: The purpose driven team;
- Chapter - 05: Team identity;
- Chapter - 06: Team values and beliefs;
- Chapter - 07: Team awareness;
- Chapter - 08: Team relatedness;
- Chapter - 09: Team ways of working;
- Chapter - 10: Team transformation;
- Chapter - 11: Team Coach Development;
- Chapter - 12: Conclusion – what does the future require of team coaching?
Reviews
Widdowson and Barbour continue to deliver exceptional thought leadership, seamlessly blending theoretical insights with practical applications that are invaluable for anyone working with teams. Their frameworks, models, and approaches have been instrumental in helping me build top-performing teams. I have successfully applied the tools and techniques from their book across various contexts, including one-on-one coaching, team facilitation, and conflict resolution.
The 'Team Edge' model stands out as a comprehensive blueprint for teams seeking to understand the broader dynamics of effective teamwork. I have consistently used this model as a foundational anchor for my team coaching strategies, finding it to be a reliable guide for navigating complex team interactions.
As we move away from the heroic leader towards distributed leadership, operating in complex, dynamic systems, leaders need to be able to curate and craft team performance, like a conductor or a premiership coach. Building Top-Performing Teams is written by two highly experienced practitioners, who bring their insights from practice, and blend this with the emerging science on team performance to create a book for our time. This is an ideal read for team coaches, consultants and leaders concerned with creating work relationships which deliver more than the sum of their parts.
Teams are vital to our future, and this book goes beyond tools and techniques to explore the profound impact of a team coach's way of being. An excellent read for those who recognize that presence, awareness and systemic thinking are key to unlocking team potential.
Within a notoriously hard to define field, this book is excellent in providing clarity while highlighting the evolving range and possibilities of what fits within team coaching. Lucy and Paul provide practical advice while pointing towards the literature and research that underpins best practice. There is so much to learn, ponder and enjoy within this new edition which is written in a style that is practical, learned and well-paced.
- Building Top-Performing Teams isn't just another book about teamwork-it's a game plan for turning a group of individuals into a truly connected, high-performing unit. Lucy and Paul bring a fresh, no-nonsense approach to team coaching, breaking down why so many teams struggle and, more importantly, how to fix it. With compelling stories and actionable strategies, they show how to turn dysfunction into synergy, hesitation into trust and average performance into something exceptional. If you're tired of teams that just go through the motions and ready to build one that actually thrives, start here.
- Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, Thinkers50 #1 Executive Coach , Author of The Earned Life, Triggers, and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
Bulk buying for your team?
Contact us for exclusive discounts!
FREE UK and US delivery
Shipping and handling
Cancellations and returns policy
FREE UK and US delivery (more info)
Kogan Page GPSR
Bulk buying? Contact us for exclusive discounts!
Get exclusive insights and offers
EU Representative (GPSR)
Authorised Rep Compliance Ltd
Ground Floor, 71 Baggot Street Lower, Dublin, D02 P593, Ireland
www.arccompliance.com
Kogan Page GPSR
Related products
Related content
Subscribe for inspiring insights, exclusive previews and special offers
Headless Content Management with Blaze