“Team Leader Coaching Intervention: An Investigation of the Impact on Team Processes and Performance within a Surgical Context”, M. Travis Maynard, John E. Mathieu, Tammy L. Rapp, Lucy L. Gilson, Cathy Kleiner2020-08-27 (; backlinks)⁠:

We examined the impact of a team leader coaching intervention on episodic team processes (transition, action, interpersonal) and subsequent team performance outcomes within a surgical context.

Specifically, we tested whether coaching team leaders (ie. surgeons) on promoting effective teamwork facilitates team processes and 2 important outcomes—delays and distractions. Team processes were indexed using detailed observational protocols by subject-matter experts before and during surgeries. We employed an interrupted time series design whereby half of our participants received coaching midway through the longitudinal period and the remaining served as a quasi-control group. Team processes and outcomes were collected from multiple surgeries, per surgeon, both before and after the coaching intervention (n = 223 surgeries total).

Results from a multilevel mixed-model (treatment vs. control, over time) structural equation model suggest that teams where the surgeon (team leader) received the coaching intervention exhibited higher-quality team transition processes. Transition processes related positively to subsequent action and interpersonal processes, which in turn yielded improvements in 2 different surgical team performance outcomes.

Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.

[Keywords: team processes, team performance, coaching, team intervention, field study]