SHOW / EPISODE

EP139 - David Matthew Prior, Founder at Getacoach.com —Team Coaching: The Science of Effective Leadership Teams

47m | Mar 25, 2026

Learn more about Michael Wenderoth, Executive Coach: www.changwenderoth.com

Most leaders work 1-1 with executive coaches – but few use them to coach their entire leadership team. In this episode, 97% Effective host Michael Wenderoth explores the emerging field of leadership team coaching with David Matthew Prior, who has been at the forefront of organizational coaching for more than two decades. Michael and David discuss the science of effective teams—and how team coaches help leaders turn a collection of executives into a true team. David also shares his own path into the coaching world–and where traditional executive coaches must shift their approach to effectively serve leaders and their teams. If you are a leader or team member—or a coach or consultant who supports leadership teams—you’ll gain practical insights on how to assess and increase a team’s effectiveness.

SHOW NOTES

  • The Rise of Leadership Team Coaching
  • David’s path from banker to actor to coach—and the surprising way his professional training as an actor has helped him coach teams
  • Recent trends driving the need for team coaching
  • How team coaching and group coaching differ: “All teams are groups, but not all groups are teams”
  • The importance of designing and structuring teams: “You can’t just show up and hope that the magic is going to occur.”

 

The Science of Effective Teams

  • Hard truth: there’s little evidence that simply coaching team behaviors improves team performance.
  • The 3 core elements of an effective team—and the 6 conditions that influence its effectiveness
  • The multiple roles a team coach must play: facilitator, educator, consultant, and coach
  • The 60:30:10 rule: where team coaches actually spend their time

 

Lessons from “crashing and burning” in David’s early coaching engagements

  • The one condition where David spends most of his team coaching effort
  • What effective teams and geese have in common
  • The two signals David hones in on at the outset, to best assess a team’s dynamics
  • How a team coach handles internal team politics
  • The importance of speaking truth to leaders, and why team coaches need to have their own external support team

 

David on Teaching Coaches and AI

  • “Coaches want a playbook--how to execute it—but it’s more complex than that.”
  • Why David is seeking to bring more human capabilities into the team coaching space


BIO AND LINKS

David Matthew Prior, MCC, BCC, ACTC, brings 25 years of organizational coaching experience as a Master Certified Coach (ICF credentialed) based in the New York City Metropolitan area. His work in coaching executive and senior leadership spans internationally and across dozens of industries. Leveraging experience in coaching, finance, ethics training, and theater performance, David has had the honor to structure and teach in the organizational coaching program at Columbia University, guide and coach more than 1,000 senior leaders in more than 30 countries, train 5,000+ executive coaches and create results for more than 100 organizations. He is the founder of Getacoach.com, where he can be reached.

 

Connect with David

 

Organizations, People and Resources Referenced

 

More from 97% Effective



Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Paused
Audio Player Image
97% Effective
Loading...