Building emotional safety in coach-team online interaction: An instrumental case study of teamwork coaching

Abstract

This study examines factors that build emotional safety through coach-team online interaction in the context of teamwork coaching. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, firms are increasingly developing their teamwork skills when work is taking place in multiple locations. Thereby, many service providers offer coaching services via new communication platforms and face the challenge of how to build emotional safety, particularly during online coaching. However, despite the acknowledged role of emotional safety in high-performing teams, the question of which factors contribute to emotional safety in professional services provided online remains a relatively unexplored topic. Based on the results of a qualitative instrumental case study, this study gives theoretical and practical suggestions of factors that foster emotional safety in online professional services.