Jeff Bezos once famously said, “If you can't feed a team with two pizzas, it's too big.” While Bezos' management ideas may not have always been perfect, he had one thing right: Bigger isn't always better.

Large teams can have advantages, including greater knowledge among the team and the ability to take on projects as they grow in scope. Such teams can also have drawbacks: slower decision-making, reduced individual accountability, duplication of effort, and communication issues. In comparison, small teams can be more agile and flexible and take more personal ownership.

As a CEO, I have always believed that a team as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but when that team is a smallerthere is always the challenge of making it work best for everyone and the organization. I'm here to tell you that it can be done even more effectively than a larger group.

When I first joined the ICF, five of us supported all functions of a dynamic and multifaceted international organization. We were very busy and pulled in many directions at first. Because of this, we had to focus and find a way to be productive and visionary at the same time. For a small team to fulfill this great potential, it must be properly supported and led. In my experience, the key to getting the most out of small teams is to apply a coaching approach to my leadership style.

A coaching approach to leadership is based on applying coaching competencies such as active listening, presence, curiosity and asking powerful questions about your leadership style, with an emphasis on empowering team members to do their best through growth of awareness, problem solving and determining their approach to achieve the goals of their work. It may take some training and practice to fully achieve, but the result is a team that is empowered, driven, and reaching its highest potential.

Here is a practical guide to achieving meaningful goals when working with a small team with a coaching approach in mind:

1. Build trust

Trusting each other is a benefit of working in a small team that many take for granted. Team members know each other, trust their colleagues and feel recognized working together. But in a small team, that trust can also be broken quickly and with great impact. As an entrepreneur, you bear the responsibility to lead by example and invest in fostering that trust with your team members.

For starters, be open about work, including your own, and ditch formalities when sharing information. Honesty and transparency with your team model trust from the top down and shows team members that they can feel comfortable talking about issues or admitting uncertainties or mistakes. This strategy will also teach teams how to accept feedback constructively.

It can also encourage personal and professional growth because team members with trust created will cooperate openly and will not undermine or question each other's abilities. This dynamic helps everyone work more effectively together, with greater motivation and confidence.

Along with transparency, a coach's approach to leadership is driven by curiosity rather than judgment. This approach encourages team members to speak openly, trying to better understand each other's perspectives and opinions, roles and responsibilities, and how each can contribute to achieving goals in a unified way. When different perspectives can be openly shared, the resulting work inevitably benefits.

Related: Strong leaders use these 4 strategies to build trust in their workplace

2. Bring humanity to productivity

In a smaller team, it's easier to get to know each member's strengths and weaknesses, their work style, and what matters most to each individual. This insight enables leaders to better assign projects, organize roles, and hold workers accountable. It can also allow leaders to reduce the need for meetings and focus more on driving productivity rather than “checking the box” of tracking milestones.

However, it is important that you give each team member clarity about expectationssupport to own and succeed in their contributions and open communication to track where efforts stand across the full team at any given time.

Be sure to communicate to each team member that they are indispensable. Recognize each person's contributions and celebrate a job well done. When leaders recognize their team's contributions, each member feels important and will become more committed to achieving shared goals. Never assume that team members are already in the space to make their best contribution—some may even excel at tasks beyond their current area of ​​focus. If there is room, let them experiment and expand their skills. As a manager and leader, it is your job to enable their growth.

Related: 10 simple steps to build an outstanding and efficient team

3. Support different points of view

Big or small, every team benefits from different perspectives. Smaller teams with members from diverse backgrounds combine different resources, skills, and life experiences that can be directly applied to new ways of thinking and working. Improved problem solving, more efficient decision making, and a collaborative work environment combine to increase team effectiveness. Make sure your team, even if it's small, contains diversity of thought. It will pay off tenfold.

Additionally, “founder syndrome” is very real, especially in smaller, family-run businesses and teams. Often described as a “resistance to change,” founder syndrome occurs when a founder takes on a disproportionate amount of responsibility when it comes to making decisions about the organization.

To balance this, the leader must bring different perspectives to the team and foster an environment where those differences are recognized and celebrated. This will help break down barriers when someone has a counterpoint to raise or an opinion that conflicts with the majority. Rather than feeling like an outsider, it's important to let team members know that such input is valued as important contributions. or the coach's approach to leadership back this up with open-mindedness, curiosity and authenticity.

Diversifying a small team can be difficult at first and it can take time to build the right small team. But when you do, small teams are strengthened by new ways of thinking.

Related: How a diverse team brings more creativity and commitment to your business

Small teams, big impact

As an entrepreneur, you may sometimes feel like you're a step behind the “big boys” in your industry, but your small team can be incredibly powerful. When you adopt a coaching approach to your leadership style, you can foster trust, celebrate the contributions of each team member, and gather diverse perspectives to enhance your team's capabilities to achieve extraordinary things. Always remember to share success, express gratitude to your team and celebrate their efforts – along with your own contribution. Most importantly, learn from the experience every time!