What is group coaching?

Group coaching is a process where a group of individuals, generally from different teams, organizations, or affiliations will engage with the coach to target a specific problem or improve a particular set of skills. For example, a leader of an organization might be the only female executive and wants to engage a group coach to facilitate a mentoring/leadership group of female managers within the company to explore key leadership concepts. Examples outside of business organizations are boot camps at gyms where people meet to get in shape or AA meetings where people meet to explore approaches to recovery from addiction. In each case, individuals are gathering to move through a common process, yet maintain their own unique learning goals. The coach accompanies the group over a period of time to provide a safe space to explore these ideas.

When would group coaching be used?

Group coaching is about the connection, communication and community that comes from the coach engaging with group members, and group members interacting with each other. The topics might be challenging for people to explore and stick with, like addiction or physical goals. The topics might be politically tricky, leadership topics in a matrixed environment, where managers of managers might be in the same group. In all cases, building trust and belief in the process is paramount to make group coaching effective.

What does a group experience during the group coaching process?

Group coaching is very experiential and involves 1-2 coaches who lead a group of roughly five to 15 people. Typically, groups meet for an hour or two each week. Some people attend individual coaching sessions. For example, an addict might see a therapist as well as go to group meetings. A person trying to get in shape might go to the gym on their own or work with a trainer in addition to going to boot camp, and a female manager might work with an executive coach in addition to attending a leadership group session.

In terms of experiences, each member is going through their own individual journey and are in every sense, their own hero. This mirrors the Prochaska Change model in some respects. As a group, if most members are roughly at the same place of change and skill, they will advance together and help keep one another on course as they will be encountering similar setbacks and small wins.

What is a group coach?

A group coach is more than a coach working with more than one individual. More than a valuable source of support, a formal group coach offer benefits beyond informal self-help efforts. Group sessions are led by one or more coaches with specialized training, who teach group members proven strategies for managing specific problems. If you're involved in a group focused on ADHD in the Workplace, for instance, your coach will describe scientifically tested strategies for managing ADHD in the workplace. That expert guidance can help you make the most of your group experience.

Joining a Group

Unlike team coaching, where the boundaries of the team are pretty clear, groups have different rules on how people can exit and enter the group, as well as who gets to be included. Open groups are those in which new members can join at any time. Closed groups are those in which all members begin the group at the same time. They may all take part in a 12-week session together, for instance. There are pros and cons of each type. When joining an open group, there may be an adjustment period while getting to know the other group attendees. However, if you want to join a closed group, you may have to wait for several months until a suitable group is available. Some groups have maximum or minimum capacities. Small groups may offer more time to focus on each individual, but larger groups offer greater diversity and more perspectives. Groups usually work best when members experience similar difficulties and function at similar levels.

What does group coaching process look like?

Every group is different, but one thing is constant: what you put in is what you get out. Confidentiality is an important part of the ground rules for group work. However, there's no absolute guarantee of privacy when sharing with others, using common sense when divulging personal information helps. That said, members learn they are not the only one sharing their story or goals—everyone contributes. Groups work best where there is open and honest communication between members. Group members will start out as strangers, but in a short amount of time, they most likely view each as a valuable and trusted source of support and a valuable extension to their network.

Common group outcomes.

Each group has unique goals and outcomes. However, there are some general outcomes like receiving support and encouragement of other members, integration of key learning concepts in order to become more effective individually, maximizing effectiveness/efficiency/affordability for group members, and a valuable source of feedback.

The ultimate goal of a group coach is to help enable and empower others.

Systems, or team coaching is a process where a team will engage with the systems coach when there are issues present, or when a team would like to align themselves around particular goals.

What is team coaching?

Team coaching is a process where a team will engage with the systems coach when there are issues present. For example when a team might want to align around particular goals. There might be changes happening within the organization. It is a journey that the team takes. Very often the systems coach will accompany the team over a period of months to ensure that the behaviors that are identified within the team coaching situation are supported over that period of time and then embedded into the workplace.

When would team coaching be used?

The situation might be painful for the team, so very often things like change initiatives and projects, mergers and acquisitions, when there is a silo mentality in the departments or within one section, if there are political games that are being played, if there are toxic behaviors, toxic communication where individuals are not able to align around certain goals, where there's a lack of safety, a lack of trust…team coaching is very effective.

What does a team experience during the team coaching process?

Team coaching is very experiential so no writing. It's about the coach engaging with the team at the level that the team is and the coach stimulates powerful conversations to happen by creating a safe environment and encouraging and fostering trust. A team can expect to be moving around in various exercises, to be asked many questions, but also to speak to each other in a very honest and open way. Sometimes many teams feel quite vulnerable in the process. If they are willing to go to that place then magic happens because the team feels closer afterward.

What is a team coach?

Also called a systems coach. A systems coach does not focus on individuals but looks at the team as a whole (system). They focus on the relationships that are formed between those individuals in order to maximize the team's potential. They hold a system perspective and have various principles that support that perspective.

For example, they don't engage one-on-one with individuals. They don't view conflict as something that is wrong. They view it as a signal for something trying to happen. When they see conflict happening between the individuals in the team, they move away from who’s doing what to whom and take a helicopter perspective to look at what's trying to happen for that system. They also work with them with the belief that every voice that is voiced in the team belongs to the individual but also is a voice of that system and therefore needs to be honored and respected, even those voices that are unpopular and so very often marginalized. That there's the systems coach will work to bring all of those voices into the forefront so that the team may readjust itself.

What does team coaching process look like?

It’s different every time a coach engages with a team but at its core, a coach would meet with the team, assist the teams and needs first, what their goals and objectives are what their strengths are and areas for development. The assessment very often is a face to face a series of questions along with questionnaires (ie, the 360). After the assessment, the coach determines a coaching plan and very often they’ll meet with the team on a one- or two-day workshop that kick-starts the program. Then there's a follow-up process. After that the coach will meet with the team every 4 to 6 weeks for a period of time depending on the level of dysfunction and the team's ability depending on what the team's issues were.

Common coaching outcomes.

Each team will have unique goals and outcomes. However there are some general outcomes like alignment around goals, a much more positive sense of team, the team members really identify with the team's identity, there's much better communication, people feel a lot more trusting towards each other, they feel safer to share when they've made mistakes, they hold each other and themselves accountable, change is dealt with in a much more smoother way because people feel empowered during times of change, and team members don’t view conflict as something bad, but they do a conflict or something needing to happen at that moment and they are much more skillful at dealing with it.

The ultimate goal of a team coach is to work themselves out of a role.

Related tools:

- Waterline Model, STRUCTURE (roles, goals, norms, decision style)

- Tuckman Model for Team dynamics: group process