Group Coaching - what is it and what are the benefits?!

Last week I hosted a group coaching session.?

If I say so myself, it was a pretty special session.

The session was for business owners and I take my hat off to those who bravely put themselves forwards to be coached in front of a group of 5 other business owners whom they had never met before. ?

There were common themes in this session for those who got coached.? Themes included imposter syndrome, overwhelm, procrastination and also fear. ?

Context

For one participant, the specific nature of the fear was about success.? This client was feeling overwhelmed and experiencing procrastination about their business.? They were reflecting on the peaks of their business when they were working many hours with no break.? They were considering the actions they needed to take to address the troughs in their business income which was resulting in an unviable business. ?

Challenge

Understandably, this client was forecasting ahead that these actions to address the low income months would result in the same level of heightened activity.? In turn this would leave them burnt out and with no time to enjoy they other things they loved in their lives.? Which of course was one of the key drivers for setting up their own business in the first place.

Coaching action

During the coaching session, I asked questions about what was working well, what options they had already considered.? We then identified the different ideas this client was considering regarding how to generate income in the quiet months.

I asked the client what she loved doing.? This sounds like a simple question, but rarely is it one we ask ourselves, or take the time to deeply consider. ?

Result

This question had the client pause for a moment while they considered.? As they began talking again, their body language and verbal language became more animated.? I reflected this back to the client and they smiled, acknowledging that the activity they were verbalising was something they really loved doing.? Having this new insight enabled us to dig into what else the client would need to consider for this particular activity to be a viable business option.? To cut a story short, we delved into a couple of blocks (sometimes coaching is about ruling things out as much as ruling things in) before we landed on a possible course of action that from the face of it, seemed viable.? We ended the session with a clear, tangible and achievable action.?

This was a 90 minute session with 3 clients getting coached.? I’m not a miracle worker (no coach is!).? Coaching is usually a process which takes place over multiple sessions,* so it’s realistic to expect that we can only ever scratch the surface of a challenge in the time available for group coaching. And yet, each client left with more clarity, more motivation and a clear action that will take them one step forwards to achieving their goals.

Group coaching is not for the feint hearted!? These clients were brave, talking about things which at times felt exposing and vulnerable for them.? They had to place their trust in me as their coach and in the other participants who were silent witnesses to the coaching.? And in placing their trust in us, they got a rich experience.

I don’t always run group coaching sessions.? Group coaching is not appropriate for every situation.? That said, I love group coaching because the benefits are multifold:

• Those getting coached get new insight and generate new actions on a live issue they are experiencing.
• Those business owners witnessing the coaching also get insight into the challenges that other business owners are experiencing.? This helps to normalise common and often taboo challenges as well as generating insight into challenges that more often than not also apply to their businesses.
• Each participant gets to witness live coaching which is the best way of developing their own coaching skills, and especially skills in deep listening and effective questioning.

I am currently exploring options to collaborate to host more group coaching sessions and I am keen to do more. ?

If you are part of a peer Leadership or Directors network and are interested in working with me to set up Executive Group Coaching sessions, direct message me to discuss further, or you’re welcome to book a call with me here: https://calendly.com/integrityperformance

*This is important because coaching is a process of exploration, discovery and diagnosis.? This takes time to do well and to ensure that it is thorough and comprehensive. And whilst this process shouldn’t be or feel rushed, because good insight isn’t generated in a process which is rushed,? ? there is always an end point.? No credible coach will eek out a coaching relationship for longer than is necessary and the client is always, ALWAYS in control of when the coaching relationship ends.