As a learning intervention, well coached groups can make a terrific impact on reducing knowledge silos, creating motivation across existing established teams and generating innovative, realistic solutions to business problems and organisational challenges. Plus in these complex and rapidly changing times, group coaching enables effective change and transition management.
Team coaching is well established as a form of coaching to empower a team, develop their performance and enhancing capability and performance. However, group coaching is less well utilised and coaches are not as confident about working with a disparate group of individuals who are not a formal team.
What is Group Coaching?
Group coaching typically takes place in small groups, approx. 3 to 10 people. They meet face-to-face or virtually on a number of occasions, so they build their learning incrementally. The learning objectives are individual, unlike team coaching, where the team will have a shared objective(s).
There are many similarities between group coaching and individual coaching. The majority of the skills, techniques and approaches of a group coach can be adapted from one-to-one coaching.
What is the difference between Group and Team Coaching?
Team coaching is generally for established teams who have worked together for a while, or who have been newly created or merged.
Team coaching concentrates on identifying and achieving mutually beneficial objectives for the team. It focuses on improving team working, performance and team collaboration.
Group coaching may occur because a group of individuals have been pulled together temporarily as a team to work together. They may also be a cross-functional team responsible for delivering some joint goals.
It can also be about developing mutually beneficial results for that group of individuals, but may not be about shared goals or objectives. It is also useful to embed learning following a development programme, or to provide mutual support or share knowledge across organisations.
Is Group Coaching the same as Facilitation?
Facilitation is about managing the dialogue of the group and focusing them on decision making. A group coach works with the individual’s and group’s experiences, not on a process or an agenda.
The group coach is more active in creating reflective space and providing feedback for the group to understand the issues they are focussing on.
What are the benefits?
- Learn through peer exchange
- Enable everyone to share experiences
- Build collaborative working and understand others’ styles, strengths and weaknesses
- Personal learning opportunities through comparison and contrasting with others
- Create more innovation and ideas
- Reduce conflict and improve working relationships
- Develop and embed leadership and coaching skills
- Knowledge transfer and management and prevention of silo formation
- Improve systemic awareness of the organisation
- Better organisational learning and results!
How do I become a Group Coach?
If you’re interested in becoming a group coach sign up for our Introduction to Group Coaching Webinar Programme commencing in Autumn 2021. Over three virtual sessions you will learn what skills a group coach needs and will gain the knowledge to progress your practical experience. You need core coaching skills to take this programme.
If you would like to discuss the introduction of group coaching in your organisation, then contact us for more information.
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