I have just started to work with group coaching and wanted to share my findings with you.
The idea of group coaching has come from America, where it was designed as a response to the economic downturn to provide a cost effective way of accessing leadership coaching.
Earlier this week, I worked with four groups of senior managers in the Education sector, who are from a variety of functions. Each group contained four participants and the session ran for three hours. This enabled everyone to have around 40 minutes to explore a personal leadership and management issue that they are stuck on.
As each coachee explained their issue the others observed and considered how they might resolve it too. As the coach, I questioned them to gain a full understanding of the issue and brought in the rest of the group as I felt appropriate. Once the problem was well defined and confirmed I coached the individual to explore the alternative solutions. The other group members were also invited to share their perspectives. Each individual then agreed their next steps.
I was really taken with this as a coaching solution. I felt that there were some clear benefits over and above those of cost.
- There was a willingness to ‘receive’ as well as ‘give’ - often people are quick to offer an opinion but slow to take on board feedback.
- Everyone knew their MBTI type, which some used to look at an issue from a different perspective. This gave an interesting dimension to the process as there were lots of different preference types contributing.
- Group peer pressure also generated perhaps a stronger commitment. When four pairs of eyes are on you it’s tough to make excuses why you can’t do something!
Overall the participants thoroughly enjoyed themselves. They appreciated the support, challenge and insights that came from each other as well as the coach. They all left with a clear sense of action and enthusiasm to carry it out.
When I meet with the groups in 6 weeks time I will report back on how they all got on.
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