What is group coaching?
Group coaching can have amazing power and positive impact in changing the behaviour of leaders in the workplace. Its influence results group learning, the practical application of ideas, techniques, and tactics. Peers learn from each other under the tutorage of a skilled facilitator in sessions that last for 90 minutes. The results can be immediate and profound in most cases.
Group coaching is based on a facilitator working with a small
group of four to six leaders in a 90-minute session. It is not a workshop or seminar. The facilitator will use a topic such as: Ways of dealing with difficult employees or Getting the best from the team you lead. The facilitator involves everyone in the group to share strategies and techniques they have found to be successful (or unsuccessful). Ideas are ‘tossed around and commitments made to try certain approaches. At the end of the group coaching session, the facilitator will ask each leader to commit to a certain course of action they found useful.
How is group coaching different from one-to-one coaching?
The fundamental difference is that group coaching involves four to six individuals, either from the same department or across various departments. The coach’s role is the same in drawing out key insights, gaining commitments, and consolidating learning.
What are the benefits of group coaching?
Group coaching is very popular because it can be used for a wide variety of results and applications. Here are some of the most popular:
Problem solving among members
Coaching is great for solving complex problems because it guides and supports group members to closely clarify the problems, identify powerful strategies to solve them, and specify relevant and realistic actions to implement those strategies. Members can share support and accountabilities to take those actions.
Guarantee transfer of training
That same support and accountabilities can be used to ensure that group members actually apply the content that they got from some form of training.
Team building
The close engagement among members and their strong focus on helping each other can quickly form a close and confidential bond in which members come to rely on each other to achieve the goal of the team.
Deep networking
Because members completely count on each other, they feel free to share more than business cards – they share their needs, open and honest feedback, and useful and practical resources among each other.
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WINNERS-at-WORK Pty Ltd
Call Dr Tim Baker
61 413 636 832
“I believe such leadership training programs can only offer assistance to managers”.
Quickly spreading, low-cost core coaching skills
Coaching has been proven to be a powerful means to cultivate change in people. Organisational change, including cultural change, requires change in people as well. In some formats of group coaching, the members not only get coached, but they practice coaching. The groups can be low-cost because the members do much of the work in the groups.
Engagement of all employees
We are learning that, unless a change effort has the complete buy-in, participation and commitment of employees, then the change effort is not likely to be successful. That engagement has to start with the employees being authentic – open, honest and direct about what they are experiencing. They need to feel listened to — and respected. That can occur in these groups.
Support and renewal groups
Research shows increasing burnout and cynicism among employees. Burnout is not necessarily caused by a person’s workload. It can be caused by the person’s perspective on their workload. Coaching can clarify that perspective and what can be done about it
Core Leadership Skills
There are many skills that group members will develop, regardless of the purpose of the group. For example, they will build skills in presenting to a group, asking for and accepting help, listening, asking good questions, action planning and learning from reflection.
What is the process of group coaching?
The group coaching sessions all have the same format. The facilitator introduces a leadership topic briefly and then invites each participant an opportunity to discuss the experience in applying this in their workplace. For instance, the topic could be: Giving effective feedback. The facilitator will intervene at different points during the conversation and add value to the contributions on individual leaders. The third and final part of the session is devoted to gaining some concrete learning outcomes and invites participants to commit to what they will do differently as a result of the group coaching session.
Group coaching sessions can be very effectively combined with one-on-one coaching sessions.
Group coaching sessions can be very effectively combined with one-on-one coaching sessions.
Who facilitates the group coaching sessions?
Group caching sessions are conducted by Dr Tim Baker. Tim Baker voted as one of the 50 Most Talented Training and Development Leaders by the World HRD Congress in 2013. This year he was nominated for Thinkers 50, which identifies the 50 most influential management thinkers in the world. He is author of eight books, including: The New Influencing Toolkit. He has conducted over 2,430 group coaching sessions, seminars, workshops and keynote addresses to over 45,000 people in 11 countries across 21 industry groups
Who do I talk to?
Call Tim Baker on 61 7 413 636 832 tim@winnersatwork.com.au for bookings and additional information.