Group Coaching

What is it?

Group Coaching, sometimes called Peer Coaching, Learning Networks, or Action Learning, is a reflective process guided by a participatory structure among a small group of individuals targeting a particular work-related project. Group coaching utilizes active learning, experiential exercises, and reflective listening to achieve outcomes.

The Bader Group facilitates Group Coaching sessions to build leadership at all organizational levels in a format that brings people together to reflect and prepare to act on problems and issues facing them and to learn about themselves in the process.

Objectives of Group Coaching

  • Address individual or organizational challenges
  • Practice coaching and facilitation skills
  • Provide feedback
  • Learn to effectively lead groups
  • Navigate organizational politics
  • Develop strategic thinking, planning, and problem-solving
  • Increase trust among peers
  • Build relationships across departments

Benefits of Group Coaching

  • Create a learning community for peer consultation and support
  • Synthesis of traditional leadership development and assessment data
  • Systems thinking and understanding of the organization’s strategy
  • Enhance creativity and increase personal flexibility
  • Ensures goal accomplishment at personal, group, organizational levels
  • Deepens organizational values and culture
  • Group development and peer consultation skills
  • Time management and priority setting
  • Integration of development and performance (operational) goals
  • Impact on bottom line

Sample Group Coaching Members:

  • Cross-divisional teams brought together to elicit culture change within entire organization
  • Teams who want to build understanding of co-workers business issues and break down silo mentality
  • Supervisors who want to effectively resolve and act on common management challenges
  • High potential groups with a key assignment from senior executive sponsors
  • New departmental management team
  • Individuals leading change
  • Individuals who want to take action on their multi-rater feedback and development goals

Group Coaching’s Structure and Process:

  • A group of 4-6 people contract to meet with a facilitator on a monthly basis for one day, typically 6-8 days over a year
  • Confidentiality and other ground rules are established
  • Members define and discuss work-related issues
  • Time is divided equally among the members
  • Without interruption one member presents his/her issue or story until finished
  • Other participants then ask questions to assist the presenter to gain a deeper understanding of the issue and their assumptions about it. Typically the problem is re-defined and then new actions result.
  • At the end of the session the facilitator guides a discussion of system insights and themes, best questions, organizational and personal learning
  • Over time, the group members improve their abilities and eventually manage their own sessions
  • The skills are immediately usable in countless other settings

Choose Group Coaching

  • When traditional supervisory training or management/leadership development has not meet with success or sustained change
  • When rapid change has unsettled your leadership team
  • When you have invested in 360 feedback and want a cost effective alternative to individual executive coaching
  • When you want to build internal Group Coaching facilitation capabilities
  • When you want to introduce a change and need management commitment for that
  • When you have tried the program-of-the-month with little success
  • When you are ready to take the plunge of deep and solid leadership development

What Group Coaching Is Not

  • Group Therapy
  • Easy for the participants
  • A fad
  • For the faint of heart

“Reflection doesn’t take anything away from decisiveness, from being a person of action. In fact, it generates the inner toughness that you need to be an effective person of action – to be a leader.”

Reference: Peter Koestenbaum. Fast Company Magazine, March 2000