Hello there, this is Coach Ajit,
and in this video,
we are discussing how can you run a group coaching session,
a group coaching program.
You can treat this video like the complete guide
to running group coaching programs.
We are gonna discuss
how to really run a group coaching program.
And then we are gonna break down
an ideal group coaching session as well
for you to fully kind of capture
if you're designing a group coaching program
for you right now, and how really to run it,
how to make the most impact that you can
through a group program.
Before we dive into group coaching,
before we dive into how to design it, and so forth.
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Firstly, let's understand why is it
that we run group coaching programs?
Usually, a coach would design a group coaching program
because they have a particular outcome
that they're very, very good at.
And they wanna align with all the potential clients
that may want that particular outcome.
It could be because you're a health coach,
who mostly focuses on people
losing weight or building muscle.
You could be a business coach
that focuses on the individual
in a particular area of business
like productivity or like team management
or operations or marketing.
You could be a life coach that focuses on individuals
that are looking to better their relationships,
their love relationships.
You could be running a group coaching program
across any of the dimension, across life, health, business.
And you would be running it
because you have either a waitlist
or you have a potential to enroll from a large group
in to your group coaching program.
And because you wanna keep it cost-effective,
you maybe wanna run it in a group coaching format.
Maybe your one-on-one coaching is pretty expensive.
And so more clients are likely to say yes
if you had a group coaching program,
and you would like to make a larger impact,
and group coaching programs allow you to do that.
Now, even when you are running a group coaching program,
understand the mindset of your client.
Your client is always looking for the outcome
that they're chasing.
And more likely than not,
they believe that you are the person
that should give them all of the focus and attention
so they can get the outcome that they want.
So they are looking for two things.
One is the outcome and second is your attention.
Now, when you're designing your group coaching program,
you wanna be mindful that both of them are fulfilled
as the group coaching program is being delivered.
The first thing to remember
is that your group coaching program
needs to be objective-based.
There needs to be an outcome that a person gets.
It could be a business setting, health setting,
personal setting, doesn't matter,
but you still need to focus on an outcome.
You want to be able to say,
"Hey, if you join my group coaching program,
you get X outcome."
And that allows your clients to say a yes or a no
to engage with you in that particular setup.
So that's the first thing
that you need to be clear on and want to define.
So your clients go,
"Is that the outcome that I want or not?"
Secondly, is you wanna demonstrate
your capability to that outcome.
When you are enrolling into a group coaching program,
often the group wants to know that,
who is the person that will be leading the group.
That is you.
And secondly, who are the people in the group.
So they know what's the mastermind they're sitting with.
So you wanna be mindful of making sure
you present yourself as the best person
to facilitate that outcome.
You also wanna define the kind of people
you are inviting into the group.
So when the person is saying yes, or thinking about it,
they should say yes to this particular group to join you.
They know who are the kind of people that they can expect.
Now, before we lean into what's the design
of a group coaching program, what are the,
so the elements that you wanna run through
as the group starts, I'm curious to hear,
are you thinking about starting a group coaching program?
If the answer is yes,
write that in the comment section below.
Go below to the comment section and say, "Yes,"
or say, "Yes, I'm thinking
about starting a group coaching program around blank,"
whatever that thing is that you're focused on.
I'm curious to hear what is that group coaching program
that you're thinking about starting,
and I'll love to help if there's something particular
that you're looking for
to be able to define that group really well.
Now, once you have identified the outcome of the group,
you have defined how you are the best person
for leading that group and who are the kind of people
that you want in the group,
now it's time for you to really get yourself set up
for the group coaching session.
Now, you could be running this group coaching session
in a corporate environment or in a virtual environment,
on a Zoom call or on some other platform
which allows for such group conversations.
What you wanna do is you wanna set up your group to be ready
and you yourself to be ready to handle the group.
Your experience with the group will define
how engaged your group's gonna be.
It's gonna define how much outcome they're able to achieve.
If you're running a large group of 50, 100, 500 people,
it will become even more important for you
to focus on setting up the group right
and not just delivering the content.
If the group is not set up right,
if they don't fully understand
where they are and where they're going,
it may become a challenge somewhere midway in the group
because their expectation versus what you're delivering
may have a huge mismatch.
So how does one set up a group right
for a group coaching program?
There are three key elements that you wanna consider
when you're setting up your group coaching program.
The first key thing to introduce is assessment.
You wanna make sure
that your group starts with an assessment
and has assessments at different key points
for you to know the progress of the group.
Remember when the group is large,
even 10 people or 20 people,
sometimes are really hard to know
what's happening in each person's life.
Are they making progress?
How are they making progress?
And because of that, you wanna set up A,
a pre-assessment where you clearly know
what is the expectation of each of the members
of your group.
Also, you wanna set up different assessments
that happen at different times in the group
so you are constantly evaluating if they're making progress.
That way you can also identify if any student,
any client of yours is not able to make progress.
And if they need a little extra hand-holding
or if they need some more follow-up coaching
or training material that will help them
get the outcomes that they seek
as an outcome of that group coaching program.
The second thing is you always wanna design
a group coaching program that has something
that is prerecorded or self-based learning modules.
You want self-based learning modules,
because almost always you will find
that your clients will not be able
to attend all of the group live calls.
We all live really busy lives.
And because of this extremely busy life
that we all tend to live,
it's hard for us to keep up
to each of the training live calls, things happen,
and so we'll miss these live calls.
And that is why self-based learning modules
or prerecorded content becomes really, really valuable.
Your clients can still make progress by watching something
that you may have recorded for them previously.
It allows them to conjure,
to stay abreast to what you may be training on live calls
and they can continue to make progress.
Remember, your clients are not only looking
for a live coaching environment.
They're mostly looking for the outcome
that a live coaching environment creates.
And so your prerecorded materials
or your self-based learning modules
will help them stay abreast of the outcomes
that they really signed up for.
The third thing that you wanna consider
as you're designing your group coaching program
is group assessment.
So while we have individual assessments
to track each person's progress,
you also wanna see how is the comradery of the entire group.
How are individuals playing along with each other?
How is the group developing in itself?
And this assessment allows you to evaluate
if the group is making the right progress,
if there's group dynamics that are playing out together,
if you're running the group as a mastermind
where there're different facilitators,
if these facilitators are doing a good job.
So you want to not only have
one-on-one individual assessments
for each of the members of the group,
you also wanna assess the entire group at large.
Now, group coaching sessions have an interesting dynamic
while there is, yes,
a lot more attention given to each person
because we are still interacting with them live,
and we know their journey individually
and as a group,
it is still something that is much more structured
than a one-on-one coaching dynamic
or one-on-one coaching agreement.
You see, when we are in a relationship
that is one-on-one coaching,
often you would tweak your programming.
You would tweak your coaching session
based on where your client is at,
and what's the experience that they're having in the moment.
But in the group setting,
you almost have to predefine that.
You almost have to lean from a place of saying,
"I want them to get to a outcome,
and now I need to reverse engineer each of the step,
so my clients can keep making progress week after week,
and I can preempt their needs.
So,
it requires you
almost to preempt the needs of your clients
and define weekly modules.
So your key step in defining your group coaching sessions
would be to know exactly what happens week after week
in your group coaching environment,
so that you can preemptively create content
that is prerecorded and is self-based.
And also you can preempt your group coaching sessions
so you can facilitate a more powerful experience.
So the next key
to creating successful group coaching programs
is to preempt the steps that your client will need to take
to get to the outcome that you are designing for them
or what they're signing up for.
The fourth key ingredient in a group coaching program is,
is there any experiences or activities
that can be facilitated within the group?
You see, a lot of times what happens
is coaches get really possessive about their groups.
They think, "I need to be there everywhere.
I need to facilitate each of the experiences."
But the powerful part about a group coaching program
is that you can borrow experiences from the entire group.
And often, a peer-to-peer experience is equally,
sometimes even more powerful
than an experience that a coach can facilitate.
And that is because a peer can speak the language
and share the experience
as they're going through it together.
So don't discount the value of a peer-to-peer experience,
and try and create experiences and activities
that the peers can facilitate within themselves.
For example, inside our membership, Evercoach membership,
we have created peer-to-peer experiences called mastermind,
which are all run by peers for their peers.
These are subgroups that come together
based on regions and interests that talk within themselves,
support each other's journey,
help them facilitate and learn from each other,
practice coaching between themselves.
So you wanna ask yourself,
"How is it that I can create activities and experiences
and dynamics where the peers can learn from each other?
There is so much power in learning from each other.
And incorporating that in the group
allows the group to create deep, meaningful friendships,
allowing also the group to get great outcomes
because of the friendships that they make in the group
because of the peer support that they have in the group.
It also lessens the burden on you as a coach
to facilitate each experience one-on-one
or support each person one-on-one.
You can have the group support the individual
by using the power of groupthink,
by using the power of the peers that may have enrolled
to get the same outcome,
which brings me to the fifth ingredient,
which is the actual flow of the group coaching session.
So many coaches are baffled and confused
on how to facilitate a group experience.
There are four key elements
of a powerful group coaching experience.
The first element is introduction.
Introduction is where you're welcoming everyone
to the group every week
or however your coaching sessions are designed.
You want to create a powerful introduction
every single week,
because you want people to breathe
into this group coaching session.
Often I recommend, start with a breathing exercise
or a brief meditation
because it allows people to really lean in
and get present with what may be happening that day.
An introduction is not the introduction to the topic.
Introduction is just introduction or getting started
for that group session, setting the energy right.
The second step is to actually introduce
the topic of the day.
You can also call it a mini training.
This is where you are leaning into the idea
of what is it we are going to coach on today?
What is the prerecorded or self-based learning module
that may have unlocked that week?
And what is going to be the focus
on Q and As or group coaching session that day?
And that becomes the second part,
which is kind of a mini training or a setup
for the day's group coaching session.
That brings me to the third part,
which is the actual group coaching facilitation
or group coaching session.
This is where you either lean into questions and answers.
This is where you lean into actually coaching individuals
on the day of, on those topics
that were the topic and focus area of the day.
This is also where you'll lean into further study
if there is further training that needs to be deployed
on that coaching session.
And lastly,
which is the key fourth element of a live training
is any activity or exercise.
This is where you are giving permission to your clients
or engaging with your clients,
not just in a unidirectional way
where you are just saying things
or responding to things as they're happening.
You're engaging them in an activity
that gets them to reflect, to think,
to execute certain things
that you may have discussed that day.
Now, how much time do you dedicate to each of this section?
Which section is given more time and less time?
How frequently are activities?
How many activities are there depends on the outcome
that you're trying to chase for the day,
an outcome of the overall group coaching session.
If you're focusing on health,
it might be that your activities require
the person who's on the group coaching session
to do something physically.
It may or may not be conducive to do that on a live call.
And a lot of times these activities may be something
that they do as a post call and submit an assessment.
Where else, if you are in a productivity environment
where an activity requires them
to do something in the moment,
you could probably deliver that on the live call
for the matter,
it might be facilitated by peers within a group.
So it really depends on what is the outcome
you're chasing for the day
or for the overall program that will define
how much time is dedicated to each of the segment.
It also changes by the design of the group coaching program.
Below this video, we will link up our other videos
that talk about different group coaching formats
that you could potentially look into
to design your group coaching program.
After you watch this video,
take some time to view those videos
because it'll give you more ideas
as you design your group coaching program.
The sixth key ingredient and the sixth step
to designing a group coaching program is follow up.
So many coaches miss this step.
Very often, we focus so much attention and intention
on the group coaching session itself
that we forget that the results
that are created for our clients
are often after the session.
How many times have you been in a coaching session,
a group coaching session
or even while watching a video like this,
you get some insight while you're watching the video.
And a lot of the times after you watch the video,
you have so many more insights.
You have so many more thoughts running through your head
which help you really get the real outcome.
That's what follow-up is all about.
Follow-up is all about capturing
for what happens in between the two sessions.
In between the two sessions
is probably one of the most powerful time
to capture an experience of a client,
to support them in their further journey,
to really support them in getting the outcome
that they truly seek out of those group coaching sessions.
So don't forget to set up a follow-up
with each of your clients
to either assess them after each group coaching session
or to be able to follow up through questions or exercises
that you may have suggested
during the group coaching session
for them to actually go ahead and practice.
Follow-up is the key for your clients
to really get the outcome that they signed up for.
And that is the final evaluation.
Lot of the coaches
when they're wrapping up a group coaching program,
are so exhausted by the end of it
because they gave so much during the group coaching program
that they say, "Thank you," and they'd rest after that.
Instead of saying, "Thank you, give me your feedback.
Let me evaluate how I did.
What can I do better?"
The more you ask follow-up questions
after a group coaching session is over
or a group coaching program is over,
the better it is for your future sessions.
Here is what you will learn
when you send a good evaluation form.
When you send a good evaluation form, firstly,
you will learn what you could do better
in your future group coaching sessions.
It'll also give you an opportunity
to capture stories of individuals
that have taken that program with you,
and be able to share those stories
when you are re-enrolling into that group coaching program
next time.
Having these final evaluations help you
re-enroll your clients,
look for what are the areas of development
and betterment that you can have in your programs.
And also helps you understand what maybe
some of the pitfalls that you have left
in your group coaching program.
It makes your program better.
It makes your clients appreciate the work that you've done
by giving you testimonials and stories of outcome
they may have experienced.
So don't forget to get the final evaluation.
It will really help you re-enroll clients
and enroll future clients into your group coaching program.
So that makes a complete guide to a group coaching program
or designing a group coaching program
and a group coaching session.
To further your study, look out for our future videos
below this video around group coaching.
If you watch all of these videos,
you will have a a full understanding
of group coaching programs.
And hopefully, you will start a group coaching program,
and tell us more about it in the comment section below.
Again, we are very curious to hear if A,
you are interested to start one,
leave it in the comment section below
by simply saying, "Yes."
And then also share with us
what kind of group coaching program
that you ended up creating.
If you loved this video, which I'm sure you did,
don't forget to hit that like button.
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Thank you so much for tuning in.
This is Coach Ajit,
and you're watching this on Evercoach.