Establishing Ground Rules and Ways of Working
Leaning on ICF's core competency category,
"Co-Creating the Relationship," it's crucial for you, the coach, to
consider how you will establish and maintain agreements and integrate this in
the design of your group programs.
One of the ways to do this is through ground rules
or Ways of Working (WOW). Similar to individual coaching, in group programs, both the
Coach and the participants create this agreement, so it is mutually honoring
the needs of both the group members and the Coach.
There are various names for agreements, including
"Ground rules," Rules of Engagement, Rules of the road, or even Ways
of Working. Co-Creating Agreements and Expectations for the group coaching process is a critical step for success. As we illustrated in one of our recent Group Coaching DEMOS, you might use a whiteboard, chat or even verbally go round to hear from everyone about "what is going to make the conversation zone a positive space".
It is important to allocate time fair time in your first session to allow all group members
(and you, the Coach) to establish what each person needs and, in turn, have a
group consensus. Doing so will create:
- Group ownership, in turn, increases group engagement.
- A container of trust, safety, and connection, making participants
open to exploring potentially sensitive topics and expressing their
insights and challenges with the group over time.
- Group cohesion, allowing participants to learn and grow from one
another
- Less tricky issues to navigate with difficult personalities in the
group.
- Space for the group to get acquainted with individual needs for
program success and fulfilling the forming stage of Tuckman's model of
group dynamics.
Possible next steps:
- Review the ICF core competency category "Co-creating the
Relationship" and identify action steps you can take to ensure your
group programs align with ICF.
- Join an upcoming Group Coaching Essentials program to learn best
practices for Establishing group agreements in design and delivery. Click here to see upcoming programs: https://www.groupcoachingessentials.ca/group-coaching-essentials.html
- Take a deeper dive into learning and practicing group and team coaching this summer at the 2 Day In Person Group and Team Coaching Intensive running July 27 and 28 in beautiful Bracebridge, Ontario. Join Jennifer in person for this return on an annual summer favorite. Early Bird rate on until end of June. Space is limited to 10.
Enjoy the conversations and we hope that you will join us this summer!
Our
award-winning ICF-CCE approved training programs have been taken by
thousands of coaches since 2006. Join us for coursework leading you to
the new ACTC (Advanced Credential in Team Coaching) or complete our 70 or 125 hour Certificates in Team or Group Coaching.
********************************************* Join us for an upcoming program including: The Group and Team Coaching Intensive - 2 days of in-person training around group and team coaching with Jennifer Britton in beautiful Bracebridge, Ontario, CANADA. Space limited - 7 spots open. Early Bird rate on until end of June 2023.
Neuroscience, Learning and Experiential Processes for Group and Team Coaching - NEW - Join us Mondays at 130 pm ET starting June 6th - With Jennifer (6 weeks)
Group Coaching Essentials
- Our flagship program which started this all. Looking to boost your
understanding around what group coaching is and how to structure, market
and lead conversations? Join us in July starting July 14th (Fridays 1015 - 1130 am ET) - 5 weeks:
https://www.groupcoachingessentials.ca/group-coaching-essentials.html.
Coaching Diverse Teams and Groups using the Work Styles
- Tuesdays 645 - 8 am ET: June 20, 27, July 11, 18, 25, August 2 (14 CCEs) - Widen your toolkit for working with
diverse styles in teams and groups in this 6 week program based on the
Hybrid Work Styles. WE also explore Coaching for Creativity and
Innovation. This is course 5 in the 70 hour Certificate in Team Coaching
Program.
Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum -
10 CCEs - Tuesdays Starting June 20th (6 weeks) Team Coaching Essentials (14 CCEs)
- Starts Monday July 10th (Mondays 12 - 130pm ET). Being asked to coach teams OR Want to work
towards your ACTC (Advanced Credential in Team Coaching)? Equip yourself
with the foundations of
this quickly evolving field. This program is grounded in our From One to
Many methodology PLUS what works right now in today's evolving
workspace. ACTIVATE your Group and Team Coaching Superpowers (14
CCEs) - Two days in person August 8 and 9 in Barrie, Ontario
Coaching Supervision Group (Small
group format) - NEW COHORT - Mondays 9 - 1030 am ET: Next call June 12,
July, August and September 11 OR Thursdays 1st week of the month - 12 -
130pm ET. book a call to explore individual coaching
supervision. Amazon link for
Effective Group Coaching: https://amzn.to/3zoEGLF
Program dates: https://www.groupcoachingessentials.ca/group-coaching-essentials.html
D-Differences between Group
and Team Coaching
Copyright 2023 - Potentials Realized
Although there are many similarities between group
and team coaching, many coaches and organizations, for that matter, often have
some questions about what makes them different. This post intends to address
these questions.
Let’s start with definitions of both:
Jennifer Britton defines team coaching as “A
sustained series of conversations, supported by core coaching skills. The focus
is on goal setting, deepening awareness, supporting action, and creating
accountability. The focus of the coaching may be on the team as a system and/or
strengthening individuals within the team. Team coaching links back to business
goals, focusing on results and relationships.” (Britton, 2013 - From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching)
Furthermore, Jennifer shares that Group coaching is
the “application of coaching principles to a small group for the purpose of
personal or professional development, the achievement of goals, or greater
awareness, along thematic or non-thematic lines.” (Britton, 2009 - Effective Group Coaching)
Although they are a common foundational skillset in
design, marketing, and implementation, the main differences are the role of
relationships, the role of leadership, the lifecycle of the group, and what may
be at stake.
Context
In a team coaching context, coaches will connect
the conversation and focus to three levels of impact: self/individual, team,
and organization. Team coaches need to be able to support teams as a whole
system and a team of individual group members.
Whereas team coaches may be working with the team
as a system or supporting individual member development towards the team goals,
vision, and values, in group coaching, by its nature, coaches often focus on
individual development in the group context. An exception to this is in the
organizational context, where you may be working with groups of new managers
who don’t report to each other. In this context of offering group coaching
within an organization, the group coach needs to support individual group
members to reflect on the learning and insights related to themselves, in
addition to the teams they are part of and the overall organization they belong
to.
Role of relationships
Relationships in many group coaching processes
start and end when the group process finishes. Teams usually have relationships
that exist before and will continue after the coaching relationship. The team coach (or team coaches) will be the ones "fading in" and "fading out" of the team system".
With groups, members of the group MAY know one
another but hold disparate positions and levels of relationships. The group is likely to disband in form after the conversations are complete.
Role of leadership
Due to the nature of team coaching, the team leader
plays a crucial role in supporting the team coaching to be successful. Their
early engagement and including them in designing the type of coaching before
coaching commences support a team coaching process to be effective.
Leadership plays a minor role in group coaching.
Consider having your participants share learnings with their leaders without
leaders being directly involved. This could also be the case of working with
teens/young adults. Similarly, you can encourage them to share learnings with
their parents/loved ones.
Lifecycle of grouping
With groups, typically, the coaching lifecycle is short (3
months, six months, etc.), disbanding at the end of the coaching agreement.
Nothing is ongoing, as it’s a group of individuals who return to their life or
teams within the organization once the group dismantles.
Teams, on the other hand, exist before and after
the coaching engagement. Knowing this, an effective team coach can support the
team to integrate models/frameworks back on the job for continued success beyond
the coaching conversation and engagement. For example, they can encourage the
team to incorporate the “ways of working” to support “acceptable behaviors” on
the job.
What’s at Stake?
Team coaching - there is a perception that there is
more at stake. Team members opening up to their peers and leaders require a
certain level of vulnerability and trust. As such, team members may take time
to open up with their peers if they don’t feel that the coaching space is
nonjudgemental and safe concerning the coach and all the team members.
Possible next steps:
- Invest in a copy of Jennifer Britton's book, “From One To Many”- Best Practices for Team and Group
Coaching” for further conversation on team and group coaching. https://amzn.to/3KFp8tN
- Schedule an exploration
call to discuss compatibility and upcoming opportunities for possible
learning and growth as a Group or Team Coach. : https://calendly.com/potentials-realized/group-coaching-essentials
Enjoy your conversations, Evana Valle (thanks Evana for penning this week's blog post) and Jennifer Britton
Our
award-winning ICF-CCE approved training programs have been taken by
thousands of coaches since 2006. Join us for coursework leading you to
the new ACTC (Advanced Credential in Team Coaching) or complete our 70 or 125 hour Certificates in Team or Group Coaching.
********************************************* Join us for an upcoming program including: Neuroscience, Learning and Experiential Processes for Group and Team Coaching - NEW - Join us Mondays at 130 pm ET starting June 6th - With Jennifer (6 weeks)
Group Coaching Essentials
- Our flagship program which started this all. Looking to boost your
understanding around what group coaching is and how to structure, market
and lead conversations? Join us for an accelerated program in June on Tuesdays and Thursdays on June 1, 6, 8, 13 and 15 for this 8.75 CCE program - 5
spaces still open -
https://www.groupcoachingessentials.ca/group-coaching-essentials.html.
Coaching Diverse Teams and Groups using the Work Styles
- Tuesdays 645 - 8 am ET: June 20, 27, July 11, 18, 25, August 2 (14 CCEs) - Widen your toolkit for working with
diverse styles in teams and groups in this 6 week program based on the
Hybrid Work Styles. WE also explore Coaching for Creativity and
Innovation. This is course 5 in the 70 hour Certificate in Team Coaching
Program.
Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum -
10 CCEs - Starting June 20th (6 weeks) Team Coaching Essentials (14 CCEs)
- Starts Monday July 10th (Mondays 12 - 130pm ET). Being asked to coach teams OR Want to work
towards your ACTC (Advanced Credential in Team Coaching)? Equip yourself
with the foundations of
this quickly evolving field. This program is grounded in our From One to
Many methodology PLUS what works right now in today's evolving
workspace. ACTIVATE your Group and Team Coaching Superpowers (14
CCEs) - Fridays 10 - 1130 am ET: June 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 with Jennifer- Course 4 in the
pathway (catch up on call #1 with the recording) Coaching Supervision Group (Small
group format) - NEW COHORT - Mondays 9 - 1030 am ET: May 15, June 12, July, August and September 11 OR Thursdays 1st week of the month - 12 - 130pm ET. book a call to explore individual coaching
supervision. Amazon link for
Effective Group Coaching: https://amzn.to/3zoEGLF
Program dates: https://www.groupcoachingessentials.ca/group-coaching-essentials.html
Welcome back to the A-Z series of Group
Coaching. This series is part of our 19th anniversary
celebrations. We hope you
enjoy it.
Every few weeks we'll bring you a different principle you will want to consider
incorporating into your group coaching work. They are based off of my book, Effective Group Coaching (by
Jennifer Britton).
This week, we are at C – Co-Facilitation. When
EGC was first published there was a digital chapter on Co-Facilitation that
later inspired Chapter 11 of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and GroupCoaching.
For years I have been fascinated by the
creative and evolutionary dance of co-coaching. It is part art and part
science.
We have been exploring the foundations of this
topic as part of the ACTIVATE Your Group and Team Coaching Superpowers program,
one of our newer ICF-CCE approved programs (and part of our 60 hour pathway to
Team Coaching Certification, and Group Coaching Certification).
As I share in my latest TEDx talk, CoachingTeams through Chaos, Diversity = Strength. The same holds true for Co-Facilitation.
Our best co-facilitators are often the ones
who bring different strengths and styles. Their unique ability to see different
things and work differently is additive, especially in a large group or team
coaching situation.
Great Co-Facilitation doesn’t
“just happen”, it’s designed. It is intentional. And the design process starts early
on in your relationship, WAY BEFORE you
start working with a group or a team.
As I share in Chapter 10 of
From One to Many, there are a series of questions you will want to ask throughout
the design phase as well as when you are in the room.
It is not uncommon as a
coaching supervisor of group and team coaches to hear about how a coaching
engagement was derailed by sub-par co-facilitation. I’ve had my own share of
great, and not so great engagements. And as we boil it down to some of the core
elements of what makes it great or not, we have a variety of relational,
coaching, and design elements which go into the mix.
In today’s blog post we’re
going to zoom into one of the many elements which shape our co-coaching, that
of styles.
Our styles also play a key
role, and this is a great starting point for discussion and building your “alliance”
(as we would say in CTI language).
- What is your superpower? Take
the Team and Group Coaching Superpower quiz to find out.
-
What is your partner’s
coaching superpower?
-
How do they relate?
-
What strengths do you bring collectively?
-
What blind spots, or gaps,
exist?
-
What you do want to make
sure you are not overcompensating for?
-
What is important in your
partnership?
-
What are you committed to,
NO MATTER WHAT?
These questions alone might
form the springboard to a 30 minute conversation together. It’s areas like this
that we explore in the Co-Coaching Essentials program, coming again in June.
If you don’t see yourself
co-coaching, use the same questions listed above to think about how these
influence and interrelate with the styes of your group members. You can also take
a look at the related Hybrid Work Styles Quiz Enjoy the reflection and conversation! Jennifer
Group Coaching Essentials Our
award-winning ICF-CCE approved training programs have been taken by
thousands of coaches since 2006. Join us for coursework leading you to
the new ACTC (Advanced Credential in Team Coaching) or complete our 70 or 125 hour Certificates in Team or Group Coaching.
********************************************* Join us for an upcoming program including: Neuroscience, Learning and Experiential Processes for Group and Team Coaching - NEW - Join us Fridays starting May 12th or Mondays at 130 pm ET starting June 6th - With Jennifer (6 weeks)
Group Coaching Essentials
- Our flagship program which started this all. Looking to boost your
understanding around what group coaching is and how to structure, market
and lead conversations? Join us on Fridays from 1015 - 1130 am ET on Fridays starting May 12 for this 8.75 CCE program - 4
spaces still open -
https://www.groupcoachingessentials.ca/group-coaching-essentials.html.
Coaching Diverse Teams and Groups using the Work Styles
- Fridays 1015 - 1130 am ET - May 12 - end of June (14 CCEs) - Widen your toolkit for working with
diverse styles in teams and groups in this 6 week program based on the
Hybrid Work Styles. WE also explore Coaching for Creativity and
Innovation. This is course 5 in the 70 hour Certificate in Team Coaching
Program.
Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum -
10 CCEs - Fridays 1230 - 2 pm ET - May 19 - mid-June (6 weeks) Team Coaching Essentials (14 CCEs)
- Starts Monday May 8th. Being asked to coach teams OR Want to work
towards your ACTC (Advanced Credential in Team Coaching)? Equip yourself
with the foundations of
this quickly evolving field. This program is grounded in our From One to
Many methodology PLUS what works right now in today's evolving
workspace. 6 week program on Mondays 12 - 130 pm ET starting May 8 with
Kathy ACTIVATE your Group and Team Coaching Superpowers (14
CCEs) - Tuesdays 645 - 8 am ET: starting May 9, 16, 23, 30, June 6 and 13 with Jennifer- Course 4 in the
pathway (catch up on call #1 with the recording) Coaching Supervision Group (Small
group format) - NEW COHORT - Mondays 9 - 1030 am ET: May 15, June 12, July, August and September 11 OR book a call to explore individual coaching
supervision. Amazon link for
Effective Group Coaching: https://amzn.to/3zoEGLF
Program dates: https://www.groupcoachingessentials.ca/group-coaching-essentials.html
Welcome back to the A-Z series of Group Coaching. This series is part of our 19th anniversary celebrations. We hope you enjoy it.
Every few weeks we'll bring you a different principle you will want to consider incorporating into your group coaching work. They are based off of the book, Effective Group Coaching by Jennifer Britton.
This week, we are at B - Coaching Happens in Between Sessions. Do your group programs
support coaching to happen between the sessions? This principle relates to ICF
Core competency #8 - Facilitating Client Growth. The definition of this
competency provided by ICF is "the coach partners with the client to
transform learning and insight into action—the coach promotes client autonomy
in the coaching process.
Your role as a group
coach is to support your participants in fulfilling their program goals with
the roadmap they have, ideally co-created with you. Doing this promotes client
autonomy and ownership of the journey. Just like individual coaching, your
sessions are the place to allow participants to come and explore a topic as it
relates to their goals, which brings new awareness of who they are and possible
action. However, more is needed. Awareness without change doesn't yield the
outcomes people come to coaching or group coaching.
Group Coaching is maximized when program design includes structures to ensure the learning goes beyond the session. For example, peer partners may meet in between calls OR an alarm may signal the prompt to put something into action or note a sensation. What are you doing to create structures in your group coaching process with clients? What do you notice about how structures look and sound different for different group members?
In addition,
always keep the meta-arc of the learning journey in mind, and consider how one
session relates, or connects, to the next session's topic and what can be given to your
participants to set up the following conversation, creating a natural bridge
between sessions.
The following are
things to consider to support you in integrating this principle of "Coaching Happens In Between Sessions" into your group
programs:
- What content/new learning is available on the
topics in your programs to share before the session?
-What powerful
questions can I ask to support any new learning being integrated post-session?
-What is the
relationship between the session topic and the meta-arc journey regarding
participant goals concerning possible in-between session work?
-What structures can
be added to reinforce ownership by the group?
-Review the ICF competencies (with particular attention and focus on
Facilitates Client Growth).
For further resources,
here is the Amazon link to Jennifer's book (the first on Group Coaching), "Effective Group
Coaching." In addition, consider joining us in an upcoming Group Coaching
training program where we explore this topic more deeply. Here is the link to check out upcoming program dates for Group Coaching Essentials. Enjoy the conversation - Evana and Jennifer
Group Coaching Essentials Our
award-winning ICF-CCE approved training programs have been taken by
thousands of coaches since 2006. Join us for coursework leading you to
the new ACTC (Advanced Credential in Team Coaching) or complete our 70 or 125 hour Certificates in Team or Group Coaching.
********************************************* Join us for an upcoming program including: MONDAY's Group Coaching Essentials - Our flagship program which started this all. Looking to boost your understanding around what group coaching is and how to structure, market and lead conversations? Join us on Mondays this spring from April 17 - end of May on Mondays from 1 - 215 pm ET for this 6.75 CCE program - 2 spaces still open - https://www.groupcoachingessentials.ca/group-coaching-essentials.html.
Coaching Diverse Teams and Groups using the Work Styles
- Fridays 1015 - 1130 am ET - May 12 - end of June (14 CCEs) - Widen your toolkit for working with
diverse styles in teams and groups in this 6 week program based on the
Hybrid Work Styles. WE also explore Coaching for Creativity and
Innovation. This is course 5 in the 70 hour Certificate in Team Coaching
Program.
Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum -
10 CCEs - Check website for dates
Team Coaching Essentials (14 CCEs)
- Starts Monday May 1st. Being asked to coach teams OR Want to work towards your ACTC (Advanced Credential in Team Coaching)? Equip yourself with the foundations of
this quickly evolving field. This program is grounded in our From One to
Many methodology PLUS what works right now in today's evolving
workspace. 6 week program on Mondays 12 - 130 pm ET starting May 1 with Kathy ACTIVATE your Group and Team Coaching Superpowers (14
CCEs) - Tuesdays 645 - 8 am ET: starting May with Jennifer- Course 4 in the
pathway (catch up on call #1 with the recording) Coaching Supervision Group (Small
group format) - NEW COHORT - Mondays 9 - 1030 am ET: April 24, May 15, June 12, July, Augut and September 11 OR book a call to explore individual coaching
supervision. Reconnecting Workspaces Certified Coach - Thursdays 630 - 8 pm ET: April 20 to end of June (24 CCEs)
Amazon link for
Effective Group Coaching: https://amzn.to/3zoEGLF
Program dates: https://www.groupcoachingessentials.ca/group-coaching-essentials.html
More Recent Articles
|