Friday, November 09, 2012

Closing Off Your Group Coaching Programs

It's often common that we spend a lot of time focusing on the start of things, but put little attention to the end of things. Today's post is about closure for groups. Leaving space and time for the group or group members to reflect on what they have learned and what they have achieved over the time you have worked together.

This week I have been wrapping up three different groups that I've worked with for past few months. Even in phone based programs strong bonds get created.

Some questions you may want to consider are:
What kind of space do you want to leave for thank yous and learning to be shared?
What benefit would there be in scheduling either a individual or group follow up down the road to see what further action they have taken, and or insights they have acquired?
What is the tone you would like to set in this final session?
What pre-work will support group members before the final call? (Self-assessment, structured questions)
What connection is the group eager for, going forward?
Is there a physical take-away you would like to leave with group members, or have them create for themselves (i.e. a box, a vision board, an action plan etc)

One of my favorite experiential education sites - Wilderdom.com - has a great list of exercises and activities you can do for closure. You may also want to check out a past post I wrote back in 2006 on Closure for some additional ideas.

What activities do you like to use for closure? What would work well for the groups you are working with?

Have a great weekend! I know that I will be enjoying connecting with other coaches as I lead the Group Coaching Intensive this weekend in Toronto.

Warm regards,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
GroupCoachingEssentials.com
Join us for an upcoming program: Mentor Coaching Group (Starts Nov 16 at 12 noon ET), the Group Coaching Essentials teleseminar (Tues/Thurs 6-7:15 pm ET starting Nov 27 - 6.75 CCEs) or the 2013 BizPlanning Virtual Retreat

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