Monday, February 23, 2015

Join me Thursday and Friday for a two day train-the-trainer - In person or by skype

I'm so looking forward to innovating with several of you later this week as the Facilitation Skills Intensive program goes virtual and in-person at the same time. For most of us across North America this winter we've been pummeled by snow, record breaking cold  AND the show must go on! This Thursday and Friday I'll be opening the Facilitation Skills Intensive program, a two day in-person train-the-trainer, to skype participants.

Over the course of the two days we'll be:
  • Looking at creating powerful, and engaging, group and team processes
  • Identifying how our skills stack up as facilitators
  • Building our toolbox! Exploring more than 2 dozen facilitation techniques to help groups gain consensus, prioritize, problem solve, plan etc.
  • Discovering key tips for making any presentation or learning event more impactful
  • Experimenting with how to create rich learning environments when blending in person and virtual participants - through our own experience!!!!
The program will be held from 830 - 4:30 pm Eastern/Toronto Thursday and Friday February 26 and 27 in downtown Toronto (College and Yonge). Can't join us in person? Join via skype for the two day program and you'll be able to participate in small group discussions, and even lead us through dialogue!

In addition to a 100 plus page binder, the two days of training, and a group follow-up call, you'll get to connect with a variety of other professionals undertaking this work in organizations and communities.

Download a two page program description here. Cost for the program is $850 CDN plus HST. Joining us via skype? Benefit from a great US/Canadian exchange rate! Register with a colleague and each save 15% - Payment links here.

Hope that you will join me later this week!

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)
Questions? Contact me at (416)996-8326



Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Three Keys in Marketing Your Group Coaching Work

Three Keys in Marketing Your Group Coaching Work
Jennifer Britton, 2015. All Rights Reserved

Business development and marketing are usually not what attract coaches to the profession. AND it is inherently a critical part of what most of us do to build a sustainable business particularly if you are a solopreneur.  It's pretty common to be asked several times a month "how do I fill my groups when I am a group coach"? For many of us who opt to run group programs to the public, marketing is a key, on-going activity. The specifics of what that marketing will entail is going to look different for each coach based on his or her client needs, AND
there are some key principles in marketing group coaching. Today's post looks at three key principles, and encourage you through questions to consider what it can look like for your own work.

1. Consider your Sweet Spot. Inspired by Jim Collin's Hedgehog Principle in Good to Great, the Sweet Spot gets us to think about What I'm great at? What I'm passionate about? and What my clients want, need and prefer. This place of overlap is a place of leverage. you can read more about it in Effective Group Coaching (pg 157-158) or in the digital marketing chapter of From One To Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching. (Use code 4411). Reflecting on these three questions can provide some interesting insights around leverage, and possible quick wins and traction points for marketing.  It's been interesting to meet many coaches who have now gone through this exercise as part of their own coach training process.

Questions to consider are:
What is your sweet spot? 
What do your clients really want? 
What are they looking for? 
What can you provide as a solution to this need? 
What will this look like?

Read a 2007 post I wrote about Leverage and Impact and Marketing for Coaches here.

2. Be consistent with a strategy  - As you get clearer on who your ideal clients are, what lights you up, and where your strengths lie, you will develop a better sense of what you want to include in your strategy. Your strategy for business development, building relationships, developing a platform and also promotion. Notice these are all different things. Have a plan, work the plan as we used to say, and take consistent action.

In group coaching particularly numbers are key as are relationships. Filling groups may take time and it is important that you are communicating about programs regularly. I continue to go against the grain of other marketing "experts" and advocate with group coaching that it can be important to offer multiple dates at at time and let people know about how frequently programs will be offered. In my own work this has paid off time and time again, where people are able to budget and plan for attendance.

The marketplace continues to shift and change. As I look at blogging, something I have been involved with actively for 10 years now, I smile when I hear "experts" saying that blogging is a #1 strategy for getting business. Track your results, and know what is important to your people. Leverage the strengths you bring and notice over time where you get your traction. The great thing with something such as blogging is that over time it does create a "digital footprint", which can be more easily traced and followed over the longer-term compared to otehr social media strategies. Again, it's one part of a strategy!
Questions to consider: What is my strategy? Where do I want to put attention, resources etc? What does consistency mean for me in marketing? How will I track my results?

Read my 2011 Coaching Business Builder blog post on Focus, Track and Consistency here.

3. Experiment -Not all coaches are entrepreneurs, embracing risk. At the same time, in service to designing with our clients the best solution for them, we need to experiment. We may need to go out of our comfort  zone in using new technologies, or returning to old ones, in order to create the richest environment for dialogue.
As this relates to marketing, listen to the adage of "experts" (myself included!) with the lens of what's going to work best for me, and for my clients. In this work it is not a one-size fits all solution. Experimentation and trying things out is key to finding the strategies and approaches that will work best for you and your clients. 

Read my post from earlier this year on Experimentation an Our Work as Coaches here.

Question to consider: What does experimentation mean for me as it relates to marketing?

As you consider what you want to create during 2015 around group coaching, what's the question you want to consider around marketing success for you and your clients? What's the action you want to take?

Have a great week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Group Coaching Essentials.com - Next classes start this Thursday February 12th at 10:15 am ET (3 spaces still open) and in early April 2015
Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)

In case you are interested I've just released my second on-demand video training at Udemy on Tips for Your Group and Team Programs. Based on my 2014 e-book, 28 Tips for Group and Team Programs, this class includes more than 3.5 hours of video lectures with me, and 28 structured activities you can undertake at a pace that works well for you. Do it in one day or one tip a day over the course of a month, I cover 28 tips in areas of pre and post program ideas, design and implementation. They are all road-tested, practical tips you can apply to a workshop, retreat, teleclass, group or team program. Part 2 will follow as soon around marketing your group and team programs. Click here to sign up for the course (or use this special link  until Feb 13th to save 50% on  your registration).


Tuesday, February 03, 2015

February Programs: Group Coaching Essentials starts Feb 12 and Facilitation Skills Intensive Toronto February 27-28

Did the groundhog see its' shadow in your part of the world! The days are getting longer here in Toronto, signalling that winter should hopefully soon be wrapping up! This month I have two new programs starting including:

February 26-27 in downtown Toronto Canada the Facilitation Skills Intensive, a two day train-the-trainer geared for leaders, coaches and trainers who want to add more facilitation skills to their mix.

We're going to take an interactive and engaging look at the foundations of great group and team experiences, as well as explore more than 2 dozen facilitation tools and techniques. Whether you are looking to increase your own toolbox in working with groups and teams, or are looking for more experience and feedback on your skills, this two day immersion is a powerful small group experience, packed with practical facilitation approaches you will be able to apply in meetings, workshops, webinars and other small group events.


Register with a colleague and save 15%, register with two colleagues and save 20%. Price is $795 CDN plus HST and includes the two days of training, a program binder and a group follow-up call.

The program will be held in downtown Toronto on Thursday and Friday February 26-27 (8:30 - 4:30 pm ET both days).

Click here to reserve your spot or contact Jennifer directly by email if you have a group that would like to register.

You can also view a short 7 minute video here as I talk about the program:


Group Coaching Essentials Teleseminar - 6.75 CCEs with the ICF
Are you a coach wanting to add groups to your mix? Join Jennifer, author of Effective Group Coaching, for this five week teleclass as we look at the best practices of design, marketing and implementing your own group coaching programs. Benefit by avoiding many of the pitfalls new group coaches fall into, an
d avoid reinventing the wheel by benefiting from dozens of tips and frameworks that Jennifer has used in her own group coaching work.
The program is approved for 6.75 CCEs with the ICF and will be meeting on Thursdays from 10:15 - 11:30 am ET on February 12, 19, March 12 and 26. 

In addition the calls you will receive weekly module notes, and have short assignments geared to get you applying your ideas into your own program ideas. Weekly lazer calls (15 min 1-1) are also included as part of your registration. Space is limited to 8 coaches. Cost: $425 US or CDN (plus HST)

Click here for more info or to reserve your spot.

I hope that you will consider joining us or pass this information on to others who might benefit from the programs.

Have a great start to February!

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, PCC, CPCC, CPT
GroupCoachingEssentials.com | Potentials Realized
Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2009) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)
(416)996-8326