Monday, March 21, 2011

Coaching Practice Building: Systems Can Make It Smoother

Many coaches are curious about what they need/will want to have in place to run a group coaching program. I encourage everyone to think about what is going to work best with your client group, as well as what's a NICE to have and what's a NEED To have.

Here are some of the systems you will want to consider putting into place to make your group coaching programs run more smoothly (not thinking about the program structure itself):

1. A way to accept registrations - do you want people to call in? Email in? Are there deadlines by which you will accept registrations/cut off date?
2. A way to accept payments - What online and offline methods do you want to consider offering? Will PayPal do everything you need? Do you want to look at credit card processing offline? Will you accept checks/cheques?
3. Bridgeline or venue locations - Consider what will work best for your client group - virtual or in person. Identify different options for virtual and in -person programs.
4. A way for particpants to communicate in between sessions - many groups may wish to keep the conversation going in between sessions. Do you want to set up a shared online space where people can share ideas, homework or do you want to do this via email? How do you want to distribute resources?
5. Marketing Systems - What vehicles (speaking, blogging, writing, articles) do you want to incroporate to get the word out about what you have to offer? To build relationships with others? What do you have in place right now? What are the next priorities on your list? Schedule in time to undertake regular steps with your marketing efforts.

What other things do you want to put into place to make your group coaching process more effective? Also recognize that most, if not all, of these systems will also be useful for any coaching work you undertake. What's the most important task for you to accomplish this week?

Have a great week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010)
Join me Tuesday March 22nd at 7 pm Eastern for the next Group Coaching Essentials program (accredited for 6.75 ICF CCEs): 2 spaces still open
Two day in person Group Coaching Intensive on Saturday and Sunday April 2-3 in Toronto (15 CCEs): spaces still open
Phone: (416) 996-TEAM (8326)
Email: info(at)potentialsrealized(dot)com

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi there! Keep it up! This is a good read. I will be looking forward to visit your page again and for your other posts as well. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about practice building. I am glad to stop by your site and know more about practice building.
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