Group Coaching Core Essentials - 9 of 18: Exercises

This week's blog post comes to us from Evana, our Team Lead for Group Coaching.Thanks !

This week focuses on the value and benefit of including exercises in your group programs to support participants in achieving their goals and integrating their learning after sessions through action and accountability by group coach and their respective peers in the program. 

 

Similar to the experiential learning model, “What? So what? Now what?” it supports layers of awareness, and also action based on awareness; its equally important coaches have participants bring their learning outside of the program and integrating their knowledge in their lives.

 

Depending on your programs focus, you will likely have a toolbox of tools, exercises and possibly assessments to draw upon based on participant’s needs and goals. As a group coach your role is to stay present to participants needs providing feedback on what’s showing up in the sessions as possible topics to support participants achieving their goals and fulfilling their commitments.

 

 

Principle – Provide space in your program for exercises such as action planning, setting commitments, creating structures, and identifying accountability steps.

 

Action: Participants have frameworks to take learning of the programs back to their every day lives.

 

 

This week, consider reviewing what you can add or modify within your program (or separate sessions) to include exercises that support your participants to bring the learning from your program back into their lives. Consider the following questions: 

 

 

*How are you ensuring everyone is autonomous in the design of goals, actions and accountability during the group coaching program process?

 

*What structures can you add in your programs to create accountability both with the coach and within the group?

 

*How can you support participants integrate their learning outside of the session?

 

*What activities can you modify and migrate individual coaching to group setting to support awareness and action of participants goals?

 

 *What technologies are available to create accountability and action amongst the group members?

 

* How is your How are you continuing to develop yourself as a coach ?

 

*How can you leverage participant experiences and synergies to support participants to propel action?

 Blog post by: 

Evana Valle - Team Lead - Group Coaching, Potentials Realized

For more on this topic check out the Appendices of  Jennifer Britton's books - Effective Group Coaching, and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching. 

 Group Coaching Essentials | Effective Virtual Conversations | Potentials Realized
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Team Coaching Essentials (14 CCEs) - next starts on Monday September 12th from 130 - 3 pm ET for 6 weeks - With Kathy Vaughan and Jennifer

Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum (10 CCEs): Starting Fridays at 1230 pm ET on September 9th for 6 weeks (With Jennifer)

Mentor Coaching Group - for ACC/PCC - Fridays 9-10 am ET running from September 9 - December 9th (with Jennifer)

Supervision Group for Team Coaches - 10 hours - Thursdays starting September 15th and running to March (with Jennifer and Kathy - meets ICF and EMCC supervision requirements for team coaches)

Jennifer is also the author of Effective Group Coaching (2010), Coaching Business Builder (2018), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). Check out her author page on Amazon for all publications.

 

Boosting Your Toolkit for Group and Team Coaching Work

Expanding the variety of resources to support group and team coaching conversations is something I

hear from coaches regularly, along with the question, Where can I go to find more?

Today's post zooms into several sites that might provide inspiration for ideas of what to do. At the same time, it can be useful to spend a few minutes thinking more about what you are looking for, or what the groups and teams you are working with need.

As you go to explore resources be sure to ask yourself the following questions:

1. What could this team or group benefit from right now - more support around goals? Action? Awareness? Accountability?
2. What am I doing to meet the different learning needs of the group or team I am working with?
3. What am I doing to make our work  more visual, particularly if it is a virtual group?
4. What opportunities am I creating for my group/team members to bring it into their body (more kinesthetic or experiential ways)?
5. What auditory engagement points am I including?
6. Is there enough time between activities, or during exercises, for group/team members to gain as much as they can from the activity?
7. What set up, or pre-work is needed to "prime" people for learning?
8. What follow-up would be of benefit?
9. What is the inquiry or what are some possible inquiries which could connect with this conversation?
10. How else  does it connect with other topics?
11. What else is important to consider about this topic?

Several sites which may provide some inspiration for you are:
Coaching Toys.com - Coach Marcy Nelson-Garrison hosts a rich portal of different resources (including our own Conversation Sparker Cards and the 40 Ways to Work with Visual Cards e-manual)

Wilderdom.com - Check out the links to hundreds of group games and activities which can be adjusted for coaching conversations. Think how the activity can support groups/teams in their exploration of goals, action, awareness and/or accountability

Icebreakers.ws - A collection of different ways to "break the ice". Many are great to forming connection.

MindTools.com - Always a terrific place of inspiration and great content. Clients will find it valuable as well.

BusinessBalls.com - Another site with ideas for you to get inspired by.

What's going to make your next conversation a great one?

For those who have any of my books, I'll invite you to check out the following chapters around this important topic of boosting your toolkit:

Effective Virtual Conversations (my newest book out on all things groups and teams in the virtual realm) - Chapter 7 - http://www.EffectiveVirtualConversations.com

From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching - Check out the appendix, as well as the activities included in the digital chapter on Team Coaching In Action (http://www.From12many.com)

Effective Group Coaching - Check out the Appendix


Have a great start to your week!

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Email: info{at}potentialsrealized.com
Phone: (416)996-8326

Join me this fall twice a month for complimentary community calls related to my new book, Effective Virtual Conversations. Calls are usually held on Monday mornings. Pick up a copy at Amazon or a signed copy from the new site - http://www.effectivevirtualconversations.com

Fall programming has just started with several offerings for coaches - Group Coaching Essentials (8.75 CCEs) - next group starts October 16th, Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum (10 CCEs ) - join our Friday group - 1:15 - 2:30 pm ET. 
There are also a couple of Mentor Coaching Groups running this fall - September 8 and 25th starts
The Virtual Facilitation Essentials will start on Monday October 2nd at 1:45 pm ET. 5 weeks of tips, best practices and ideas to boost your virtual programming. 

Building your group and team coaching toolkit

One of the main focus areas of this weekend's Group and Team Coaching Intensive is going to be the

focus on building your toolkit. Building confidence and skills in working with teams and groups. For any of you who have read my work, or joined me for a program, you know how passionate I am as a coach practitioner in this topic area of building our toolkit and innovating as we do it. Each client engagement - whether a team or a group - is different and usually requires a different blend of skills and approaches.

Here are some past posts on this topic of building your toolkit - I hope you'll check them out:

Group Coaching Exercises from 2010 - read it here

Why are exercises important for group programming from 2006 - read it here

Exercises - the backbone of any program from 2009 - read it here

Group Facilitation Tip - Debriefing Exercises  - read it here

You'll hear and see me talk more about exercises and tools in some of last year's Group Coaching Design Studio blabs which I hosted. Here's a 30 min video on Visual Cards- one of my favorite tools. View it here

Here's a really short 3 min video on 5 ways to use index cards - another essential item in your toolkit. View it here.

What are the tools you want to add to your toolbox in the coming months?

We'll be going through more than 2 dozen (24) coaching tools and approaches this weekend at the Group and Team Coaching Intensive (19 CCEs) here in Toronto. I hope that you will consider joining us for this rich weekend program - spots are still open for virtual and in person attendees. Grab your spot here.

Have a great rest of the week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC, CPCC
Group Coaching Essentials | Potentials Realized  
Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)




About Us: Jennifer Britton is author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010) andFrom One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013) . Since 2004 she and her company, Potentials Realized, have supported thousands of coaches, trainers, and leaders, design and create more impactful team and group programs (in-person and virtual). Jennifer offers customized programs for organizations, as well as virtual public training programs. Our areas of specialty are team development, leadership and coaching. Our 2017 programming starts during the week of January  9th and will include: The Group Coaching Essentials teleseminar (8.75 CCEs), The Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum (10 CCEs), and the Mentor Coaching Group for ACC/PCC portfolio routes. Our 2017 Learning Lab and Design Studio Group for Coaches who want to build their business and expand their group and team programs starts January as well (2 group calls on Fridays throughout 2017)

Group and Team Coaching: Three Essential Items for your Toolkit

While Group and Team Coaching is primarily conversationally based, and our standard coaching

tools are our best ally, there can be some additional resources you will want to have on hand, to support your team and group coaching conversations.

1. Visual Cards - Visual Cards such as Points of You, the JICT Deck, the Conversation Sparker(TM) deck or Visual Explorer, are a great way to get people in dialogue. Whether you are working on creating a vision, exploring values, or mining for strengths, visual cards can be used in a myriad of ways for both individual and collective coaching conversations with groups and teams.
As in any coaching process, when we bring in additional resources we want to place the most emphasis on using these external tools in support of goal setting, action and awareness.
If you are curious as to how to work with visual cards, please check out my 40 Ways to Work with Visual Cards E-manual (which can be bundled with the Conversation Sparker cards) or view this 30 minute blab I hosted last fall on working with visual cards

2. Post it notes - Now coming in a variety of colors, shapes and sizes, post its are a great way to get all voices at the table or on the wall. take a look back at the 2007 post I wrote on different ways to use post its and index cards. Some ideas of where you may want to incorporate post its:
1. As a way to mine for coaching topics or agenda items
2. As a feedback/evaluation mechanism at the end of the session
3. To look at enablers and derailers for a team (there are some neat red and green arrow post cards available for this - check your local dollar store or office supply store to see if they have these on file)4. To explore different perspectives around an issue
5. To get different priorities on the table


3. Questions - While it's fun to bring in lots of different tools, it's important to remember that questions are the one thing which  helps clients explore and move into action. Questions can be used to open up conversations, expand awareness, focus choices, and move people into action. What are some of your favorite coaching questions?
Over the years I've focused quite a bit on the topic of using questions in team and group coaching. Please check out these related posts here:
Core Coaching Competency - Powerful Questions - read this 2012 post here
Powerful Group Coaching Questions - What? So What? Now What? - read this 2011 post here
Six Powerful Questions to Close a Group Coaching Session - read this 2015 post here
Six Questions to Focus - Read this 2016 post here.
Six Coaching Questions to Strengthen Connection in Groups and Teams - read this post here

What would you put as your top 3 most important tools in your coaching toolkit?

Have a great start to your week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCCGroup Coaching Essentials | Potentials Realized  
Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)
Upcoming programs include: Mentor Coaching Group for ACC Renewals and ACC/PCC portfolio (Fridays 12 noon ET  which started on Sept 9 or Mondays at 9 am Eastern/New York - starting September 26), the Advanced Group Coaching Practicum (Fridays 1:15 - 2:30pm ET 10 CCEs) and the Group Coaching Essentials teleseminar starting Thursdays 12 - 1:15 pm ET on September 22 (8.75 CCEs)
Contact us by phone: (416)996-8326

New Video Post - Visual Tools

I've just posted a new Video today on three visual tools I love using with teams and groups that I am working with. Whether it's a retreat, a group coaching session, or a strategic planning session, I continue to see the positive impact these three resources have in stimulating dialogue and conversation.

In this 2 minute 40 second video I speak briefly on:
Visual Explorer from Center for Creative Leadership. More info from their site here.
The JICT Images Deck available at CoachingToys.com. More info from their site here.
The Coaching Game - Points of View. More info from their site here.

I hope that you will check these out and consider how you might use one, or all three, during your 2014 engagements with teams and groups.

Enjoy the video:

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Potentials Realized | GroupCoachingEssentials.com
(416)996-TEAM (8326)
Join us for an upcoming program including: The Group Coaching Essentials teleseminar (6.75 CCEs starting Fridays at 12 noon ET Jan 10th), the Advanced Group Coaching Practicum (8 CCEs, starting Fridays at 10:30 am ET Jan 10th), the Mentor Coaching Group (starting Fridays at 9 am on Jan 10th).
I'll be hosting the 2014 Virtual Business Planning Retreat day again on Tuesday Jan 7th from 10-4 pm ET in case you missed it this  month. More info here.

Group and Team Coaching: Five ways to use visuals

Many of you have heard  me speak of one of my favorite visual tools for my work with group and teams- Visual Explorer from Center for Creative Leadership. Consisting of a series of several hundred vibrant photos, I find myself incorporating it in my work with teams and groups on at least a monthly basis.

Recently a team coaching partner  of mine suggested we try something different with a team we are working with next month and we both purchased the JICT deck. I’m so pleased already with this tool - the smaller size, the portability and also the questions on the back of each of the 76 photos. You can purchase a copy for yourself and the great CoachingToys.com site

 A third visual deck you may wish to explore is the Points of View: Coaching Game resource. This product has very detailed ways you may wish to incorporate it into your work as a coach, for individuals and also groups.

Of course, you can also develop your own series of photos, or you may wish to get people to create their own drawings or logos (as you see on the slide above).

I continue to find that photos/visuals bring an additional layer into the group and team coaching conversation, and may help some individuals really connect to the coaching process.

So how might you use photos or visuals? Here are five ways I will often incorporate it into my work:

1. As a warm-up/ icebreaker for the session - Have people select the photo that best represents what they are coming to the conversation with.

2. To identify what they bring that is unique to the team or group - this is actually one of my favorite questions to start work together with teams. It is always enlightening to see what themes also emerge across the group or team you are working with. Ask the group what synergies they notice.

3. Around Perspectives - As each group member to "select the photo which represents your perspective around x…"

4. Around Vision - As each group or team member to select the photo which represents your vision for (this team, your business, your family, your…..)

5. As a closure piece - Ask the group or team members to select the photo which represents their key learning, or their next steps, or what’s different about them now.

Some things to keep in mind when you integrate any of these decks is to provide individuals time to reflect on, and take notes, around what they see. What’s clear? What’s not? What’s in focus? What’s missing?

Provide each person with an opportunity to share this with a partner, small group or larger group. What I continue to see in my work is that people get great value out of articulating their thoughts and connections, and also receive tremendous value in the comments and feedback they get from others. Depending on your group size, it can be very useful to allocate time to giving people an opportunity to share.

In your programming and conversations consider how individuals will  take this image forward, and how you can reconnect them to it throughout the series of conversations.

In closing, how might you incorporate visuals into your work with teams and groups? What would this look like?

With best wishes,

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, PCC, CPCC, CPT

Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Teams and Groups (Jossey-Bass, 2013) and Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010)

Phone: (416)996-TEAM (8326)

GroupCoachingEssentials.com | Potentials Realized 

Leadership | Teamwork | Coaching 

Join us for an upcoming mentor coaching group, the 90 Day BizSuccess Program or an ICF CCE approved coach training program (Essentials or Practicum). Most programs start September 6th and 13th.

 

 

Closing off a Group Coaching Process

Closure is an often overlooked element of any group program. We often spend a lot of time focusing at the start, and may pay little attention to the end. What do you want to incorporate into the closing of your next group program? Here are some things to consider:

1. Consider the tone you want to set

2. Do a walk through (as a group) of some of the highlights of the experience. Have individual group members share their insights.

3. Spend time sharing key goals achieved over the course of the program.

4. Leave time for group members to share:

1. What their next step (s) is.
2. Who they are going to be accountable to.
3. What might get in the way.
4. What will support them in achieving success.

5. Bring in a closure activity like using Visual Explorer and having participants choose a picture which represents their vision or next steps. OR if you are in person and are able to use the natural surroundings, have people take a silent walk and bring back an item which represents who they are/their vision (i.e. a feather which might represent ability to see the big picture, or flexibility).

For many of my in-person programs, I arrange with the group a time for a group follow up call 2-4 weeks after the end of our process. It's a great chance to keep the momentum going, and also check in around these topics outlined above. I often hear thanks for arranging this as it resurfaces people's commitments and ups the bar on accountability.

What closure activity do you want to bring into your next group work?

Warm regards
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010)
Host of the Group Coaching Essentials teleseminar program (6.75 CCEs, Wednesdays 7-8:15 pm ET, and other starts on July 10) and the Mentor Coaching Group
Phone: (416)996-TEAM (8326)

Selecting A Group Exercise - Questions To Consider

I often get asked "What coaching tool or exercise should I use in my group program?". Questions, discussion and exercises form the backbone of any group coaching program, as well as workshops and retreats.

In my book, Effective Group Coaching, I outline the following 11 questions to consider when selecting your next exercise:

1.What is the theme you are currently working around (i.e. balance, leadership, time management?)

2. What stage of development is the group in? (Refer to Group Process In Chapter 2 of the book).

3. What does the group need at this stage? (Closure, Celebration, Energizing, Check Point?)

4. What is the message/learning you want to create for the exercise?
5. What's the tempo that will work for the group?
6. How will this exercise support different learning styles?
7. How will the exercise compliment other exercises - in terms of theme/learning styles?
8. What risks are associated with this exercise?
9. When would this exercise be most suited in terms of placement - i.e. icebreaker, closure exercises etc?
10. What else does this exercise need as a compliment?
11. What questions should follow or be part of this exercise to allow the group to learn the most from it?

As you move forward with the design of your next program, consider how these questions can support you and your group.

Have a great week,

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC

Group Coaching Essentials - the next ICF CCE approved program (6.75 hrs) begins on August 11th (Thursdays 10:30 - 11:45 am ET)