Expectations and Establishing Ground Rules and Ways of Working: E in the A-Z of Group Coaching

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:

1. 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.
2. 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
3. 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.

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What is your unique style as a coach? Take 2-minutes to complete the  Group and Team Coaching Superpower Quiz. You can find it at https://bit.ly/gtcoachingsuperpower. Share your style using the comments below and/or follow along on Instagram at our CoachingBizBuilder site.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

Co-Coaching: C in the Group Coaching A - Z blog series

 

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.

*********************************************

What is your unique style as a coach? Take 2-minutes to complete the  Group and Team Coaching Superpower Quiz. You can find it at https://bit.ly/gtcoachingsuperpower. Share your style using the comments below and/or follow along on Instagram at our CoachingBizBuilder site.

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