State of the Union 3.0 with Team and Group Coaching

 In December an article I had written for choice magazine was featured in their latest quarterly publication - Team and Group Coaching in an Evolving World. This article, "State of the Union 3.0 -

Team and Group Coaching" was the third time I had written a feature article for choice in the last 5 or 6 years. 

Download the article here.

In the article, I covered six core influences on team and group coaching at this moment in time (late 2022 and early 2023), including:

1. Paradigm Shifts

2. Systems Approaches

3. The need for belonging

4. Trust, safety and connection

5. Teaming

6. Adaptive and emerging models

Several of these I explore further in my latest writing - Reconnecting Workspaces, especially chapters 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 and the 21 chapter myths and paradigms.

I shared more about these six influences on team and group coaching in our December 2022 19th annual Year End Holiday party. 

Tune in here and check out the first 30 minutes of the call:

I then enjoyed sitting down with Garry Schlieffer to talk further about this on his Beyond the Page Podcast. The episode should be coming out soon and I will share it when it is ready.

What are you seeing as some of the new influences on your work as a group and team coach? 

Certainly the new ACTC from ICF - Advanced Credential in Team Coaching - will jettison us forward within this part of our profession.  If you haven't caught the recent calls I've hosted on the ACTC and how we are supporting coaches through our new Team Coaching Certificates, check out my December call on the new ACTC:

What are you doing to learn more and scale more conversations with teams and groups? Curious about what it can look like for you? Set up a call.

Enjoy!

Jennifer

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What is your unique style as a coach? Take 2-minutes to complete the NEW 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: 

Coaching Diverse Teams and Groups using the Work Styles - Wednesdays 230 - 345pm ET (14 CCEs): January 26, February 2, 9, 16, 23, and March 2, 2023 (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.

Group Coaching Essentials -Mondays 130-245pm ET starting January 30th OR Fridays 1015 - 1130 am ET starting February 17 running to late March - 8.75 CCEs

Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum - 10 CCEs - Fridays 1230 - 145 pm ET: January 13 - mid-Feb (6 weeks) with Jennifer or later in January Mondays 12 - 130pm ET with Evana starting January 30th

Team Coaching Essentials (14 CCEs)  - Being asked to coach teams? 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  January 9,  23, 30, February 6, 13, 27 2023 with Kathy

ACTIVATE your Group and Team Coaching Superpowers (14 CCEs) - Fridays 1015 - 1130 am ET starting January 9th with Jennifer (6 weeks)  - January 13, 20, 27, February 3, 10, 17  - Course 4 in the pathway (catch up on call #1 with the recording)

Coaching Supervision Group (Small group format) - Thursdays 12 - 130 pm ET  first week of the month each month (to June 2023) OR book a call to explore individual coaching supervision.

The Coaching Biz Growth Lab is an annual group which meets bi-weekly throughout the year, focusing on your coaching business development. WE meet the 1st and 3rd Fridays of each month throughout 2023 for group calls, plus 12 special monthly events like Get it Done Days, month end planning and design sprints. Cost per month is only $250 US/month.  Click here to learn more and register

Check out our full schedule for January programs which begin the week of January 9th at GroupCoachingEssentials.ca.

Join us for the new Certificate in Team Coaching - 70 and 125 hour pathways.

 

2020 focus areas for group coaches

Happy New Year! I hope that your 2020 has started off well. Keeping with tradition, I wanted to

dedicate my first few blog posts of 2020 to some of the key focus areas we may see in the year ahead when we work with groups and teams as a coach. I covered these more in-depth in the 16th annual year end group and team programs call I hosted just before the holidays.

Here are four areas you may want to keep in mind as you go to design and lead your group coaching conversations this year:

#1 - Connection
#2 - Trust
#3 - Adding value
# 4 - Micro-conversations

Inherent to a group coaching process are numbers 1 and 2. Ensuring that there is connection in the group, with you as the coach, and also with other group members. If people do not feel connected, it's likely that the conversation will remain on the surface, not dipping into the areas which are more personal to ourselves. It's these deeper layers that are the focus of coaching. If we stay at the surface due to lack of trust there is a missed opportunity.

Consider how you are going to build connection, and how your programming is creating the opportunities for connection. Are you building in breakout work? Handing things over to the group? Pairing people in pairs or triads for conversation between calls. Inviting people to always be on video? Building in agreements that group members will be present and actively engage during calls. Size matters in this as well and you will want to consider how you connect.

A second area which is critical for group coaching is TRUST. This has also been a key issue for leader, teams, business and communities for many years now. What are you doing to create transparency, engagement, and safety in your groups. What does follow through and follow up look like? What are you doing to address issues swiftly and respectfully if they emerge? Without trust, groups will also stay at the surface. This is where people will opt out as well. Consider what you can influence, including group size and the right fit of the program for the group members.

Third, what is the value add for your group members. Understanding our clients is key to success. What does adding value mean to them? How are you ensuring that they are setting the roadmap and focus? This may entail dedicating part of your first session to creating a roadmap together, having people complete pre-work in terms of goal setting and sharing with others, as well as undertaking pre-calls with everyone to learn more about them.

Finally, another influence in the group coaching space is the time available on the part of our clients. Going back to the value add, different clients may have different preferences in terms of conversation length and frequency. What are their preferences? What are yours?
One area which has shifted significantly in the last decade is the perceived time urgency many clients have mindsets around. This may translate to offering shorter call lengths - i.e. 45 minutes vs 90 minutes, as well as thinking about the overall elements of a program - including pre-work rather than doing it during the call, so you can use the time together to go deeper into the topics you are exploring.

Shorter conversations don't always mean less impactful conversations. Be noticing your assumptions as a coach and also your own preferences and biases in this area.

Our work as coaches in bringing together people for connection, sharing and learning, is so important at this moment in time. I hope that 2020 is going to bring you and your clients many opportunities to have great conversations together!

If you haven't seen the 2019 Year End Group and Team Coaching Call I hosted last month, check it out - 20 minutes.



If you missed my Countdown to 2020 posts before the holidays, be sure to catch them here. They focused on some of the essential elements and components in our work as group and team coaches including resourcing, questions, tools and focus areas.

Enjoy and I look forward to bringing you 1-2 blog posts each week throughout the year. Up next - winter program announcements (see footer) and next post will be dedicated to some of the team coaching themes we may be seeing in 2020.

With best wishes,
Jennifer


If you are looking for  coaching skills development through CCE approved programs - I’ll be kicking off the first Group CoachingEssentials CCE approved program on Friday January 10^th at 1015 am ET. This 8.75 CCE program also includes weekly 1-1 time with me (15 min each week). Is 2020 your year to get your groups going or expand the number of groups you are doing? Whether you are new to group coaching or stepping into your next year, there’s always something to learn – I hope you’ll join us. Reserve your spot here.

Also starting in January is the Virtual Facilitation Essentials - spaces are still open in the Monday group starting on Monday January 13th from 130 - 2:45 pm Eastern - 5 weeks, 8.5 CCEs.

The Winter 2020 Mentor Coaching Group starts on Friday January 10th - Fridays 2nd and 4th weeks of the month from 9 - 10 am Eastern. Reserve your spot now in this 10 hour program which meets the requirements of the ICF.

Finally, starting this month with the first live call on Monday January 6th - calling on coaches who want to focus on growing their coaching business. Reserve your spot for the 60Day Coaching Business Builder Accelerator where you will be focusing on taking daily steps and consistent action around your coaching business. This program is based on my 2018 work, Coaching Business Builder.

Creating Shared Expectations and Shared Agreements Early on is Key

Over the past few weeks I've been leading a lot of in person programming - from coaching skills training

for leaders, to team coaching engagements and leading facilitation skills training. What's been so important for success in all of these engagements has been working with each group and team around creating shared agreements and creating shared expectations early on in our work. Checking in to see  how we are doing along the way has also been critical in creating the space for WOW programming.

Whether you are coaching, training or facilitating it is important to have dialogue with the groups and teams we are working with around how we will operate. What is, and what is not, acceptable. For example, what agreements are around phone and technology use, start and tend times, as well as respect for the differences which inevitably exist within a group or team of individuals. Confidentiality is another area which will be important to define.

Our ability to walk our talk - returning back from break early ourselves and starting as we said we would or putting our own phone away - is part of the equation as well, and is inherent in building trust.

Questions to consider: What are the shared agreements the team/group you are working with wants to create? Where will you build in time for this conversation? How much time do you think it will take?

A related area for group connection is creating shared expectations with you and with each other. What can your group or team members count on from you? From each other? Expect from you/each other? Are you a diplomat, or a on-the-table truth teller. Really, what can people expect. As coaches it is critical to be ourselves and also to let people know what they can expect.

Questions to consider: What can groups or teams expect from you? What can they count on you for? What can they count on from each other? What strengths do they each bring? What is the role you find you comfortably play? What are your biases?

As you go to launch new programs consider how you want to support the group in creating shared expectations and shared agreements early on.

Have a great week,
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

Join me for a spring program -
Advanced Group Coaching Practicum (now 10 CCEs with the ICF including 9.25 hrs of core competencies): Thursdays 1:30 - 2:45 pm ET starting April 9th
Group Coaching Essentials - Thursdays 10:15 - 11:30 am ET starting March 26th
Mentor Coaching Group - for ACC Renewals, ACC/PCC portfolio - Thursdays 9-10 am ET starting March 26th or Mondays 1030-1130am Eastern/New York starting mid-April 
OR join me in Toronto (in person or virtual) the weekend of April 11-12 for the Team and Group Coaching Intensive (being renewed for at least 15 CCES)