What? So What? Now What?

I started my work with groups and teams more than 2 decades ago as an experiential educator. Leading What? So What? Now What? framework of debrief.

Photo: J. Britton, 2013

groups through Algonquin Park, and working with my own team of Aquatic Instructors, one of the first question and debrief frameworks I learned in those days was the

This past weekend I spoke at  beautiful Lake Junaluska in the mountains of North Carolina at the CCI 2013 conference. My topic, of course, was about group coaching. What caught my eye on the first day were these great What? So What? Now What? building blocks (pictured above).

Whether we are coaching, training or facilitating the What? So What? Now What questions are very powerful in supporting our group (and team) members to explore their experience (the WHAT?), what's important about it and what the learning is (the SO WHAT?), and finally, what they are going to do about it (NOW WHAT?).

The What? So What? Now What? framework can be used in any group or team coaching context. Here's an example of using it in the one on one context with a leader:

Coach: Tell me about your staff meeting this week.

Leader speaks

Coach: What did you notice about how you led the session. (Focus on what?)

Leader speaks

Coach: What skills did you use to keep the meeting on track? (Focus on what)

Leader speaks

Coach: So what did you do for the greatest impact? (Focus on so what)

Leader speaks

Coach: So what's important about that?

Leader speaks

Coach: So what's possible....

Leader speaks

Coach: Now what do you want to do more of in your meetings?

Leader speaks

Coach: Now what do you want to do less of? OR What do you want to build capacity around?

Leader speaks

Coach: Who do you want to be accountable to? or How will I know? Will you let me know how it goes in our next call?

For more info on how you might use them you may also want to refer to From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (page 73) or Effective Group Coaching.

How do you use the WHAT? SO WHAT? NOW WHAT? questions in your work? As always, please feel free to share below.

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC, BCC
GroupCoachingEssentials.com
(416)996-TEAM

Team and Group Coaching Tips - Coaching Many

Over the past few months I have been posting regular Coaching Many tips over at our Facebook page. I recognize not everyone is on Facebook or follows it regularly. Here are some of the recent Coaching Many tips I have posted:

Which of these tips is most important to your work right now? What's a priority?

Finally, what are you noticing about how your group and team coaching work is evolving? What are similarities across groupings? What is different?

Have a great week,
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)
Phone: (416)996-TEAM (8326)

Join me for an upcoming program including:
The Advanced Group Coaching Practicum (8 CCEs) - By phone Tuesdays 10:30 - 11:45 am ET: October 29, November 5, 12, 19, December 3 and 10 - 3 spots open
Mentor Coaching Group (For ACC Renewals and ACC/PCC Portfolio) - by phone Tuesdays 12 - 1 pm ET: October 29 to January 29 (10 hours - 7 hr group calls, 3 hour individual calls) - 3 spots open

Coaching Business Builder - Every Action has a Reaction

Today's Business Builder post is a reminder of a basic scientific principle "Every action has a reaction".

What action have you been undertaking in your work? What reaction are you getting? 

A sub-component of the ICF's core coaching skill of Designing Action is "Do it now!", supporting clients in taking action in the moment. What is the action you could take right now? What have you been putting off? What's the cost of this?

This month I will be speaking in both Michigan (ICF Michigan Statewide Fall Forum) and North Carolina to groups of coaches, many of whom are building their own coaching businesses. For those that might not be joining me for these presentations I wanted to point back to some of my favorite coaching business builder posts including:

Consistency and Tracking
Four Essential Systems for Any Coaching Business
Do they Know, Like and Trust You?
Notice Your Time Suckers

What's the action you want to focus on this week?

Have a great week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
GroupCoachingEssentials | Potentials Realized
Author of Effective Group Coaching and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching 

Upcoming Programs include:
Mentor Coaching Group (for ACC renewals and ACC/PCC portfolio) - on now, and starting October 29
Join me November 2-3 in Toronto Canada for the Group Coaching Intensive (15 CCEs) - two days of hands-on training in group coaching - 3 spots sill open
The Advanced Group Coaching Practicum (8 CCEs) starts by phone on October 29th (Tuesdays 10:30 - 11:45 am ET) - 3 spots open

 

September program offerings: Mentor Coaching Group starts Sept 30, Early Bird Intensive Rate

A quick note about a couple of program offerings starting in the next few weeks including the Group Coaching Essentials teleseminar (6.75 CCEs) and the Mentor Coaching Group.

The Group Coaching Essentials teleseminar is designed for coaches who are looking for tools and techniques to design, market and implement their own group coaching programs, whether in person or virtually, with corporate, non-profit or public groups. The program consists of 5 x 75 minute teleseminar classes with a maximum of 8 coaches. The program includes weekly module notes along with weekly 1-1 laser calls with course leader, Jennifer Britton, author of Effective Group Coaching and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching.


The October program will be held on Thursdays from 10 - 11:15 am Eastern: October 3, 10, 24, 31 and November 6, 2013.

For more information and to register you can visit this link. Cost is $425 and there are still four spots available.

The Mentor Coaching Group will also be held on Mondays from 10:30 - 11:30 am Eastern, starting September 30th and running to December 30th. It is geared for ACC renewals and ACC/PCC portfolio Sept 30, Oct 7, 28, Nov 4, 11, 18, Dec 9 and 30 (half hour call on 30tih of Sept and Dec). 
candidates, who are looking to sharpen their skills. We take a deep dive around the ICF core competencies and also give you an opportunity for practice and feedback on your skills. The Mentor Coaching Group will meet on

Cost for the 10 hour program is $1000 US or CDN (plus HST). Space is limited to 6 coaches. Click here for more info and to register (monthly payment installments available).

Finally, the early bird rate for the November 2-3 Group Coaching Intensive in Toronto is on until September 30th. Save $100 (plus HST) on your registration. This is a two-day in-person group coaching training program and is approved for 15 CCEs (including 13 hours of core competencies). We'll take a look at core topics including group dynamics, team versus group coaching, tricky issues, exercises/resources and also give you an opportunity to practice your group coaching skills and get feedback. More info, registration as well as 2014 dates are available at GroupCoachingIntensive.com.


Hope to have you join us!

Best wishes,
Jennifer

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

Team Coaching Characteristics

As someone who has been active in the context of team development for more than two decades, I am often asked what is the difference between team building, team coaching and other team interventions. I explore this topic of team coaching in my latest book From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013).

As I write in Chapter 6, some of the characteristics which are foundational to any team coaching context are that the work is:

• "Conversationally based.
• Sustained conversation: typically coaching takes place over multiple touch points
• Incorporates strengths work, key focus areas, goal setting and action planning
• Establishes, and revisits, team agreements. These team agreements become accepted ways for the tam to operate.
• May include some skill development so teams can achieve their goals or become more effective. For example, teams may struggle in having difficult conversations. Providing teas with a model, and some skill practice in this area, can be useful.
• Focused on outcomes including action and accountability.
• Deepened awareness around issues facing the team in the interpersonal and productivity realms."

Source: Britton, pp. 137-138, From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching, Jossey-Bass, 2013. All rights reserved.

How do you distinguish team coaching from other approaches? If you are undertaking team coaching, how do you describe your work to sponsors and teams? What differences do you notice in impact and focus for teams?

Have a great week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, PCC, CPCC
GroupCoachingEssentials.com | PotentialsRealized
Phone: (416)996-8326

Want to share this with others? Please link to this original post and include this excerpt:
Jennifer Britton, MES, PCC, CPT is known as a thought leader in the area of group coaching and brings extensive experience in working with teams and groups globally since the late 1980s. She is the author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013). Jennifer works with organizational clients in the areas of leadership development, coaching skills training, and teamwork. She also offers a number of ICF-approved CCE programs for professional coaches. She is the founder of Potentials Realized, a Canadian based performance improvement company. More information at GroupCoachingEssentials.com and Potentials Realized.com.

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.

 

 

Coaching Business Builder - What's Your Service and Product Offering Mix?

Recent research from the ICF has discovered that 94% of coaches offer more than just coaching

(Coaching World, May 2013). What is your mix of product and service offerings?

Whether we are new or experienced coaches and/or business owners it can be very useful to  consider what we are offering through our business. It’s very useful to consider what you are using at different price points, for different types of clients across the spectrum of the people you serve.

For coaches, it is possible that some of your service offerings may include:

• Coaching Services. Do you offer individual, team, group ccoaching? Partnership coaching (for business or relationships)
• Speaking Services
• Workshop or teleclass services
• Retreats
• Service areas in other areas of your expertise - list these:

Questions to Consider

What service offerings do you currently have? What additional services would your clients like you to offer? What would it take to create these?

Product offerings may include:

• White papers
• E-books
• Manuals
• Journals

The CoachingToys.com site showcases the creative spectrum of what is available to coaches as products. 

Questions to consider:

What products do you want to develop in your business? What are your clients looking for right now?

What is currently available in the marketplace or for your clients? What is not?

What would it take for you to develop new products?

Consider what products you may offer at no cost, low cost and higher price points.

What products and services do you have to offer at each price point?

  

I touch on the idea of considering your overall product and services offerings and funnel as in the digital marketing chapter of my new book, From One to Many: Best Practices for Team andGroup Coaching. We also explore it in one of our group calls during the 90 DayBizSuccess for Coaches program, starting again this September.

In closing, what are the core mainstays of your business right now? What do your clients really, really want? What changes may you make in the upcoming months? What do you want to be doing more of?

Have a great weekend!

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC, CPCC

Group Coaching Essentials | Potentials Realized

Phone: (416)996-8326