Four ways to spark deeper dialogue within your groups

Group coaching is about a conversation amongst group members. Many new coaches feel

uncomfortable with the silence that can emerge in the space needed for reflection, pause and entry into that place of deeper dialogue.

Four ways coaches may consider sparking deeper dialogue include:

1. Provide pre-work, an inquiry, or have the group design an assignment in the last session which will get them thinking about that week's topic.

2. Leave structured time for pausing and writing as part of your process. Bring in music or a timer to formally mark the reflection time. Reflective writing could range from a journal question, to an inquiry, to mindmapping, to working around people's vision.

3. In larger groups, and the virtual domain, utilize breakouts and pairs. Get people connecting in different ways during the actual group coaching session, and in smaller groups so they can share more of their insights, more frequently with each other. Provide one or more questions to get the groups started in dialogue.

4. Create learning pairs/buddies for the entire program (or part of the program if it is longer) so that people do get to know each other at a deeper level, and trust each other more. These deeper connections may provide for deeper conversations quicker, inside and outside of the room/phone.

What other approaches do you use to spark deeper dialogue in your groups? As always, please feel free to comment below.

Warm regards,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
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)
 (416)996-8326

Two quick announcements.....
9 Days to go for the two day in person Group and Team Coaching Intensive (19 CCEs) training. Ready to get started and immerse yourself? Take a deep dive into these two sub-disciplines on the weekend of November 7-8 (19 CCEs with the ICF including 17 hrs of core competenices)! Save 15 % when you register with a colleague. Click here to reserve your spot.

Also a quick reminder to join Thursday's Group Coaching Design Studio(TM) Blab. During this complimentary 30 minute blab (online call) I'll be getting back to the basics of group coaching looking at Questions and Connection. I'll also open up the chair for you to join me with your questions. The blab will run from 945-1015 am ET/New York Thursday October 29th. You'll be able to find the link at https://blab.im/jennbritton.

Group Coaching Design Studio - Inaugual Blab - October 22, 2015

As many of you know I like to experiment with new technologies in service of community, education and learning. I am exctied to announce that I hosted my first blab this morning! If you haven't heard about blab yet, it's a neat new platform which can bring people together for conversation. From my experience this morning I also see it as a great vehicle for educational snippets and dialogue.

I'll be hosting my next blab  - the Group Coaching Design Studio (TM)  Blab - on Thursday October 29th from 945 - 1015 am Eastern. You'll need an internet connection and Twitter account.

You can view this week's inaugural blab where I cover off some of the benefits of group coaching, do a short piece on vision work (with the Conversation Sparker card deck), and then opened the mic!

You can view the replay here (26 minutes) - Enjoy!

Hope that you will join me next week for our 2nd blab - 945 - 1015 am ET on Thursday October 29th. The link should be https://blab.im/jennbritton-group-coaching-design-studio-jennifer-britton-author-effective-group-coaching-3 (and you can also always search on the date of programming where I am "online live" in case the link does not work).

If you have program ideas - things you'd like covered, or questions you have, please let me know as I'm looking forward to hosting several more of these.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
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)
 (416)996-8326
Join us for an upcoming program including the Group Coaching Essentials teleseminar starting Oct 29th at 1030 am ET (8.75 CCEs) or the Advanced Group Coaching Practicum (10CCEs) starting Friday Oct 30th at 145 pm m ET. There are also a few spots open in our 2 day training - Group and Team Coaching Intensive (19 CCEs) - being held the weekend of November 7-8 (19 CCEs)

Coaching Toolbox - Powerful Questions

In my book, From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching, I write that "Questions form the backbone of any coaching conversation".

Powerful questions are one of the eleven core coaching competencies with the International Coach Federation (ICF). Whether we coach full-time or incorporate coaching skills into our conversations, having a variety of coaching questions to draw upon create a more powerful conversation.

Today's blog post focuses on five resources you may want to explore as you build your resource base around questions:

1. Coaching Questions  - A Coaches' Guide to Powerful Asking Questions -Tony Stoltzfus
2. Change Your Questions, Change Your Life - Marilee Adams
   
3. Co-Active Coaching Book- Kimsey-House, Kimsey-House
4. Appreciative Coaching - Orem, Binkert and Clancy
5. QBasics - Open Ended Questions from Marcy Nelson-Garrison at CoachingToys.com 

What other resources would you recommend around the art of questioning?

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
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)
 
Looking to expand your tools for groups and teams? Join us in Toronto the weekend of November 7-8 for the Group and Team Coaching Intensive (19 CCEs). Register with a colleague and each receive a discount on your registration. 

Group Coaching Essentials starts October 15 and Group and Team Coaching Intensive runs November 7-8, 2015

Looking to launch your own group coaching work this fall and winter, or  have a new request come up for team coaching? Join me virtually later this week for the Group Coaching Essentials teleseminar, as we Thursdays from 10:30 - 11:45 am ET on October 15, 29, November 5, 12, 19.

take a five week look at the foundations and best practices of Group Coaching - design, marketing, implementation and resources. The program is approved for 8.75 CCEs with the ICF. Each week you will have short assignments to breathe life into your program ideas, while we use the call time looking at examples, and also modelling some of the approaches you may use in your own work. The Group Coaching Essentials teleseminar will be held on

If you prefer to learn face to face, join me in Toronto in a few weeks for the Group and Team Coaching Intensive on the weekend of November 7 and 8th. We'll be widening the lens to look at both group and team coaching - best practices, approaches, and we will give you several opportunities to practice leading group and team coaching conversations over the two days. This program is approved for 19 CCEs with the ICF (including 17 hours of core competencies).

Listen in as I talk more about the program and what you can expect to get out of it

Hope to see you either online for the Essentials teleseminar program (8.75 CCEs) later this week (4 spots open) or on November 7-8 here in Toronto (5 spots open) for the Group and Team Coaching Intensive (19 CCEs).

Best wishes,
Jennifer


Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
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)
 (416)996-8326

Coaching Toolbox - Time Management

Wordle crerated at Wordle.net

As coaches we are not content experts AND it's always important to have a number of resources we point our clients to around key issues we are coaching them around. In this new series I will be suggesting a number of my favorite "go-to" resources I recommend to clients  (individuals, groups and teams) when I find myself coaching around.

I'm going to start with time management. Whether our clients are struggling with "doing more with less" or finding better balance (in whatever balance means for them), outside of the coaching conversation clients are often very eager to explore topics around time mangement and priorities.

Several key resources I often refer my clients onto are

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Steven Covey

First Things First - Covey, Merrill, Merrill

Get it Done Guy - Stever Robbins

Overwhelmed - Brigid Schulte

168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think - Laura Vanderkam

MindTools.com - They have created so many great resources and articles - from Time Management to Delegation, many of my clients have their "content" needs satiated and create that information as a foundation for our coaching exploration.

In terms of coaching tools, work around the Wheel of Life, priorities and values is part of the terrain we usually explore.

What resources would you recommend to others around time management? As always, please comment below.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
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)
 
Looking to expand your tools for groups and teams? Join us in Toronto the weekend of November 7-8 for the Group and Team Coaching Intensive (19 CCEs). Register with a colleague and each receive a discount on your registration.

Three Core Elements of Any Group Coaching Process

Group coaching processes continue to be very diverse - ranging from one month programs, to one year programs, with support to business owners, mid-level managers to stay-at-home moms. What is similar

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across these are common elements, making them coaching and not training, facilitation or something else.

Fist, goals. Every coaching process is grounded in goals. Part of what you will want to do at the start, or before the start of the program/process, is have individual group members identify their key goals for your work together. This will help the group identify common theme areas, as well as create the iniital baseline and traction for individual group members to participate. What are you doing to create opportunities for your group members to articulate and share their goals?

Group coaching is also a sustained conversation space. As I have written many times, "it's an intimate conversation space" (From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching). our focus on support for accountability, action and awareness is key. For a group to be considered a coaching gorup as part of an ICF coaching log there can be no more than 15 members. As we add more members to the group it becomes more a facilitated discussion, than coaching space. What are you doing to maximize the impact of these regular touch points? What numbers are optimal for your work?

Peer involvement is another essential condition for any group coaching process. Group members tend get as much out of the process from their interactions with each other, as they do with the coach. Consider how you can maximize peer interaction in a way that works well for your group, whether it's through breakouts in virtual calls, learning partners throughout a program, or linkages through journalling or other tech platforms. What approaches do you want to use in fostering peer connection?

As you move into your own programming and/or planning this fall with groups, what other elements do you see as foundational?

Have a great week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
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)

Prefer in person learning? Join us in Toronto the weekend of November 7-8 for the Group and Team Coaching Intensive (19 CCEs). Six spots still open. Register with a colleague and each receive a discount on your registration.

September programs - Advanced Group Coching (10 CCEs), Mentor Coaching Group and Group Coaching Essentials

It's back to work for many of us with Labor Day just behind us. Here is what's on tap in terms of program offerings I have for Coaches in the month of September:

Mentor Coaching Group (for ACC Renewals and ACC/PCC Applications with ICF) - 10 hours
This ten hour program meets the requirements for ICF mentor coaching for those working towards their ACC or PCC portfolio/ATSCH or ACC Renewals. The program is geared to support you in sharpening your skills as a coach, while deepending your understanding of the 11 core competencies of the ICF. You

also receive feedback on your coaching skills as demonstrated in the coaching lab. 7 of the hours are in small group setting (3-5 coaches typically) and 3 hours of individual mentor coaching are scheduled with Jennifer. Cost: $1000 US or CDN (plus HST)
The fall groups will meet on Fridays. Choose from either 9-10 am ET or 12 - 1 pm ET. Group calls will be held on September 11, 18, 25, October 2, 16, 30 and December 11 plus an additional 3 hours of individual coaching hours will be scheduled with you (one hour a month for the three months)
Cost: $1000 US or CDN (plus HST) for the 10 hour program. Payable in one or 3 monthly installments. Click here to learn more or register.


Advanced Group Coaching Practicum (10 CCEs) Fridays 1015 - 11:30 am Eastern/7:15 - 830 am Pacific (September 11, 18, 25, October 2, 9 and 16) - 3 spots
Looking for more practice in group coaching and getting a deeper understanding of group coaching? Geared for coaches, the program includes 6 x 75 minute group calls, 5 individual 15 minute 1-1 calls with me, along with weekly module notes full of more ideas, templates, and resources to support you in your work, along with audio and video tips.
Through practice and dialogue we take a deeper dive around group coaching topics including:

•  Core skills and techniques in group coaching
• Tricky issues in group coaching
• Engagement, systems and support for group coaching
• Virtual programming best practices (webinars, teleseminars/teleclasses, group coaching by phone)
• Co-Facilitation and Co-Leadership
• Advanced Issues in Marketing Group Coaching
• Advanced Design Issues in Group Coaching

Each coach will have at least one opportunity to lead a 25 minute group coaching session as part of our class, and will receive written and verbal feedback on their skills. This will give you an opportunity to see different styles and approaches for group coaching at play. We will also hold our calls in different virtual environments so you get to experience them for yourself - bridgelines, skype, Zoom, etc.
Cost: $495 US. Course is approved for 10 CCEs with the ICF including 9.25 hours of core competencies. Click here to register and learn more. 

Group Coaching Essentials - 8.75 CCEs - 5 spots
Tuesdays 9:15 - 10:30 am ET - September 15, 22, 29, October 6 and 13, 2015
Our flagship course, the Group Coaching Essentials teleseminar provides coaches with road-tested tips and best practices around designing, implementing and marketing your own group coaching programs. Whether you are offering corporate or public groups, virtual or in-person groups, you can benefit from the rich content, modelling of approaches, weekly assignments to draft your own program and learning with a small group of peers. Five 75  minute calls and weekly laser 1-1s with me, along with a robust 80 page set of module notes. Cost: $425 US. Click here to learn more and register.

Questions? Don't hesitate to reach out and contact me directly at (416)996-8326.
I hope that you will consider joining us!

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
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)

Prefer in person learning? Join us in Toronto the weekend of November 7-8 for the Group and Team Coaching Intensive (19 CCEs).