Three Strategies for Running a Group Coaching Program that Gets Your Client Results
Perhaps you’ve decided to launch your first group coaching program and are excited to help your clients discover the many benefits of working in a small group setting to get results. Or maybe you’ve tried one (or several) and your clients aren’t getting the results you’d dreamed they would.
Either way, an important question to be able to answer is this:
What are the keys to running a group program that changes lives and makes a lasting impact?
This blog will break down three strategies for running a group coaching program to help you do exactly that with more ease and joy!
Our intention is that you’ll find inspiration and ideas here that will leave you feeling energized and ready to take the next step by implementing these strategies into your next group program!
Group Coaching Programs Can Facilitate Massive Transformation
For more than a decade, we here at Healthy Habits for Life have been coaching coaches to create effective group programs that result in amazing success stories, excited testimonials, and lasting change. We’ve changed thousands of lives through a proven framework and structure that creates a sense of community amongst group members and helps them achieve their goals.
We know that people who participate in group coaching programs are twice as likely to stay consistent and get better results than those who go it alone.
We know that there is power in groups!
Here are the strategies we’ve employed to 1) create a safe environment for all participants, 2) show up as an engaged coach rather than just the “giver of information,” and 3) find your own community and support system as a coach. These three keys will help you to increase your results and effectiveness and raise the confidence you have in facilitating a group coaching program of your own.
#1 Safety is Key
When considering moving from individual to group coaching, a key factor for many coaches is they worry participants will not open up to one another or feel as safe and trusting in a group setting. What we know to be true is that a group setting often fosters a strong sense of community, a deep bond, and connection amongst participants, and can actually increase compliance!
It comes down to creating the container by establishing a judgment-free zone and fostering vulnerable, beautiful, empathetic conversations where people can talk about their stuff without fear.
As a coach, you can set up a space that feels safe for all by being a leader in opening up to richer conversations. You can foster a sense of safety by listening more than you speak/share and allowing trust and camaraderie to build amongst members of the group, with you as the guide.
You can help remind your small group that you’re all in this together, at the same time, in the same place, working on things together and supporting one another.
The group coaching setting is a place to learn from one another, laugh together, and encourage each other.
When your clients see you bringing your own humanity and sharing your struggles openly, it gives them full permission to be human, too, and makes the community you’re creating even tighter.
As a coach, be open to sharing your experiences honestly and you’ll find your groups are more effective and get even better results.
#2 You’re the Guide, not the “Teacher”
Sometimes coaches put a whole lot of pressure on themselves to know every answer to every question that might, maybe, some day could come there way. They expect themselves to be true experts on whatever topic they’re discussing and be a walking, talking encyclopedia about the topic. If you recognize yourself here, first take a slow, deep breath and also recognize that that is not realistic and that nobody, I repeat; nobody expects that from you (or anyone, for that matter).
We get caught up in expecting so much from ourselves that we can get in our own way and forget about what is really important: the people in our groups don’t need us to be an “expert.” They need us to be present and supportive and human.
And if someone does ask you a question that you don’t know the answer to? Let them know that that is a great question, you’re going to do some research to make sure you give them the correct answer, and then follow through! That’s really all there is to it!
Chances are, your clients have read a lot of books, listened to a lot of podcasts, and watched every YouTube video there is about the topic you’re working on. Yet, they’re probably still struggling (or else they probably wouldn’t be in your group!). People can read and learn a whole lot about something and still struggle to implement it and get changes and results for themselves.
Watching and reading about something isn’t enough.
Your small group coaching participants need to know they are supported and safe in making change.
In the Healthy Habits for Life program, the structure is designed, not as a series of lectures, but as an opportunity for meaningful conversations. While we’re building and creating successful habits together, the program doesn’t go into the deep science of habits. Consider this in your own group program.
Speaking specifically about the Healthy Habits for Life program, this is one of the benefits of a program that’s already created for you. It gives you a structure to focus on each topic broadly while still having the flexibility to shine a spotlight on the actual, real-life habits of each person.
For example, if you’re simply told, “drink more water,” it can be frustrating when you hit a wall and can’t actually successfully implement it. What an effective group coaching program offers here is a chance for the participants to come together with your guidance (and strong program materials) and discuss what’s getting in their way and troubleshoot solutions together.
Running effective group coaching gives everyone a chance to chime in and be a part of the educational process as they share their own experiences, struggles, and successes. Through your guidance and coaching, they learn to be the true expert on what works for them. Isn’t that really what it’s all about? Talk about a true win-win!
The impact of working on these habits together can be dramatic for your clients.
Our job as the coach is to give our clients relevant skills, strategies, and different techniques and approaches to help them achieve their goals. We figure out ways to motivate them and to build up their strengths. With successful group coaching, you guide your participants through lively and heartfelt conversations and show them how small changes can transform their lives.
Your clients are going to be more compliant because of the small group dynamic.
If you want to make your small group coaching program more effective, focus on leading each session as a conversation, not a lecture. Focus on being just as much a part of the group as you are the facilitator. You’re guiding and supporting them, and they’re supporting each other. They’re trying things out, they’re making mistakes, they’re having successes and you’re there as their guide, but it’s not your job to educate or fix anyone.
#3 Your Group Coaching Program Will be More Effective When YOU Are Supported
Coaches tend to see their work as solitary. But having support yourself as a coach is equally as important as when you are working to support your clients in transformation.
For licensees of the Healthy Habits for Life program, we have a community built just for our coaches where they can ask one another questions, share resources, and get support for themselves.
We don’t want anyone out there alone trying to figure all this out.
Whether you license our program or choose to embark on the journey of group coaching through another avenue, we believe one of the huge keys to a successful group coaching program is having a community around you with others doing what you’re doing.
You need a community supporting you along the way too to help increase your confidence and help you go further faster than you could on your own.
If you’re ready to increase your impact and run group coaching programs that are more effective and get more results for your participants, we encourage you to check out becoming a licensee of our Healthy Habits for Life program.
It will get you started right away creating a safe and supportive atmosphere for your participants, step in as the guide, and be surrounded by a community of coaches doing what you’re doing!
It will help your group coaching program be more effective as your clients take charge of their own habits and experience life-changing results.
When you license this ready-made group program, here’s what is included:
