One way to help people go far beyond one-on-one coaching is with Group Coaching.
Many other types of professions include working with groups: therapy groups, twelve-step groups, and mommy and me groups, to name just a few.
I started my own group coaching very early on in my coaching career by leading a book club. I was green as a coach, but I had facilitated book clubs before, so trying out how coaching might work with a group seemed easy.
I was really surprised at how very different that experience was from my previous book clubs. I found myself coaching individuals to have them see what moved them about the book, to look at their values, and to notice what they felt resistant about.
The book was Taming Your Gremlin by Rick Carson.
This book was once used in my training program, and what we now refer to as the saboteur, we called a gremlin. The advantage I had with this book group was that the book was already focused on self-awareness of what gets in the way of fulfillment.
My goal with this book club was to see how coaching worked in a group and to give people a taste of my coaching, followed by a free session and a pitch to become a private client.
Maybe it was beginner’s luck or because group coaching was a natural fit for me and my personality, but this first endeavor worked out really well for me and my business.
I discovered that coaching in a group setting was a way of helping people learn about themselves and grow by using my coaching skills with individuals and the group itself.
I was helping individuals bring their own wisdom forward, creating a safe and courageous space that made it possible for them to share from their hearts, the vulnerable truth, which made others feel okay about their own vulnerable sharing, and they were able to support each other in a way that was not caretaking or making wrong.
This early success kicked off my coaching business, and group coaching became the bedrock of my business from that point on.
After a decade of experimenting with various group coaching offers, I found two types that worked for me and continually helped me build my business.
One was much like the book club, only I used my own curriculum as the base. Curriculum-based group coaching with a series or a one-off workshop that brought people together for a few hours.
Then, I offered what I call a process-oriented type of group coaching. I facilitated coaching circles, which I called Alchemy Circles. The group was able to alchemize the fears and doubts the participants had into gold. The gold of their own truth.
This one aspect of my business was so fulfilling and financially fruitful that when I pivoted from Relationship Coaching to Business Coaching, I knew I wanted to help other coaches create their own group coaching programs.
The Group Coaching Masterclass was my very first offering at Soul Driven Success Business Academy!
To my surprise, though, I found that my coaching niche had a big impact on how I structured my groups.
It was a bit of a learning curve for me. I had assumed that the business coaching groups would be more intellectual and less emotional. That has not been the case!
I bring this up because you might be considering your own group coaching program. Along with the two types of groups or a combo, you will also want to consider your niche, the group of people you will be offering this program to.
My Group Coaching Masterclass has evolved to Group Coaching Mastery, which is now an online course that, of course, includes group coaching!
To give you a taste, I am offering a free workshop where I will help you explore the type of group coaching that is right for you and your niche, learn how to construct a group coaching experience, and discover the marketing of a group coaching program.
The workshop is happening on Monday, October 27, at 11:00 AM PT. Join my free community and register right here.
If you are considering starting your own group coaching and have been hesitating, I encourage you to go for it!
Bringing the magic of coaching to a group can be fulfilling for you, beneficial for others, and good for evolving your coaching business.
Ep. 52 – [Encore] Kat Knecht – How to Launch and Grow a Group Coaching Program
