by Sarah Philipp, Director of Learning at Nudge Coach
In this post you’ll learn all about the group coaching model, from creating a group coaching framework, to how to run your group coaching sessions.
The COVID pandemic sparked unprecedented mass adoption of video conferencing platforms. According to ZoomInfo data, Zoom adoption rose by 418% in just 2-months in early 2020.
Soon after, the coaching industry flocked to online coaching tools. And ever since, we’ve seen a clear and steady increase in the development of group coaching programs over one-on-one coaching.
Why have group coaching models become so popular among successful online coaches? What makes a group coaching program effective and successful? And how can you take advantage of group coaching in your business? In this post, we’ll explore these questions.
But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s align on the basics.
What Is Group Coaching?
Group coaching programs allow a coach to work with multiple clients at one time, sometimes with the option to interact with each other in a community outside of the sessions.
If you’ve wondered how you can scale your coaching business without sacrificing personal touch, group coaching could be a great option.
A lot of coaches start off with a one-on-one coaching model, then pivot to a hybrid model or different model altogether when they reach a limit in how many clients they can schedule and/or how much they can charge each client.
Another great reason to incorporate group coaching is as a value add for self-guided or cohort courses. For example, if you have a course that is priced at $149, you could add a group coaching option for an additional $79.
What’s the difference between a group coaching session and a webinar?
While they are both a platform meant for speaking to many people at once, these are not interchangeable. A webinar is a great way to connect with prospective clients and give them a chance to learn about your approach, style, etc. Webinars are usually either free or a low price point, and about a specific topic. Group coaching allows you to cover multiple topics depending on where the conversation goes.
Is group coaching less effective than one-on-one coaching?
Not necessarily! They are just different. As a coach, you won’t be very effective if someone can’t afford to work with you. One of the pros of group coaching is the service is usually more affordable.
It’s also an excellent option for folks who feel isolated in their journey. They are able to connect with others working on similar things or experiencing similar obstacles. Group coaching can offer support and connectedness.
How To Create Your Group Coaching Framework
One of the most important things when starting a group coaching program is to get specific about your onboarding process and client experience.
Expect to have less time and bandwidth to spend with individual clients, which is why you’ll want to streamline as much of this part of your program as possible. Consider creating onboarding videos and tutorials for some, if not all, of your onboarding process.
Two popular ways to offer group coaching
While we explore in more depth the nuts and bolts of different group coaching models in other posts, the two most popular structures are Memberships and Cohort-based coaching programs.
Membership (ongoing)
Memberships are ongoing offerings meant more to remind than to educate, and are typically a lower price point than your transformational offerings. Since clients have presumably already reached their goal, this is an opportunity to help them sustain their results and stay connected.
Cohort Program (fixed start and end dates)
Everyone in this program starts and ends on the same day. One example of a cohort program is a Masterclass. The information is more general than with one-on-one coaching, and group sessions are meant to help clients relate to the educational material, help encourage behavior changes, and answer any questions. Coaches may run these kinds of programs seasonally, quarterly, or bi-annually.
In-person vs Zoom
This just depends on which is better for you, your business, and your clients. You can still build a thriving in-person coaching business in your local market! There’s exclusivity in being potentially one of few coaches offering in-person services in your area. That gives you a unique opportunity to build a high-end service that provides a blend of the personal attention and social support that many potential coaching clients yearn for.
However, if your coaching offering is too niche for a local market, if you want to reach more people and scale, or if you simply prefer working online, Zoom sessions are a great option.
Online group coaching sessions usually need a bit more structure, but both are effective options.
It’s important to remind clients to stay focused during online sessions and resist the urge to multi-task. They’ll only get out of the session what they put into the session.
How to price your group coaching packages
There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to pricing.
However, it’s common to start by charging about half of what you charge (or would charge) for your one-one-one coaching. You can always raise prices in future cohorts as you add new benefits to the program, or just as your reputation grows and demand increases.
Remember that access to you as the coach is the major source of value, so price accordingly.
How many touchpoints (if any) will clients have with you outside of group sessions? This can be via direct messages or responding to trackers.
How involved in Communities will you be? The more touchpoints with you, the higher the price should be.
How To Run A Group Coaching Session
You may or may not be used to setting topics in your one-on-one coaching sessions. With group coaching sessions, it’s a must.
Sometimes, the stars will align with a really engaged and open group and you can improvise with the topics you cover during that session. However, more often than not, it’s important to choose a topic ahead of time to keep the session on track.
You can even let clients know ahead of time what you plan on covering that session, so they can prepare thoughts and questions. While it’s all well-and-good to get an authentic, in-the-moment reaction to an unplanned question, putting clients on the spot in a group setting is a huge risk.
Doing so in the wrong moment or too often can erode the trust you’ve earned from that client and even make others uncomfortable, so when in doubt, share the topics in advance!
What is a good group coaching session structure?
Start of the session:
Acknowledge everyone who made it to the session. We know, as coaches, that simply showing up is a win. Also, emphasize the importance of starting and ending the sessions on time.
During the session:
Ask clients what wins/obstacles they’ve experienced since last time. If you’ve selected a topic for that session (highly recommended) go into that, and tie in as many of the obstacles that your clients mentioned as possible. Make it all as relevant to them as you can.
End of the session:
Have each person identify their specific goals for the time in-between sessions.
If you’re using an online coaching tool like Nudge, check-in with them via Messages or in the Group’s Community. Or, just make a note of the goal, and follow up during the next session.
According to he most common practice (reported by 41% of coaches) is to meet once per week.
Half of all coaching session conversations are between 30 and 39 minutes. The second most popular length for a coaching session was 60 to 69 minutes.
Where To Get Started
If you want to try a group coaching offering, but aren’t sure where to start, try starting with a group challenge. To set this up in your Nudge account:
1. Create a new group.
2. Turn on a leaderboard for that group, and select which metric you’d like to feature as your challenge (steps, sales calls, acts of kindness, anything clients can track numerically).
3. Create any other content you’d like for this group/challenge.
4. Assign that content to your challenge group (auto-assign or open enrollment sequence).
5. Invite your audience!
While you’ll likely start by working one-on-one with clients, group coaching can be a fun, scalable and efficient way to help clients and take your business to the next level.
The lessons you learn from your initial one-on-one coaching clients - the common challenges and breakthroughs they are experiencing - can be used to streamline and standardize the right parts of your program so that your group coaching sessions can be just as impactful as working one-on-one.
Are you considering starting a new group coaching program? Have you had success with group coaching? We’d love to hear from you. If you want help setting it up in Nudge, our experienced team would love to help
