What is group coaching?

Group coaching is coaching that is done with many people at once versus on a 1:1 basis. Group coaching can take place online or in-person, and often uses video conferencing to facilitate sessions.

Group coaching that takes place online has traditionally been hosted across a series of platforms, from Facebook Groups to Zoom. Other community platforms, which are built to foster connections between members, offer features that are tailored to the needs of online coaching groups with features that encourage the interactions that make group coaching genuinely valuable, like direct & group messaging between members, public forums for posting and livestreaming, video hosting, and video storage.

Is group coaching successful?

Group coaching is can be just as successful—or even more so—as 1:1 coaching, particularly if there are many people meeting around a shared set of very similar issues. Other people opening up about challenges often encourages others to do the same, so each participant can add value to the group through their own personal experiences. Some members of group coaching practices say that others in the group act as “mirrors reflecting back at them,” which can be effective in addressing one’s own issues—and finding solutions to them.

What are the benefits of group coaching?

For coaches, it allows them to serve many people at the same time—and it’s something they often turn to when many clients in a busy individual coaching practice have similar issues. For members—just like in an online community—the value is in each new member that joins the group: Other people opening up about challenges often encourages others to do the same, so each participant enriches the group as a whole through their own personal experiences.

Coaches who move online also have ways to add value to members by providing different formats for their members: Adding online courses around a skill set can expand and reinforce what’s learned in class, there’s constant access to any materials used, and leaders can easily go "live" and live stream within their network. Most importantly, members that make connections during group sessions have ways to develop relationships outside of those sessions through features like public forums, private messaging, and the ability to plan meetups or mastermind groups in the real world.

Now Read: 5 Best Group Coaching Software Picks