Winter, 2006

Coaching Mastery News is a monthly newsletter for professionals committed to excellence in coaching. Each issue focuses on a theme that emerges in coaching relationships. What questions or issues would you like to see addressed in Coaching Mastery News? Email your suggestions to Lisa@livingwithintention.com. Your feedback and questions are greatly appreciated. If you wish to share this newsletter with your network, please pass it along! If you would like to unsubscribe, simply send me an email with unsubscribe CMN in the subject line.

-Lisa Kramer

 
   

 

Group Coaching: An Empowerment Model for Clients

Many coaches seek out creative ways to enhance their coaching skills while expanding their businesses. Group coaching is a wonderful blend of coaching and facilitation that enables coaches to work with several clients simultaneously. It is an ideal way to provide cost effective coaching to prospective clients who may not be able to afford individual coaching or who may be interested in a group coaching model. The beauty of group coaching for participants is that it enables them to hear a variety of perspectives and to share the knowledge and wisdom from their own life experiences with each other. The ultimate benefit is that participants are empowered to become their own best coaches.

A Group Coaching Model**

There are a variety of models for group coaching. The following model is one that I have developed over my 25 year history leading psychoeducational groups, therapy groups and coaching groups. When planning a coaching group, it is helpful to consider the following four questions:

  • Who is your ideal participant?
  • What is the time frame for the group?
  • What is the fee for each participant?
  • How will the group be structured?

The Ideal Participant
As you consider forming a group, who is the ideal participant you want to attract? As a mentor-coach, my ideal participants are coaches who wish to hone their coaching skills, build their businesses and experience their own personal coaching. They are individuals who love to learn, to share with others and are committed to their own personal growth and professional development.

It is extremely important to have a clear picture of the ideal group participant so that you can target your marketing efforts toward those individuals and rule out prospects who would not be a good fit with your group.

The Time Frame
The time frame encompasses the duration and frequency of the group, as well as the actual length of time per meeting. The duration of the group typically falls into three categories:

  • open-ended: an ongoing group that meets over an extended period of time and adds new participants as ‘old’ members move on from the group
  • time-limited: a group that meets for a pre-determined number of sessions, e.g. four meetings in one month. Selected participants begin and end with the group.
  • hybrid: a group that meets for a pre-determined number of sessions with selected participants, e.g. three times per month for three months. At the end of the time frame, the group begins again with some of the original participants as well as new participants for another pre-determined number of sessions.

In my mentor-coaching groups, I use a hybrid time frame. Participants make a three month commitment to the group, and at the end of the three months, I invite new coaches to participate. The existing participants may choose to continue with the group for another three months.

In terms of the length of time per session, I have a rule of thumb based on the number of participants in each group. For a group of four, we meet three times per month for 60 minutes each time. For more than four, we meet twice a month for 90 minutes. I limit my groups to six participants. That allows enough time for every participant to have an opportunity to be coached each time we meet.

The Fee Structure
To determine your fee structure, first decide the amount you want to earn per group hour and work backwards from there. For example, if you wish to earn no less than $200 per group hour, and you will have between four and six participants, you can charge $150 per person per month and earn between $200 and $300 per hour if you meet for three hours per month. This is an affordable fee for clients to pay for coaching and a desirable fee for most coaches to earn per hour, making it a win-win!

The Group Structure
Once you’ve answered the first three questions, it’s time to determine what will actually occur each time the group meets. Unlike a teleclass where there is specific content covered in each meeting, a group is less content-driven and more participant-focused. This is where the facilitation skills of each coach are called forth.

  • Pre-group meeting: I recommend a pre-group meeting with each prospective participant to determine the goodness-of-fit. This gives you an opportunity to explain the purpose of the group as well as to find out about the prospective participant. Questions to ask: What does he/she hope to accomplish in the group? Has he/she had any previous group experiences? If so, what was it like? Ideally, you want to enroll motivated individuals who can make a positive contribution to the group as well as receive their own benefits.
  • Welcome Packet*: I use a Group Coaching Welcome Packet that I email to each participant once they enroll in the group. The Welcome Packet includes an inventory; group coaching agreement; prep form as well as some additional items that are used to structure the group for each participant.
  • First group meeting: Once the group gets underway, it is up to the group leader to co-create an atmosphere of trust and safety with the participants. I recommend setting some guidelines with the group initially so that each person knows what is expected of him/her and what will occur in each meeting. This includes setting expectations of each participant and the leader; addressing each other in a coach-like manner; determining what participants would like from the group; confidentiality.
  • Each group meeting: I begin each meeting with a check-in which gives each person an opportunity to set their agenda for that meeting. I also use a group coaching prep form and request that everyone complete it for each meeting and email it to me and to the other participants. During each meeting, participants have an opportunity to receive coaching from me and the other participants and to share their knowledge and wisdom with one another. There is a gradual shift that occurs as the group bonds where the leader is less active and the group begins to coach itself. Thus the power of the group model!

* For a copy of the Welcome Packet, send an email to: lisa@livingwithintention.com
**For consultation on creating a coaching group, contact Lisa Kramer at lisa@livingwithintention.com

Spring Mentor-Coaching Groups beginning in March – for more information, contact Lisa Kramer at lisa@livingwithintention.com


Announcing a ground-breaking approach to working with couples!

Loving with Intention: A Guide for Relationship Coaching
by Lisa Kramer

Loving with Intention, the second book in the Coaching Mastery™ series, is for coaches, counselors & therapists, marriage educators and clergy who are interested in learning more about the growing niche of relationship coaching. For more information go to: http://www.livingwithintention.com

“Relationship coaching has emerged as an important process for couples who want to create conscious and loving relationships. Lisa Kramer‘s Conscious Relationship Coaching Model™ described in Loving with Intention combines well thought out theory with a “heart and soul“ approach to working with couples. I highly recommend it!”
Patrick Williams, EdD, MCC
CEO , Institute for Life Coach Training
Co-author: Total Life Coaching: 50+ Life Lessons, Skills and Techniques to Enhance Your Practice and Your Life

“Loving with Intention offers coaches and therapists an enriching new approach for working with couples from a coaching perspective. Building on Imago relationship theory, Lisa has developed a fabulous model to assist couples to achieve the relationship of their dreams. Lisa uses her excellent writing skills, her obvious depth of knowledge and great examples to guide the reader towards the development of relationship coaching skills. As a therapist and coach who works extensively with couples, Loving with Intention has greatly enhanced my skills and confidence in my work with couples.“
Michelle Bihary
Managing Director, The Delta Centre
Melbourne, Australia
www.thedeltacentre.com.au

Available in e-book or printed copy. Order your copy today!

Cost : $24.95 plus s & h

 

Upcoming Events in 2006

April 4 – May 23: Relationship Coaching with Couples
(Free Intro Call – March 14 – 3pm EST)
Led by Lisa Kramer, Faculty
Institute for Life Coach Training - Advanced Coaching Class
Do you coach couples or are you looking to expand your coaching practice to include couples? This eight-week teleclass will provide you with a coaching model and structure for working with couples who want to create more fulfilling relationships in their lives. For more information visit: Here

Here’s what one participant has to say about the teleclass: "Lisa Kramer's teleclass on Relationship Coaching for Couples is the most comprehensive and well-designed class I've ever taken as a coach. She models excellence in coaching while she is facilitating the class. Her supporting materials, including the guidebook she wrote along with handouts to give clients, are superb. Equally important, the field works assignments she mandates as part of the class truly helped me quite rapidly build competence in coaching couples. Learning from Lisa has been one of best coaching investments."
--Gail Kauranen Jones, personal and business coach specializing in transition

Life Coaching With Couples ~ The NEW Profession
Led by Patrick Williams and Lisa Kramer
June 22: 10th Annual Smart Marriages Conference in Atlanta, GA
For more information visit: http://www.smartmarriages.com/williams.html
July 15: National Wellness Conference – University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, WI
For more information visit: http://www.nationalwellness.org/TheConference2k4/index.php


 

Copyright © 2006. Permission is granted to reproduce, copy, or distribute the Coaching Mastery™ News as long as nothing is added, changed, or deleted, and this copyright notice is attached. The author is Lisa Kramer, Living with Intention Coaching, Training and Coaching Mastery™ www.livingwithintention.com