5 benefits of group coaching
There are 2 ways to coach people, the first one is one-on-one coaching where the individual gets coached over a period of time. It sets the coachee in a very ‘intimate’ relationship dynamic with their life coach and usually, provides the best results long term - depending on what is being worked and focused on by the pair.
Then, the second one is group life coaching. Before we get into the benefits of group coaching, let’s briefly make sure we all understand what group coaching actually is.
What is group life coaching?
Group coaching is based on the same principles that one-on-one coaching except that it happens in a group setting. Conducted with other individuals who are looking for a way to work on a given area of their lives, it leverages off the experience of a recognised and rated life coach as well as the collective wisdom of a group; combining life stories and lessons of individuals who are on the same path to change.
Group coaching is powerful stuff but it is often mistaken for a cheap, not-as-good alternative to 1-on-1 coaching. If you’re considering life coaching and can’t decide between one-on-one life coaching or group coaching, here are 5 benefits of group coaching I could identify people usually look for.
What are the benefits of group coaching?
I suppose before talking about the benefits of group coaching, it’s important to recognise why coaching in general is a great investment of your time.
Life coaching is extremely helpful for anyone from highly successful people, executives, elite performers to people that maybe haven’t had the highest of success but want a change to their situations. Good life coaches get results for their clients, and that’s facts!
Here are the first 5 benefits of group coaching
Stay motivated working towards a shared vision of success and goals
Have you ever had the notion to start getting fit and your routine begins at 6am each day? Sometimes the thought of getting out of bed at 5.40am for your 6am start is daunting, leading to stops and stops and limited success. What about the time you have said to a group of friends, let’s train together, meet you at the park or gym at 6am… Something changes and your commitment rises! You don’t want to let your team down!
What about the office fundraiser where each of you has to walk a number of km each day for 21 days to support a charity, all of a sudden the shared goal inspires you for more.
These very same emotions, and reasons why a group life coaching works. The reliance and accountability on and from each other is one of the biggest benefits of group coaching!
Staying motivated, having shared visions and goals, keeping everyone engaged, enthusiastic and on track.
2. Learn from each other's successes and failures
Think of it this way: you have lived for 40 years and have experience from those 40 years, plus some thoughts from a few friends you occasionally talk to along the way about life, so let’s call that 50 years experience all up.
Now you are in a group of 10 people having lived for 40 years each plus their conversations with friends along the way. Now you’re talking about 500 years of experience, so many conversations, insights, successes and failures to use on your journey. Far many voices to share wisdom about the actual steps they have taken in life that have led them to this point; both the good and bad. One of the benefits of group coaching here is the opportunity to get a great cross section of advice from people and then really dive in deeper with those that resonate with you.
3. Get help making decisions leveraging off a like-minded community
Deep down, it is a human characteristic to want to be part of our community.
I have written about this time and time again and there have been many different articles over the years around the idea of “we are the 5 people we spend the most time with”. So, using those beliefs in the context of the benefits of group coaching just makes sense.
Being amongst a like-minded community helps you with the decision-making process you are going to be undertaking as you make changes in your life because you are striving for a common vision of “a better life”.
Imagine being surrounded by an abundance of people on similar journeys as you, those people having an impact on your decision in a positive way. What’s the benefit of that? Because they understand in some way what you are going through, they want you to succeed, they aren’t invested in an emotional way that can cloud their judgements. Unlike family members or even partners sometimes can…
They want you to be the winner, because they want that in their own lives also.
4. Share your ups and downs, know you are not alone
Let’s be real for a second. What you are not guaranteed with life coaching is smooth sailing and ease!
Why am I not promising, ease, a brilliant life, limitless possibilities, a pain-free process? Because that would be BS!
What I can promise is that the best version of you (which we are trying to bring out of you) (it’s in there) is brilliant, limitless. BUT know this, pulling down the walls, breaking the old you, the old bad habits that you learned over the years is not always easy and will have some downs as you head towards the ups.
One of the benefits of group coaching here is to know that you are not alone.
This collective, of once strangers, has your back and you can bring our all into the session knowing what you are going through, they have experienced their own versions of. They will share your pain and share your joy.
5. Lessen the impact on your finances
The last benefit of group life coaching and sometimes the most important for people seeking change is the reduced budget.
Experienced coaches implement group life coaching as part of their offering because they see how successful a group dynamic can be but from a coach’s perspective, it is about sharing their knowledge at scale. Still making the money needed to run a successful business, re-invest in training them and their team, marketing etc but making it much cheaper so they can reach more people who may not be in the position to afford one-on-one life coaching.
For you, or the person looking into group life coaching, it is about having great affordability without compromising on the quality. You get access to a highly skilled, recognised and rated life coach; using their expertise and knowledge, without the price tag.
For example, the structure of my group life coaching program and key life coaching principles are based on my one-on-one program DOL - Change (50 days) valued at over $2,000 per person. But its group life coaching equivalent DOL - Evolution is priced much lower.
Some things I would recommend asking yourself before you buy any group coaching:
Does the life coach running the group coaching have the ability to actually coach people 1-on-1?
Are they a good/rated coach first and foremost?
Whether they are from one-on-one and/or group coaching clients, can you find genuine reviews from past clients?
These are only 5 of the many benefits of group coaching. Many more could be added to this list.
Are you on the path to changing your life?
If yes, and from reading this article you consider group life coaching,
