What’s Best? Coaching by Individual or Coaching by Group?

Coaching is generally aimed at a broad range of possible outcomes. These include helping solve urgent and important challenges, developing capability, improving performance, delivering desired results, achieving better work/life balance and a number of other outcomes. And we are all aware that the hallmark of great coaching is helping the client discover solutions from within.

The excellent question arises of whether individual or group coaching works best. Traditionally, our focus has been on individual one-one-one coaching. Over recent years we have seen the exciting emergence of group coaching.

What could be a great rationale for transitioning to group coaching? Typically,and in simplistic terms, the results of a coaching session are as good as the questions the coach asks and to a certain extent, the question the client asks. Obviously other factors such as the quality of the relationship etc. also impacts outcomes. So, with an individual coach, questioning and the quality of questioning is limited to the expertise and effectiveness of the coach. The quality of the answers to the clients’ questions is obviously entirely dependent on, and limited to, the individual coach’s expertise.

Group coaching obviously offers an entirely different dynamic and experience. In my fairly extensive experience with both individual and group coaching, the latter offers a wonderful diversity of perspectives from which questions are asked. Questioning is typically more comprehensive, diverse, deeper and richer. The group coaching format also offers clients a greater and often richer range of responses to the questions they ask. The format and robustness of the group coaching process is obviously of paramount importance. My experience with group coaching is largely around the WIAL (World Institute for Action Learning) coaching process and Marshall Goldsmith’s “feedforward” process, both of which work extremely well for various purposes. There are other models we have experimented with, also with positive results.

So, which is best, individual or group coaching? The answer to this question lies entirely in each unique coaching assignment. In certain cases,with a high level of confidentiality, certain desired outcomes and personal preference, individual coaching is the only way to go. There always must be absolute respect for the rights, preferences and well-being of our clients. In other cases where complex personal and business decision-making is required to solve large challenges and confidentiality is not an issue, group coaching has proved extremely effective and more valuable than individual coaching. My personal and very strong preference for many coaching assignments, is a combination of individual and group coaching. In this way we frequently get the best of both approaches to the ultimate benefit of our client.

My personal belief is that the coaching fraternity could add far more value to clients by also embracing group coaching where appropriate. Until recently the almost exclusive focus in coach training has been on individual coaching, With the tremendous growth in the coaching industry, focus has been very strong on developing “life coaches” who work almost exclusively on individual coaching. I am convinced that the time has arrived for coaches to develop their skill repertoire and service offering to include group coaching processes. It is for the ultimate good of our clients.