Group Coaching: Taking the step towards building a better workforce.
by Meera Raghunandan
4 minutes read
Early on Monday morning, Swati woke up in cold sweat. It was her first day as Team Lead in a top-tier IT firm with a global footprint. When she had been called into a cabin by her manager and was offered the position, she was thrilled beyond belief. Everything she had worked for through her career was coming to fruition. However, the high did not last long and was soon replaced by anxiety.
Swati hailed from a traditional joint family and she was the first woman to hold a job for longer than a couple of years. Most other women in her family jumped straight from their parent’s home to their in-law’s home. A few who dared to dream joined full-time jobs but quit in a couple of years due to pressure from the family.
Now with her promotion, several doubts crept into her mind and constantly nagged at her.
“What if I get married?”
“How do I juggle such responsibility?”
“Am I even qualified for such a position?”
It was a couple of hours before she could will herself off her bed, and by then, her anxiety had gotten the better of her. Hesitantly, she booted up her work laptop and began typing out an email. Subject: Letter of Resignation
Swati is not alone in her experience. A study by the Wall Street Journal shows that women feel they need to be 80–90% prepared for the next role before accepting a promotion, while men jump at the opportunity even when they are thoroughly unprepared. Pair that with familial and societal pressures and you have a recipe for career disaster, limiting women from achieving the lofty goals they are truly capable of.
This is one of the examples of how Group Coaching can truly impact organizations and their employees.
Had Swati’s firm employed a leadership coach for guiding all the women in leadership to better understand their role, responsibilities, and map out a clear career trajectory, Swati would have been joyously attending her first day as Team Lead.
Group Coaching can also benefit in succession planning and other use cases. Here’s a handy post that covers the key applications of Group Coaching in organizations:
Wait, what is Group Coaching?
First and foremost, Group Coaching is not the same as training. Training helps a team work better collaboratively to achieve a common outcome — the team’s outcome.
Group Coaching, on the other hand, focuses on an individual’s outcomes. The old adage that we’re all snowflakes comes to mind here.
We all have our own personal career goals, objectives, challenges and means to cope with them. Group Coaching brings together individuals who face a common situation but need personalized guidance to achieve their own unique objectives and face their own unique hurdles.
So how does Group Coaching work?
A typical Group Coaching exercise involves assigning a coach to every four-to-five participants, to ensure an effective level of personalized attention is given to every individual. The coach then tackles the most common challenges that arise, such as:
1.Participants unwilling to display vulnerability in front of others.
2.The lack of psychological safety of participants.
A simplistic example here would be: If the environment is open and transparent while allowing individuals to voice their feelings and opinions, individuals feel more confident of showcasing vulnerability since that will not be held against them outside of the program (and vice versa).
Once the participants gain a certain level of comfort, the coach helps individuals assess their situation and guides them to effectively address their respective challenges.
The outcome?
After a few sessions of Group Coaching, participants develop confidence in their strengths, setting them up for success. They also build a strong and lasting support system within the group that persists well beyond the coaching experience.
The shared learning exercise helps participants build empathy and learn collaboratively. The participants form close bonds with their peers leading to a positive workplace experience and helping them face the highs and lows of challenging roles with a tenacity unlike before.
Here are more ways in which participants stand to gain an advantage with Group Coaching:
So the next time your employees face self-doubt, work environment pressures or even societal and familial pressures, you can rest assured they are equipped to tackle them head-on with confidence.
Looking for an ideal Group Coaching partner? Book your organization’s Group Coaching exercise with Mentoring Matters here and witness the results first-hand! https://www.mentoring-matters.com/solutions
If you want to learn more about how coaching can benefit your organization, drop us a line at information@mentoring-matters.com and we’ll answer all your questions.
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MEERA RAGHUNANDAN
Meera Raghunandan is the co-founder of Mentoring Matters, a platform for businesses and
individuals across industries to drive holistic professional growth across mid and senior-level
positions through dedicated coaching by certified professionals.