Beyond Repurposed Skills: Why Group Coaching Deserves Its Own Training
Group coaching is becoming a part of coaching that is being asked for more and more, with coaches working both in and out of organisations turning to it as a method. having a moment. Organisations want scalable development. Independent coaches want offerings that are impactful, inclusive and sustainable. Clients are seeking spaces where they can grow in community, not just in confidential 1:1 rooms.
Yet, despite this demand, there is a striking gap as there are very few practice‑based training offers or competency frameworks (none so far from the big coaching bodies hence why we created our own) designed specifically for group coaching.
“I thought my 1:1 and team skills would be enough…”
Many coaches who come into The Group Coaching Academy’s Foundations Programme arrive with impressive credentials: senior leadership experience, advanced coaching qualifications, strong facilitation backgrounds. On paper, they are more than ready, and actually they have the competencies and capabilities needed to be a great group coach. As always, good training is what brings these together. And really good training offers for these to then be tried out!
During our programmes familiar questions start to emerge and the complexity of group work considered:
How do I coach one person in front of others, without turning everyone else into an audience?
What do I do when someone becomes very emotional and the group isn’t sure how to respond?
How do I keep the contract with the commissioning organisation in view, while honouring each person’s agenda?
It is not that their previous training or experience has failed them. It is that group coaching is a different way of working. These ‘repurposed’ skills will take a coach some of the way, but not far enough to hold the full complexity with confidence and care.
Why hands‑on, experiential learning is essential
Group coaching cannot be learned from theory alone. Competence is built in the doing, in the heat of the moment, in the subtle decision points that no manual or discussion can predict.
We believe that effective training for group coaches includes:
Being in a group as a participant, feeling what “good group coaching” is like from the inside.
Coaching a real group, with real dynamics, while being observed and supported.
Observing others coach groups, learning to notice processes, patterns and subtle shifts in the space.
When this is combined with structured reflection, ethical inquiry and feedback, something powerful happens. Participants do not just “know about” group coaching. They develop a felt sense of it: how it moves, where it sticks, what ‘safety’ feels like, what rupture and repair can look like in a group context.
That embodied understanding cannot be replaced by self‑study or short add‑ons to existing qualifications.
A distinct competency framework for group coaching
At The Group Coaching Academy part of our work has been to articulate a Group Coaching Competency Framework that reflects the reality of what coaches are actually asked to do in groups. This includes, but is not limited to:
Designing for both individual and collective outcomes.
Contracting at multiple levels: individuals, group, and where relevant, organisation.
Managing ethical complexity in a multi‑client space.
Working intentionally with inclusion, difference and power.
Facilitating peer‑to‑peer learning, not just coach‑to‑client exchanges.
Closing groups well, including endings, transitions and ongoing accountability.
And self as coach in groups
By naming these competencies explicitly, coaches get clear developmental pathways. They can see where they are strong, where they need practice and what “good” looks like in this modality.
The framework gives coaches a space to reflect and clarity of what good can be like. For clients and commissioners, frameworks and standards offer reassurance that “group coaching” is not just a marketing label, but a disciplined practice.
More than a skillset: a sustainable, ethical business model
There is also a pragmatic dimension. When group coaching is done well:
Coaches can create offerings that are financially sustainable without over‑extending themselves.
Clients gain access to high‑quality coaching at a lower per‑person investment.
Organisations can support more employees, more equitably, without diluting quality.
But the key phrase is “done well”. Without robust training and clear standards, there is a risk of under‑prepared practitioners holding spaces that look and sound like group coaching, but lack depth, inclusion or psychological safety. Over time, that erodes trust in the modality itself.
Treating group coaching as a distinct methodology, with its own competencies, reflective practice and rigorous training, is a foundation for client safety, professional credibility and long‑term sustainability.
An invitation to shape the future
The field of group coaching is still evolving. This creates both risk and opportunity. There is room, and need, for more voices in the conversation about standards, ethics and competence. We want to be one of the leading voices as we firmly believe that building community will support a much needed moral revolution, and group coaching can play a vital part.
Some questions to carry into your networks, supervision and professional bodies:
Which competencies and capabilities feel genuinely non‑negotiable for group coaches?
How can coaches be best supported in developing these, in training, supervision and communities of practice?
What role should accrediting and professional bodies play in recognising and setting standards for group coaching?