Originally Posted on The Coaching Tools Company as Create & Run a Successful Goals Clinic by Wendy Buckingham
Group coaching has long been acknowledged as good way to make the most of your coaching and achieve more results and income in less time.
I’ve found that a great niche for a group coaching series is to create a Goals Clinic that supports choosing, planning and actioning the path to each participant’s main goal.
As with any group coaching, you as the coach are there to act as a sounding board, reflector and advisor. The point of difference from simple group coaching is that a Goals Clinic focuses specifically on:
- Choosing, planning and achieving goals
- Holding participants accountable for their intentions and actions
- Coaching participants through any challenges that come up
Setting up Your Goals Clinic
Let’s look at how a Goals Clinic can be useful for your existing clients, a random group, an organization or a sports team, whether in person or remotely.
In this article, I’ll also provide important coaching distinctions to remember, along with information and hints to help you facilitate a successful Goals Clinic.
Goals Clinics for your individual clients:
In a basic Goals Clinic model, the coach puts together a group of clients, either new or existing, to meet for a series of sessions.
The group can be made up of people whose goals have nothing in common or, if you have a specific coaching niche, goals that are relevant to that niche.
Goals Clinics for groups within organizations:
There are loads of opportunities for Goals Clinics within organizations. The details of the goals that are set may be different, but they will be heading in the same direction.
For instance, the goals set in a Goals Clinic for a local gym may all be about fitness and weight loss, but differ in the details for each individual.
Your background can also be important in setting up this type of Goals Clinic. For instance, if you have a background in accounting, then you will have credibility in setting up a Goals Clinic for accountants, bookkeepers and those with jobs in finance.
Some possible niches for Goals Clinics within organizations that you could explore are:
- Multi-level marketing
- Business organizations
- Sports teams
- Health and fitness for your local gym
- Professionals such as lawyers, coaches or therapists
Goals Clinics where the goal is set by the organization:
If an organization defines the goal, the participants are aiming for a goal that they did not define themselves, such as a sales figure or another team achievement. In other words, the people who are expected to achieve the goal have had nothing to with the process or decision to set it.
I call this an “imposed goal.”
The missing step to success with an imposed goal is to make sure every member of the team has their own personal outcomes to motivate them around the team goal.
Each member must “own” the team goal as their own rather than seeing it as something imposed on them that they have to do, rather than want to do. It’s about getting each participant to identifying the why—i.e., what’s in it for them!
This can be done at the first session as the team goal itself has already been set by the organization. You could ask each team member to write what it may mean to them personally if the team goal is achieved.
It may be different for everyone: pride, money, promotion, better skills for a CV, a holiday or some other reward. You can give them the option to share this with the team.
In this way, each individual will be more inspired to fully commit to the team goal and share the team challenge.
Remote Goals Clinics:
You don’t need to meet face to face with your participants. Remote coaching allows you to broaden your location base to those who you can’t get together with in person.
Before the days of online meeting platforms, I ran, by telephone, a remote group to mentor new coaches who lived interstate or in another country. It was successful and hugely rewarding. These days, of course, you can use Zoom or Skype for your Goals Clinic.
The rules and tips for remote coaching are pretty much the same as for face to face, though the “traffic control” can be a little more challenging.
Have a list in front of you of the names of the online participants, and make sure everybody gets a chance to contribute verbally or with a chat facility. Even make a point of asking a quiet participant for their input, but without pressure.
It’s also important to acknowledge each person as they come online at the beginning of the session so that everybody knows who’s there. Also, asking people to say their name before they speak and to use their mute button when they are not talking is good remote group etiquette.
I recommend that you try a dry run on your online platform before the first remote Goals Clinic session. This will hopefully avoid technical hitches and lots of annoying time-wasting for the participants while you fiddle around to get things working properly.
6 tips for a successful Goals Clinic
The first session in any Goals Clinic usually begins with introductions. Then you facilitate the goal-setting process, maybe using a version of one of the recognized models, such as SMART (Smart, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed), for each person.
Or you could establish each participant’s intended goal before the first session to speed up the process.
Subsequent sessions will involve checking on each participant’s goal to make sure there have been no changes. This will include reviewing their planning and progress, handling any issues and determining future actions.
It’s good to remember that sometimes a participant’s goal may not be working out and they may need support and permission to change it, rather than feel they have to plow on regardless. I believe that achieving a goal should be a flexible process—there’s no shame in making changes to the details or the time frame.
As group members get to know each other, they’ll probably become active in the process, giving input and group support.
Now for some of the tips I’ve found useful in a Goals Clinic or any group coaching situation!
1. Start off with introductions
It may sound obvious, but I’ve been in a group where the leader plunged straight into the content without allowing for introductions.
Ask each participant to introduce themselves and what they’re hoping to achieve by participating in the Goals Clinic. This can be the start of a bonding and trust-building process within the group.
2. Set the context and guidelines for the group
Before participants commit to attending the clinic, make sure they know how the group will work. This covers the number and length of sessions and the purpose of the group, as well as any etiquette guidelines.
I found that holding Goals Clinics for six sessions worked for me, but this is your choice.
In your first session, establish firm guidelines about punctuality, confidentiality, permission to give feedback and how feedback is to be delivered. Inappropriate input from one member of the group to another is something to watch out for and control.
3. Allow time for trust to build
If the life coaching group is drawn from strangers (and often even if they know each other), they may have to develop trust over a couple of sessions before they’re happy sharing any real challenges.
4. Perform traffic control
You need to be able to strongly facilitate the sessions so that everybody has the opportunity to participate—not just the talkative sharers.
Allow enough time and space to deal with a particular participant’s pressing issue, while making sure that no one hogs all the attention!
5. Respond to deep issues that may need individual coaching
While a Goals Clinic is ideal for checking progress on goals or publicly stated action steps, it can sometimes be difficult if there’s a need to explore a deeper issue that comes up for a participant.
When this happens, you may decide to put the issue on hold in the group and offer a brief private conversation. In that conversation, if appropriate, give the participant the opportunity to have a session or two of one-on-one coaching. These sessions could be charged for separately or built into your Goals Clinic package.
6. Follow up on the Goals Clinic
A couple of weeks after the last session, do a follow-up phone call or email to see how each participant is doing. Make it personal, mentioning something you remember about them from your notes. This is great PR and can lead to more one-on-one coaching.
Wrap-up
I hope I’ve given you some food for thought on presenting a Goals Clinic. And if you’re looking for ways to make your goals coaching even more successful, check out my ebook Mastering the Art of Goals Coaching, which will give you many more tools for successful coaching.
