group versus individual coaching

One of the more unexpected observations I’ve made as a coach concerns the acquisition of self-responsibility.  Children with a high component of individual coaching can be less adept at taking responsibility for themselves.  Assuming my sense of this is valid, that’s potentially a big problem with a simple solution: strike the correct balance of individual versus group coaching.

Group coaching has significant advantages over one-on-one: the need to be responsible for oneself, and modelling of responsible behaviours by other children.  I hold the view that coaching and teaching environments are not primarily driven by the expectations of adults (teachers/ coaches) but by the conduct of other participants.  This is not to diminish the role of a prescription or of feedback; both are essential, but rather it’s a statement about how important modelling is in the development of behaviour.  As adults we often fixate on the ‘what’ over the ‘who’ when we coach and the desire to ‘individualise’ and ‘specify’ reflects this.  Again, information is king, but what we seem to miss in the prescription process is the role that interpretation and ownership plays in how information is used.

My strong advice to parents and coaches is to seek group participation as a starting point.  Care is needed to ensure group coaching is productive and challenging but it does not need to be over-managed.  It’s more important to ensure all the critical departments are active than it is to constantly massage the group dynamic or over-handle the prescription.  Individual coaching should be used to test what’s learned and sharpen minds and tools; for questions rather than answers.