Webinar: The power of group coaching in accelerating gender equity in your organisation 

Research findings and success factors with Professor Rebecca J. Jones, Henley Business School and Sharon Peake, Shape Talent. 

The world over, women are under-represented in leadership roles, occupying an average of 25% of C-suite roles globally. Organisations are continually looking for impactful ways to redress the imbalance and build strong pipelines of gender diverse candidates.  

Group coaching offers an effective, practical and inclusive way to help remove the barriers to women’s progression in your organisation while embedding a coaching culture. It enables high-performing women to develop strong leadership capabilities while also building valuable internal networks.  

Group coaching can take your gender equity strategy to the next level, with benefits to the whole organisation, improving performance and engagement. Join our webinar to learn more about the outcomes for women, including:  

• Increased confidence, self-acceptance and self-awareness 
• Increased wellbeing and empathy 
• Reduced burnout 
• Increased problem-solving ability 
• Improved communication and action-planning skills 
• Increased social capital and network 
• Heightened emotional intelligence 
• Improved performance 

What we will cover 

At this webinar we will give an overview of our research on the transformative power of group coaching from our newly published white paper on The Power of Group Coaching for Women.   

We will share in-depth insights and practical knowledge, showcasing how organisations can leverage group coaching to enable women to overcome barriers, build strong networks, and accelerate their careers. We will discuss the unique benefits of women-only group coaching and how it empowers women to overcome gender-specific career challenges.  

The webinar is designed for C-Suite leaders, Chief Talent Officers, HR leaders, and Chief Diversity Officers interested in driving greater gender equality.  

Speakers  

Host speakers, Sharon Peake and Professor Rebecca J. Jones, co-authors of the white paper, will guide us through the scientific evidence behind group coaching, the methodology used, and real-life case studies. 

We’ll also be joined by Sheng-Ann Yu, Director of Advanced Technology APAC, Ericsson, who will share her insights – as a participant – on her personal experience of group coaching.

Webinar Questions Answered

Is the group more effective if all participants are from the same professional field? Or is it more geared towards a general outcome?

We find the coaching can be particularly powerful when coachees are from different functional parts of an organisation as well as different geographic locations. This enables a sharing of experiences and perspectives that an individual won’t always access within their day-to-day setting.

How can you ensure that participants in a group coaching session employ only coaching questions when one member of the group is in the spotlight?

The first session – and the pre-work accompanying this – is highly geared around the understanding coaching techniques and questions. Naturally, it takes time and practice to build these skills so the group coaches support the coachees in formulating open, coaching questions, to help build their skills throughout the group coaching programme.

How does the impact of group coaching differ when delivered face to face vs virtual (if at all)

There is not yet any research examining the differences in the effectiveness of face to face versus virtual group coaching, although we do know from the one-to-one coaching literature that both formats are equally as effective. Virtual coaching offers a range of additional benefits to face to face coaching such as being inclusive (by not excluding individuals who may struggle to travel to a physical location) and enabling a greater mix of locations to join the same coaching session.

Do you need to be a coach to deliver group coaching? Could we use skilled facilitators from within our business?

In our view, group coaching is a very specific skill, so it is best to utilise trained group coaches. Group coaching combines a mixture of coaching, facilitating and teaching, and group coaches must be able to navigate seamlessly through this various roles during a group coaching session. There are some risks associated with using less experienced individuals in that sensitive situations may not be handled with the skill required, which, in a worst case scenario, may be harmful for an individual.