One honest read on what is actually working in coaching, and one thing worth applying this week. For coaches who want results, not hype.

Hey Coach,

The coaching world is parting on the topic of group coaching right now. If you are "pro group coaching," you might expect that putting eight people in one room will get you your evenings back, only to realize after a few months that the tracking still runs through you: who did the work, who went quiet, who needs a nudge before Thursday.

In your mind, you looked at leverage. What you got was eight individual arcs and one planned calendar slot for the meeting. What you did not account for now hijacks your calendar. We know this because we've lived it in our groups. But is that an argument against group coaching?

THIS WEEK

Two of the most credible voices in coaching point in opposite directions right now. The Prosperous Coach says stay one-on-one and never scale. BetterUp, the biggest scaled platform, is reportedly winding down individual coaching. Who's right? Both. The better question is not "is group coaching worth it?" but under which conditions it is the right move, and for whom.

The deciding condition: a group only saves you time once the peers start carrying load for each other. That happens past a threshold of engaged people that most first and second cohorts never reach. It is not just a numbers game. It also depends on the system you set up.

The difference is easy to misread at first. One of our own coaches lived it, which is why we put this piece together for you. And we are certain there are plenty of opinions on it. Hit reply and let us hear yours.

If your setup and attendance are below that threshold, you are merely running parallel one-on-one with a discount attached.

WHAT'S WORKING - FROM THE FIELD

Before you price your next cohort, run the last one's numbers. Count the between-session touches you initiated per participant. Count the ones they initiated with each other without you. If the second number is near zero, you are below the threshold, and the price and the promise both need to say so.

Then change one line on the sales page. Not "the same coaching for less." Let them clearly know the benefit of being in that room and what that adds to the coaching: people who understand the pressures, and a challenge named out loud by someone else. That's what participants told us they valued afterward. Not one of them mentioned the discount. None.

If you already run groups and want to help your participants make steadier progress between sessions, this Leland event will fit right in: The Impact Gap session with Joe Weston runs on Thursday, October 1 at 11:00 CT. You will learn how to map practice labs to your own niche.

The full article has two things this letter does not: the 788% coaching ROI figure and why you should not use it, and the three things a group program has to say to be sold.

3 THINGS FOR SUCCESSFUL GROUP COACHING SETUP →

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." James Clear, Atomic Habits (2018)

A cohort below the threshold is not a failed group. It is a system that still routes everything through you. Change the system before you change the price.

The world needs you,

COACHILLY MAG

P.S. Know a coach about to launch a group program? Forward this before they price it.

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