Newcomers to small group coaching programs quickly appreciate the sheer flexibility of the program design.
Important tactical decisions around set-up must be made early in the design process, but carefully thought about. They have a big impact down the track.
In other parts of this document, we look at :
Number and quality of coaches - see rule 6.
Are they internal or external? To what extent do they need to be accredited and measured?
How often, who, and what will we measure? See rule 11.
During the design stage, it is crucial to build feedback loops.
In the downloadable version of these 13 rules, we provide detailed analysis of the options for each of these issues:
- How many participants should you have per coaching pod?
- How many coaching pods per cycle?
- How frequently should coaching sessions occur?
- Who selects the curriculum?
- Where should you hold the sessions?
@Fastlead
Our classic Fastlead small group coaching program for front-line leaders has the following settings.
First, three participants per pod. Occasionally, we have four in a pod. Never five.
Secondly, a cycle of six sessions.
Thirdly, frequency is typically monthly, in the same week and same day of that week, each month.
Fourthly, we have a curriculum of 14 topics, and a typical execution is that the L&D team choose three topics, and the participants chose the rest.
Finally, location – always is the same place.
