Group Coaching at Scale: Making Development More Accessible

Talent development leaders often have more managers who need coaching than resources to provide individual support. Some have completed a leadership program and need help applying what they learned. Others are taking on broader responsibilities and would benefit from discussing their decisions with peers.

Group coaching brings a small group together with a coach to work on individual development goals through shared discussion and application. It can extend access to coaching when participants have related needs and enough time to work on them between meetings. Each person retains a development focus, while the group provides additional perspectives and opportunities for feedback.

For organizations considering leadership coaching services, the starting point is identifying where that combination would be useful. The number of leaders to be reached matters, but so does the support each needs to change behavior.

A few considerations help with that decision:

• Bring together participants whose development needs are related and whose working relationships allow open discussion.
• Plan for individual goals and opportunities to apply learning between meetings.
• Agree on confidentiality and sponsor reporting before coaching begins.
• Evaluate changes in workplace behavior alongside participation and feedback about the experience.

When group coaching is a useful development option

Group coaching for leaders is particularly useful when participants can learn from one another's situations while working on their own behavior. A shared topic, such as delegation, gives the group a purpose. Each participant may need to address a different aspect of that topic.

One manager may need to make clearer agreements about results. Another may need to give an experienced employee more discretion. Hearing both situations can help participants recognize options they have not considered in their own work.

Talent leaders can consider group coaching in several circumstances:

• Following a leadership development program, when participants understand a conversation process but need support using it in difficult situations.
• During a transition into management or a broader leadership role, when peers face related decisions about responsibilities and working relationships.
• During organizational change, when leaders need to adapt their own behavior and compare approaches across functions or regions.
• After an assessment and individual debrief, when participants have identified development priorities and are ready to work on selected goals.
• Within a high-potential development program, when participants would benefit from relationships beyond their immediate function.
• For dispersed leaders facing similar challenges, such as giving feedback or managing hybrid teams, who have limited opportunities to learn together.

Group coaching can also provide supported practice for managers developing their own coaching skills. If participants in group coaching engagements are still learning how to coach their own employees, include instruction and feedback on those skills. A peer discussion alone may not give them the preparation they need.

Choose the coaching format around the development need

Individual coaching, group coaching and team coaching serve different purposes. In group coaching, participants work toward their own goals with support from the group. Team coaching focuses on how a team works together toward shared outcomes. The International Coaching Federation's practitioner guidance makes this distinction between individual development within a group and development of the team as a whole. [1]

These options can be combined. A participant might use individual coaching to work through a sensitive assessment finding and bring a related development goal to a group. A workshop might introduce a feedback process before participants discuss their attempts to use it in group coaching.

The purpose of the engagement also helps determine whether coaching is appropriate. An unresolved employee complaint or an unclear operating policy may need attention through the organization's established processes. Coaching can support the leader's development alongside that work, with a clear agreement about its scope.

Select participants who can learn together

A useful group has enough common ground for the discussion to be relevant, with differences in experience that broaden the learning. Job title alone may not tell the program owner whether those conditions exist.

Before forming groups, explore the situations participants want to address and the opportunities they have to practice. Two managers may both identify delegation as a priority, but one may supervise experienced professionals while the other manages employees working within tightly prescribed procedures. They can learn together if the coach helps them account for those differences.

Reporting relationships deserve attention. A participant may be reluctant to discuss a mistake in front of someone who influences their performance rating or promotion. For groups focused on individual development, we recommend considering whether those relationships would limit participation and offering another grouping or individual support where needed.

How many people should be in a group?

Set group size against the time available for meaningful participation. For an initial pilot, a group of no more than six meeting for 90 minutes is a strong starting point. It allows for enough best practice sharing and is still manageable for scheduling purposes.

A meeting might allow 15 minutes for progress updates, 50 minutes for two participants' situations and 25 minutes for reflection and individual application commitments. Rotate the longer discussions across meetings. Participants who are not presenting still contribute questions and consider how the discussion relates to their goals.

If each participant needs substantial individual attention at every meeting, reduce the group size or add individual coaching. Language support and the complexity of the issues may also require more time. Plan around the experience participants need before determining how many seats the program can offer.

Use workplace situations to guide the coaching conversation

The coach helps participants examine their own choices and decide what to try. This takes skill in coaching as well as managing participation. When selecting a coach, ask how they handle a participant who dominates the conversation or a group that offers advice before understanding the situation.

Here is an example. A manager brings a delegation concern to the group. The manager describes that work keeps returning for approval even after the manager believes responsibility has been transferred.

The coach invites the manager to describe a recent assignment. Peers ask what the employee understood about decision authority and when the manager expected to be consulted. The discussion reveals that the manager has been requesting updates so frequently that the employee is unsure which decisions are theirs to make.

The manager decides to clarify decision authority on the next assignment and agree on a check-in point. Another participant recognizes a different issue in their own practice: they delegate responsibility without explaining which decisions require approval. Both leave with an action relevant to their role.

At the following meeting, the coach asks what happened when each participant tried the change. If it was difficult to apply, the group explores the conditions that got in the way. That follow-up helps the discussion become part of ongoing development.

Peers may have useful experience to share. We recommend allowing time for questions first, then inviting suggestions with the participant's agreement. The person receiving coaching can consider which options fit their circumstances.

Build group coaching into the learning path

Group coaching needs time between meetings for participants to try new behaviors and seek feedback. A program owner can schedule that application into the learning path and help managers protect the time involved.

Here is an illustrative 16-week pilot for a cohort that already has foundational leadership skills. The duration and meeting frequency should reflect the work participants are doing and how often they encounter opportunities to practice.

Managers can support development without receiving details of group discussions. For example, a participant might ask their manager to observe how clearly they delegate a task and provide feedback afterward. The participant chooses what to bring back to the group under the coaching agreement.

Peer connections may continue beyond the formal program. In a published example, PPS International Limited designed networking and action learning groups within a 15-month program for a global financial services organization. At a three-year check-in, nearly 50% of those groups were still meeting. These were action learning groups, so the finding should not be treated as a group coaching success rate. It does illustrate the potential for structured peer relationships to support ongoing development. [2]

In another client example, an energy services organization operating seven regulated electric and natural gas utility operating companies in the U.S. offered structured group coaching to first line leaders as part of ongoing development. The group coaching was launched at the close of structured, in-person training and began two weeks after this event. Participants from the larger cohort were offered to attend any of the 90-minute sessions, but required to register so that the group sizes remained stable and manageable. The group coach began each session with a focus question, a review of a single skill and then the group self-selected via voting on two individual focus situations from those submitted by participants during the start of the group coaching session. Those focus situations became the points of discussion and problem solving for the remainder of the session, leaving 10 minutes at the end of the session for individuals to report out on learning using collaborative technology.

By the close of all group coaching cohorts, more than 232 individual problem scenarios had been addressed through group coaching, with participants self-reporting results such as retaining top performers and reducing turnover, improving team engagement and innovation, reduced missed deadlines on key projects and increased confidence to handle tricky situations.

Our guidance on planning sales leadership development offers another example of connecting development activities to the work leaders already do.

Make participation accessible and clarify confidentiality

Access to group coaching includes the conditions that allow people to participate fully. For virtual delivery, that may involve closed captioning and a private place to join. For global cohorts, consider time zones and whether participants can contribute comfortably in the working language. Share the agenda and preparation questions in advance and allow reflection time before inviting responses.

Cultural expectations and behavioral preferences can affect how readily people question a peer or discuss uncertainty. A coach can offer several ways to contribute, including a prepared example or a question after reflection, without interpreting quick responses as greater engagement.

Confidentiality also needs specific definition. ICF's Code of Ethics calls for agreements about the coaching relationship and about what information is exchanged among the parties involved. It also addresses the handling of records and technology. [3] We have found that addressing common questions about sharing on content of group coaching and attribution of questions or scenarios raised needs to be covered both during kickoff and in a summary at the start of each group coaching session, if done in a series.

Before the cohort kickoff, agree on the following:

• What participants may share outside the group, including how to discuss their own learning without identifying another person's situation.
• What the sponsor receives, such as attendance information or agreed summaries of development themes.
• How notes are handled and whether any recording, transcription or AI meeting tools are permitted.
• How the coach and program owner respond to a concern about confidentiality, including the limits explained in the coaching agreement.

We recommend avoiding recordings of group coaching discussions unless there is a specific, agreed reason. A missed meeting can be supported through a private check-in or a general application prompt. In fact, not recording sessions may actually improve attendance as participants don't default to, "I'll watch the recording versus attend." Replaying other participants' disclosures may change how willing people are to contribute.

For a small cohort, even an anonymous example may identify its participant. Review sponsor summaries for that risk and report only what has been agreed. Assessment reports can remain part of an individual debrief; participants can bring selected development goals to the group without sharing the full report.

Plan the resources needed for coaching at scale

Sharing a coach's time across participants may reduce delivery cost per person. The comparison is more useful when it includes preparation and administration as well as the meetings themselves.

For an illustrative population of 24 leaders, four groups of six meeting for 90 minutes require six coach delivery hours per round. Twenty-four individual meetings of one hour require 24 delivery hours. Those formats provide different amounts of individual attention, so the difference in hours is not a claim of equivalent outcomes or a guaranteed saving.

When comparing proposals, include the following in the scope:

• Preparation and individual goal-setting support.
• Coach delivery time, including any individual meetings.
• Scheduling, accessibility support and participant communication.
• Evaluation and agreed sponsor reporting.

Also account for participants' effort and the time their managers need to support their application. If several coaches are involved, establish common expectations for the experience and review how those expectations are being applied. A larger rollout may need more coordination even when the meeting format is consistent.

Measure application before expanding the program

Evaluation of group coaching should show whether participants are using the behaviors they set out to develop. Attendance and satisfaction help explain the experience, but they provide limited evidence of workplace application on their own.

For a cohort working on delegation, a few indicators might include:

• Participants establish decision authority and check-in points when assigning work, using a short checklist to review recent assignments.
• Employees report greater clarity about which decisions they can make, through a brief feedback question agreed before the pilot.
• Participants return with examples of application and explain what they adjusted after receiving feedback.
• Managers observe changes against the participant's selected development goal, with the participant aware of how those observations are used.

Gather a baseline and repeat the relevant measures at the close of the pilot. A follow-up several weeks later can help show whether the behavior has continued. Share results back with participants so they can use the information in their development planning.

Operational measures can add context when they relate to the goal. For example, an organization might already track work returned for clarification. A change in that measure could reflect coaching, a new process or a change in workload. Describe those influences when interpreting results and avoid attributing the full change to coaching without supporting evidence.

Our article on measuring leadership development outcomes discusses how to connect development measures to the organization's intended results.

Use a pilot review to make a specific design decision. Participants may need more application time, a smaller group or additional individual coaching. If the initial format supports progress, the next cohort can build on what worked. This gives the talent development team a practical basis for extending access while retaining the support participants need.

Where to start

If your organization is considering group coaching for a leader population, start with one pilot cohort, the confidentiality agreements above and a small set of behavior measures agreed with the sponsor. PPS International Limited designs and facilitates group coaching through our coaching services; contact us to talk through a pilot.

References

1. International Coaching Federation. "Group Coaching: The Hidden Gem in a Coach's Toolkit." Practitioner article distinguishing group coaching from team coaching. Accessed Sept. 10, 2026.
2. PPS International Limited. "Ways to Encourage Networking During Training." Published financial services example. Accessed Sept. 10, 2026.
3. International Coaching Federation. ICF Code of Ethics. Effective April 1, 2025, particularly Standards 1.1 and 2.2–2.5. Accessed Sept. 10, 2026.