Group coaching in a slump

Sometimes the general “energy” in a group seems low: it is just before the holidays, it is hot, cold, too overcast, people are stressed because of a political event. There are many reasons for groups that feel like you are wading through mud. When this happens in group coaching, nobody seems to have a topic, contributions are slow, there are long pauses, no laughter or inspiration is happening: all in all not a very pleasant experience.

So, what can you do as a coach if you are responsible for the group coaching? Here are a few ideas.

Surface the issue

You can share your observation: “It seems like things are a bit slow today” and ask the group what their experience is. Maybe everybody is so exhausted that they can really muster no energy for a group coaching session. The main thing here is to make sure that you don’t decide that “low energy” is a problem and that you have to do something about it single-handedly.

Partner with the group

Ask the group what would serve them best now: be more energized, rest, do work more slowly?

Energize them

If they want to be more energized, you can:

- Break the group up into pairs and ask a good question

- Invite the group to move: ask to go for a walk and discuss a group coaching question in pairs

- Ask people for their most energizing song, put the songs in “wheel of names” (www.wheeelofnames.com) and play the one the wheel choses, maybe inviting people to dance

- Invite them to a creative activity: draw their desired state on a piece of paper and show it, go find something in their house that symbolizes what they would like from the session etc.

Take it slow

If the group is really exhausted, ask them what would serve them now? How would they like to be together given that they are tired? What could help to replenish slowly? Ideas might be:

- A short “body-scan” type meditation

- Invite everyone to close their eyes for a bit and visualize a calm and relaxing space

- Invite the group to take 3 deep breaths

- Ask the group to pair up to only talk about what went well in the last weeks. The person who is listening should then play back all the good things they heard about the speaker

What not to do

Sometimes coaches can take the lack of energy in a group personally and feel like “this should not happen”. They think that they are somehow at fault. That doesn’t help (even in the unlikely case that they are somehow responsible). So, whatever happens, do not ignore the lack of energy without presuming that your perception is correct. Don’t feel like you have to “put in energy” and hop up and down to make people feel better. You’ll seem really weird and people will most likely resent the attempt.

If you would like to come to one of our – mostly energetic – free meetups and exchanges to discuss these and other coaching topics, learn about our courses or just generally hang out with likeminded people, we’d love to have you!

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