The Power of Follow-up Calls | by Jennifer Britton

Group Coaching involves an ongoing series of conversations, with a focus on supporting a client's individual goals and agenda. It's this ongoing focus on goals, and the deeper levels of action and awareness, which shift the conversation from the facilitation space into coaching.

A component which is not always incorporated into group coaching, but adds tremendous value for both clients and coach, is a follow-up call once the program has ended. Whether this follow-up call is scheduled for two weeks or two months after the coaching process, follow-up calls support ongoing accountability for the clients, continued integration of the learning and useful evaluation feedback for the coach.

Here are 4 Powerful Ways Follow-up Calls are Helpful:

1. They're a catalyst and reminder for clients of the learning and change they have undertaken.
2. They extend the learning and action cycle for our clients. It's quite common to hear clients say how useful it is to have the reminder of what they committed to take action on.
3. Follow-up calls provide valuable insights and feedback for the coach, beyond the immediate program timeframe. It's during these more longer term windows that coaches hear more about the ripple effect of coaching.
4. Finally, in coaching we often say that our coaching conversations "make the invisible, visible". Follow-up calls provide another window to helping teams and groups SEE and articulate their world.

How to Have a Follow-up Call:

Start by preparing people for this elongated coaching process. Set up the expectation of follow-up calls at the beginning of the coaching program, thereby extending the range of focus for the client.

There are a number of ways follow-up calls might take place after a group coaching program. One example is a series of ongoing coaching conversations, for example, a one-hour conversation once a month for six months.  You could also have a conversation every 2 months, or at the quarterly or even six month mark.

Another idea is asking group members do to a "letter to self". This is where people write themselves a note about their aspirations six months or one year from now. Then you send  these letters to the group members just before the follow-up call.

Following the initial 6 months once a program has ended, even longer term follow-up with teams and groups might include:

• Quarterly "booster-shots" for teams who have been coached. While the formal coaching process may be complete, the team may be able to benefit from regular "pause points" for connection, reflection and focus.
• Review and updates after six months or one year. It can be interesting to take the team back through some of the things they explored, whether it's through photos or words. What are the items, themes and tools they are using? What has stuck? What did not?
• Longer-term evaluation. Anecdotally we know the impact of coaching usually happens after the coaching conversations, when our clients put things into action. By meeting with group or team members again at a later date we hear about the medium and longer-term impact of the coaching process, and the sustainable changes they have made.

Questions coaches might consider including in a follow-up call, or in the lead up to one, are:

1. What have you put into practice since we last met?
2. What successes have you had?
3. What goals have you taken action towards?
4. Looking back at our conversations, what's made an impact?
5. How do you want to keep connected?
6. What can you do to build in regular checkpoints for yourself?
7. Who do you want to be accountable to?

Wrap-up

There are many different ideas, options and timeframes for following up with group and team coaching clients.

I'll leave you to ponder the question: "What can you do to help individuals 'lock in their learning' AND further integrate their goals once the coaching has ended?"

If you liked this article on follow-up calls for group and team coaching, you may also like:

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Contributing Author:

Jennifer Britton, MES, CHRP, CPT, PCC-ACTC, has influenced a generation of coaches in the realms of team and group coaching. You may have read her writing (she’s the author of 7 books), including Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010), the first book in the world to be published on the topic of group coaching; From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching; or her latest, Reconnecting Workspaces: Pathways to Thrive in the Virtual, Remote and Hybrid World (2021).

In 2025 Jennifer is leading a series of workshops around Coaching and Change, supporting coaches via Experiential Tools Under the Conversation Sparker Experiential Roadshow™. You can bring her in for a half-day or full day workshop.

Since 2006, Jennifer's Group Coaching Essentials (10 CCEs) and Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum (10 CCEs) programs have become known as the must-do training in the area of group coaching. The two courses have now grown into ten distinct courses that group and team coaches can take – whether coaches want to work towards the ACTC (Advanced Credential for Team Coaching) or simply want to develop their practice.The two courses have now grown into ten distinct courses that group and team coaches can take – whether coaches want to work towards the ACTC (Advanced Credential for Team Coaching) or simply want to develop their practice. 

Focused on providing coaches with best practices in designing, marketing and implementing group coaching, these programs have helped thousands of coaches launch their own group and team coaching programs in a wide variety of settings (public, corporate, non-profit). These advanced courses dive deeper int the development of the coach, neuroscience of group and team coaching, and coaching a range of diverse clients which naturally exists in group and team coaching

Potentials Realized's ICF-CCE programs are geared for aspiring group and team coaches, especially those wanting to work toward the New Advanced Credential in Team Coaching (ACTC) with the ICF.

Also check out our neuroscience course for group and team coaches (NLE-A), Team Coaching Essentials  and ACTIVATE Your Team and Group Coaching Superpowers. Prefer podcasts? Listen into the Coaching Many Podcast.

Learn more about Jennifer & see all their articles here >>