Catalyzing Change Through Group Coaching Interventions

Illustration: Quilt by Susana Allen Hunter, 1950

When it feels like time to unlock potential

When we spot a disconnect between what is espoused and what is experienced inside the organization, it may be time to reintroduce the organization to itself.

It’s only from current reality that transformation can emerge, and so having a deeper understanding of how the organization is lived seems like a sensible place to begin.

Group coaching interventions based on a psychological understanding of human functioning, coupled with elements of systems theory, can prove a structured and safe way of confronting and clarifying situations, opening up new avenues of action and successfully leading and shaping individual, team and organizational change.

Group coaching arouses and encourages reflection, brings people together at their own pace, and enhances insight into interpersonal dynamics, power structures, and communication patterns within the organization. During the process, questions such as “What generates the emotional experiences registered by the group coach and by the client?” can be explored. The aim is to enable the client to gain awareness of what is happening “below the surface” within the organization, and the impact this has on the organization’s mission.

Through the process, individuals are revalued, a chance is given for them to express their potential, and for change to become a reality. The intellect is enriched by new-found sensations, feelings and intuition are welcomed, making value judgments possible, as well as the perception of new possibilities. As information sharing and processing improve, individuals will shift from “cruise control” to a more deliberate approach. They regain control over the functioning of the organization.

The group coaching process will open up new perspectives and motivations, and extend the repertoire of what can be considered to chart new courses of action. In supporting executives delve deeper into the role they assume within their organization, they will explore entrenched organizational beliefs and behaviors, identify where change is most needed and how they can implement new processes and structures to support the organization’s “flourishing”, development and growth in an effective and healthy way.

Furthermore, group coaching will lead to increased leadership skills, as each participant supports and coaches other group members.

Most importantly, group coaching interventions are scalable, making organizational transformation more feasible and sustainable, especially when supported by an HR function that builds bridges and protects good work.

Eventually, by creating the formal conditions for distributed sense-making, decision-making, and action-taking within a structured organizational hierarchy, individuals will be able to recover and bring back to work their personal values, and express them in innovative, constructive, and meaningful ways. Fear will not dominate the scene anymore, but will be channeled into a thriving system where responsibility and accountability for reality and results will energize the whole organization.


I am an organizational consultant and executive coach. Licensed psychologist and a graduate of INSEAD’s Executive Master in Consulting and Coaching for Change, I trained at Hult Ashridge International Business School. Practitioner of corporate leadership and organizational development, I have leveraged psychological dynamics in global organizational settings for more than twenty years to foster insight, change and impact at individual and organizational levels. I work both in-person and remotely.


References and further reading

Armstrong, D. (2002). Making present: Reflections on a neglected function of leadership and its contemporary relevance.
Organisational and social dynamics, 2(1): 89–98. Kets de Vries, M.F.R., Rook, C. (2021). Executive group coaching: interventions not for the faint of heart. Organisational & Social Dynamics 21(1), 134–151.
Marlow, G. (January 15, 2023). Making sense of sense making. Retrieved from: https://geoffmarlow.substack.com/p/making-sense-of-sense-making