Group Coaching vs. Individual Coaching: Which Is Right for You?
The Format Matters More Than You Think
A colleague recently asked me whether she should try group coaching or stick with individual sessions. She had been working one-on-one with a coach for six months and was getting good results. But she kept hearing from other faculty that group coaching changed the way they saw their own challenges.
The group coaching physicians are drawn to is not a downgrade from individual work. It is a different tool. And for many faculty in academic medicine, the right physician coaching format depends on what they need most right now.
What Individual Coaching Does Best
Individual coaching gives you uninterrupted space to focus on your specific situation. No shared agenda. No waiting for your turn. If you are working through a sensitive leadership challenge, preparing for a difficult conversation with your chair, or processing a career decision that feels private, one-on-one is the right container.
The depth matters. Your coach learns your context over time and can push you in ways that require accumulated trust. As the authors of Co-Active Coaching put it, the relationship itself becomes the instrument of change.
What Group Coaching Does Best
Group coaching puts you in a room with four to eight peers navigating similar terrain. The facilitator holds the structure, but the real power comes from the other people.
Here is what I see happen over and over. A physician describes a challenge, and three others nod because they have the exact same problem. That moment, the realization that you are not uniquely failing, is worth more than most people expect.
Group coaching also offers something individual sessions cannot:
- Peer feedback without a power dynamic. When a fellow faculty member tells you they see you holding back, it lands differently than when a coach says it.
- Built-in accountability. You show up not just for yourself but for the group.
- Lower cost. For physicians testing the waters, group coaching is often a more accessible starting point.
How to Decide
When comparing individual vs group coaching, I ask faculty one question: What are you most avoiding right now?
If you are avoiding being honest with yourself about something hard, individual coaching gives you the safety to go there. If you are avoiding being seen, if you have convinced yourself that no one else struggles like you do, group coaching will challenge that story fast.
You Do Not Have to Choose Just One
Some of the best outcomes I have seen come from physicians who do both. They use individual sessions for deep personal work and group sessions for connection and perspective. There is no wrong sequence. The important thing is that you start.
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