Run a Group Coaching program on upcoach

What is a Group Coaching program?

Group Coaching is a facilitator-led format where a small group of participants — typically 8 to 15 — work through a structured curriculum together over a set period. The group meets regularly for live calls, but the teaching happens asynchronously. Participants read lessons, complete worksheets, and do the thinking on their own time. Live sessions are reserved for coaching: Q&A, hot seats, peer feedback, and breakthroughs.

This is the “flipped classroom” model. It’s the most versatile program format on the platform and the one most program operators start with — whether you’re running a leadership development cohort, a wellness transformation, a business accelerator, or a career transition program. The structure works because it respects everyone’s time: participants learn at their pace, and your live hours go where they matter most.

What upcoach creates for you

When you select Group Coaching as your program type, upcoach generates a fully scaffolded 12-week program with three distinct phases:

Phase 1 — Discovery (Weeks 1–4): Orient participants, establish baselines, build group trust. Week 1 opens with a welcome guide, a baseline self-assessment, and a goal-setting worksheet. Weeks 2–4 each contain a content lesson and a reflective worksheet. A task list at Week 4 marks the phase transition.

Phase 2 — Building (Weeks 5–8): Deepen the work, push through resistance, build momentum. Week 6 is the midpoint reset — it includes a coaching guide on how to use the mid-program pulse data, plus a private pulse survey your participants complete before that week’s call. If you toggled on 1:1 booking, a call prep worksheet and booking link appear here too. Week 8 closes the phase with another task list.

Phase 3 — Integration (Weeks 9–12): Solidify gains, build independence, close with impact. Week 11 has a “Personal Playbook” guide and worksheet. Week 12 wraps with a final reflection that mirrors the Week 1 baseline — so you can show participants their transformation in concrete terms. A “Next Steps” task list closes the program.

Beyond the curriculum, the template also creates:

  • Weekly group coaching calls — a recurring 60-minute event series linked to each week’s module, with a sample agenda built in
  • A Community channel — a single discussion channel for the group
  • Member directory — visible to all participants so they can connect
  • Drip content — each week’s section releases on schedule, tied to your start date
  • Optional 1:1 booking — toggle this on during setup to add a 30-minute check-in slot at the midpoint

Set up your Group Coaching program

Step 1: Create your program

Open your organization dashboard and create a new program. Select Group Coaching from the program type picker — you’ll see the “Flipped Classroom” label and a summary of what gets generated.

The intake form asks you to set:

  • Program name — defaults to “Group Coaching Program,” rename it to yours
  • Group call frequency — weekly or bi-weekly (the template adjusts the event count automatically)
  • First call date and time — everything cascades from here: section release dates, event schedule, program end date
  • 1:1 booking — toggle on if you want to offer private check-ins (requires a connected calendar)

Review the summary panel, then create. Your program generates in seconds — all 12 weeks, every activity, events linked to modules, channels ready.

Step 2: Customize the structure

The 12-week, 3-phase arc is a starting point, not a constraint. You can:

  • Rename sections and modules to match your framework — “Week 1 — Set the Container” becomes “Week 1 — Find Your North Star” or whatever fits your methodology
  • Add or remove weeks — running an 8-week program? Delete the last four sections. Need 16 weeks? Add more
  • Rearrange phases — drag sections to reorder if your progression differs
  • Remove activities you don’t need — not every week needs a task list or worksheet

The template includes four coaching guides written for you (not your participants): Week 1 (program overview), Week 6 (midpoint reset), Week 11 (playbook sharing), and Week 12 (closing with impact). Read them, use the advice, then replace or remove them before you publish.

For more on structuring your curriculum, see Build your curriculum.

Step 3: Add your content

Each week has a placeholder lesson marked “Week N Content” with instructions to replace it. This is where your actual teaching goes — frameworks, models, video walkthroughs, reading material, or whatever format fits your style.

The worksheets and assessments come in three layers:

  1. Pre-built assessments (Weeks 1, 6, 12) — these have real questions designed to measure transformation. The baseline self-assessment asks participants to rate their confidence, set goals, and describe what success looks like. The Week 12 final reflection mirrors these questions so you can compare before and after. Edit the questions to match your domain, but keep the structure.

  2. Empty worksheets (most weeks) — these have names and labels but no questions yet. Fill them in with exercises that match your content for that week.

  3. Task lists (Weeks 4, 8, 12) — phase-transition action items. Replace the generic “Task 1, Task 2, Task 3” with real post-phase commitments.

A leadership development facilitator might add a “Leadership Style Assessment” at Week 1, a “360 Feedback Review” worksheet at Week 5, and a “Development Action Plan” task list at Week 8. A fitness program operator might use “Body Composition Baseline” at Week 1 and “Nutrition & Movement Tracker” worksheets each week. The structure adapts to any domain.

For details on activity types, see Understand activity types.

Step 4: Configure scheduling

Your group coaching calls are already created as a recurring event series — weekly or bi-weekly, depending on what you chose during setup. Each event is linked to its corresponding week’s module, so participants see the call right in their curriculum view.

Each event comes with a sample agenda:

  • Welcome & check-in (5 min)
  • Recap of last week’s action items (10 min)
  • This week’s topic — teaching + discussion (20 min)
  • Hot seat / live coaching (15 min)
  • Q&A and wrap-up (10 min)

Edit this to match your session style. The agenda appears in the event description, so participants know what to expect each week.

If you enabled 1:1 booking, a 30-minute “Progress Check-in” schedule package is set up at Week 6. Participants see a “Book a Call” link in their Week 6 module after completing the call prep worksheet.

To adjust event times or add more sessions, see Create and manage events. For 1:1 booking setup, see Set up one-on-one booking.

Step 5: Set up payments

Create an offer for your program with the pricing that fits your market. Group Coaching programs typically range from $1,000 to $5,000 depending on duration, access level, and whether 1:1 sessions are included.

You can set up one-time payments, payment plans, or subscription pricing. If you’re running a cohort with a fixed start date, a one-time payment with a registration deadline works well. For rolling enrollment, consider a payment plan that starts when each participant joins.

See Create an offer for the full walkthrough.

Step 6: Invite participants

Once your content is in place and your offer is live, bring participants in. You can:

  • Share your registration page — participants sign up and pay through your checkout flow
  • Invite directly — add people manually from your organization’s user list
  • Use groups — if you’re running multiple cohorts or want to segment participants within a program

Cap your group at 12–15 participants if your live sessions include hot seats or individual attention. Larger groups shift the dynamic from coaching to teaching. If you need to run bigger cohorts, use groups to create smaller pods within the same program.

See Invite participants for all enrollment options.

Deliver your Group Coaching program

The weekly rhythm

Each week follows the same pattern for participants:

  1. New section releases — the week’s content becomes available on the scheduled date
  2. Async work — participants read the lesson, complete the worksheet, and do any assigned tasks
  3. Live group call — the coaching session where real breakthroughs happen

This rhythm is the core of the flipped classroom. Teaching happens asynchronously. Live time is for coaching, discussion, and accountability. Resist the urge to lecture during calls — that’s what the lessons are for.

Phase 1: Discovery (Weeks 1–4)

The first four weeks build the foundation. Week 1 is critical — it sets expectations, collects baseline data, and establishes group norms. Make sure participants complete the Baseline Self-Assessment before the first call. You’ll reference this data at the midpoint and again at the end.

Weeks 2–4 build shared language and awareness. Your content introduces core concepts; your live calls help participants apply them to their own situations.

The Week 4 task list is a natural checkpoint. Participants should have concrete action items that bridge the discovery phase into deeper work.

Phase 2: Building (Weeks 5–8)

Energy typically dips around the midpoint of any program. Week 6 is designed to counteract that with a deliberate reset:

  • Participants complete the Mid-Program Pulse (a private survey) before the call
  • You review their responses and look for patterns — who’s stuck, what’s working, what needs to change
  • The call becomes a “celebration + reset” instead of the usual format
  • Everyone re-commits to the second half

This is also when the optional 1:1 check-in happens. A 20–30 minute private conversation at the midpoint surfaces individual blockers that don’t emerge in group settings.

Weeks 7–8 are where the hardest work happens. Participants are past the honeymoon phase and into real change. Your worksheets and call formats should push them toward action, not just reflection.

Phase 3: Integration (Weeks 9–12)

The final phase shifts from learning to ownership. Week 11’s “Personal Playbook” exercise asks each participant to capture the tools, practices, and insights they want to carry forward. Consider running a “share your playbook” format during that week’s call — each person presents 1–2 key practices, and the group reinforces each other.

Week 12 closes the loop. The Final Reflection mirrors the Week 1 baseline — same scale questions, same structure. Pull up both assessments side by side during your final call to show participants their transformation in concrete terms. This is powerful: most people underestimate how far they’ve come.

End with a “Next Steps” task list and consider scheduling a 90-day follow-up call. It anchors the transformation and is the most natural upsell moment for your next offer.

Track outcomes

Group Coaching is a data-rich format. The three assessment points (baseline, midpoint, final) give you a transformation arc for every participant. Use Space Reports to track:

  • Section-level progress — who’s keeping up with the weekly cadence, who’s falling behind
  • Activity completion — which worksheets are getting done, which are being skipped
  • Event attendance — who’s showing up to calls and who’s drifting

The baseline vs. final assessment comparison is your strongest proof of results. A participant who rated their confidence at 4/10 in Week 1 and 8/10 in Week 12 has a story to tell — and so do you.

Post-event feedback (built into every call) gives you session-by-session quality data. If your Value and Engagement ratings dip in Week 7, you know to adjust.

For the full reporting walkthrough, see Track participant progress with reports.

Best practices

Teach async, coach live. The most effective group programs separate content delivery from live interaction. Pre-record your teaching, write your frameworks, embed your videos in the weekly lessons. Reserve live call time for Q&A, hot seats, peer coaching, and group discussions. Live time is too valuable for lectures.

Follow the 3-phase arc. Foundation → Building → Integration isn’t arbitrary. The first 25% builds shared language and trust, the middle 50% does the real work, and the final 25% anchors the transformation. Resist front-loading all your content into the first few weeks.

Cap your group at 12–15. Larger groups shift from coaching to teaching. If your live sessions include hot seats or individual attention, 12–15 is the sweet spot for meaningful interaction. Run multiple cohorts rather than one large group.

Use pre/post assessments. Baseline and final assessments let you show participants their transformation with data, not just feelings. This is what separates professional programs from casual ones — and it’s what justifies premium pricing to corporate sponsors, HR departments, and participants who need to see ROI.

Design the midpoint deliberately. Week 6 isn’t just another content week. Energy dips at the midpoint of long programs — research consistently shows this. Use the Mid-Program Pulse to recalibrate, celebrate wins, and re-engage anyone who’s drifting.

What to do next