7 Must-Haves You Need in a Group Coaching Agreement to Protect Yourself from Bad Apples
Are you getting into group coaching and need a group coaching agreement? These are the essential protections and boundaries you must have for an entire group of clients!
Levelling up to group coaching is so exciting, but if you're anything like me, you want to ensure that you have all the boundaries and protections you need for a group dynamic. As a lawyer myself who creates 1-on-1 and group coaching contract templates for all types of coaches like you, I am giving you all the key protections you need in your group coaching agreement.
You will learn about the critical protections and boundaries you must have in your group coaching agreement, regardless of whether you are using a simple coaching agreement template you found online or a coaching agreement template free of charge from a friend.
After learning all about the important protections and boundaries you must include in your group coaching agreement, your boundaries, money, and group will be fully protected, and you can run a successful group coaching program (without bad apples ruining it for you)!
This post is all about the key protections and boundaries every coach must have in a group coaching agreement to protect their boundaries, money, and their group from bad apples.
Ultimate Group Coaching Agreement
Must-haves for any simple coaching agreement template for group coaching
1. Confidentiality obligation for what you and your clients share
Whether you are a life coach, health coach, relationship coach, or business coach, your clients share their information with you in confidence. They don't want any of that information about their personal lives, weight, insecurities, or precious business to be shared with the public or even exploited. Your responsibility as a coach is to keep that information secret.
On the other hand, you also don't want your clients to share what you share, including your strategies and methods, with others or even use that information to start coaching their own clients. So, your client must also have a confidentiality obligation toward you.
Those are confidentiality obligations every coach should have in any coaching agreement, whether it be one-on-one coaching or group coaching.
But with other clients in the game, it's even more important to ensure that everyone feels safe enough to share their deepest, darkest issues with you and the rest of the group.
Therefore, your group coaching agreement should:
not only include confidentiality obligations for you and your client toward each other, but also...
a confidentiality obligation for each client to keep the information your other clients share in the group a secret.
It's a group effort! That's how you safeguard the safe space.
2. Prohibit bad behaviour, like disrespecting or bullying you or others
Other obligations that need to be included in your group coaching contract to keep it safe are:
a prohibition on disparaging or hurtful behaviour, and
a warranty that your client gives you ensuring that the client will always behave respectfully and not show any form of (verbally) aggressive behaviour toward you OR the other clients in the group.
This ensures that bad apples can't do anything to hurt you or anyone else in the group and ruin the entire experience for everyone, at least, not without consequences...
3. The right to throw a bad apple out permanently or temporarily
Of course, you can have your clients promise the world, but there's always a chance they will break those promises, and then your sacred coaching group is in danger of becoming a disaster. One bad apple can turn a great coaching experience with amazing outcomes and results, maybe even friendships, into an awful experience everyone wants to leave ASAP.
Therefore, your group coaching agreement should have tools you can utilise when necessary, including the following:
You should always have the right to terminate the agreement with a client if that client breaches any of the client's obligations, like disparaging you or another client or not paying you.
There may be some situations, however, where the client does something unacceptable, but that is not so bad that you never want to allow that client access again. Or, the client does not pay you on time, but it's likely that the client will pay you soon. For those situation you may want another, not-so-permanent tool. For those cases, your group coaching agreement should include a right to suspend the agreement or access to any part of the group coaching program, meaning that you temporarily deny the client access until the client promises to behave again or pays you.
It's also important to include that when you use these measures, your client does not have a right to any form of compensation, i.e. their money back.
4. Accept no responsibility for what others do
Although you have all the necessary tools to protect your group when you need to, you also don't want your clients to hold you responsible for the behaviour of your other clients.
You can't control what other people do, and therefore, you should not be held liable for whatever your other clients do (that breach your contract).
Therefore, your group coaching agreement should include protections that protect you against your clients. Your group coaching agreement should include the following protections:
An acknowledgement that you are not in any way able to control the behaviours or conduct of your other clients within or outside of the coaching program.
A waiver stating that you are not responsible and can not be held liable for any of the behaviours or actions of the other clients within the group.
An indemnity stating that the client will indemnify you and hold you harmless for any damages your client suffers from any interactions or communications with the other clients.
5. Boundaries for group platforms, like Facebook groups
You want to have protections and boundaries for what happens in the group coaching meetings, but you also want to have protections and boundaries for groups that only current and maybe former clients of your group coaching program have access to.
Even though that is not officially part of your group coaching program, you still want to have full control over your Facebook groups and groups on other platforms, as that is part of your client's experience with you.
So, your group coaching agreement should include:
the right to limit access to those platforms if your client behaves badly on those platforms,
a prohibition against posting anything illegal, offensive or commercial solicitation, or using someone else's identity,
the right to remove any of the client's posts.
6. Complete control over scheduling
In the case of one-on-one coaching, you schedule your coaching sessions with your client.
In a group setting, however, it's not always possible to accommodate everyone's schedule, and no one wants to have to accommodate that one person who is suddenly not able to participate on a certain day. You have scheduled your entire schedule for the group coaching program. The client knew what the schedule was prior to signing up for your program. So, if one of your clients can't participate for whatever reason, that's your client's problem, not the entire group's issue.
If you are unable to attend one of your coaching sessions, that is the group's problem, and you should have the flexibility to change your schedule if necessary.
Therefore, your group coaching agreement should include that:
your client is not entitled to cancel or reschedule any group coaching meetings, and
your schedule is subject to change, and you have the right to change it when you need to.
7. Explicit prohibition to have friends join the group
Some clients may think that, since it's a group coaching program, just anyone can join the group, and they can have a family member or friend join in.
But no one wants that. Not only do you not want that because you're not being paid to coach that client's friend, but also, your other clients don't want that because those 'friends' are not bound by the confidentiality provisions of your group coaching agreement.
Therefore, your group coaching agreement should explicitly prohibit your clients from having anyone else join or even listen in on your group coaching meetings or any part of your group coaching program.
That's how you keep yourself and your coaching group protected and respected with clear boundaries.
Want a group coaching agreement template free of fluff?
Are you looking for a group coaching agreement template free of fluff but with all the protections you need? I am selling a group coaching agreement in my contract shop!
With my group coaching agreement, you are assured of having all the protections you need to protect yourself and your clients from bad apples in a complex group dynamic.
My template also includes disclaimers for coaches in every niche, from life coaching to business, career, relationship, health, fitness, and real estate coaching!
And this template comes in the form of terms and conditions that your clients can easily agree to with the click of a button. So, you can avoid the awkwardness of having to send over a contract by email and have your clients sign it. You can simply have them fill out your application form, and they will become legally bound to your group coaching agreement by submitting your form!
Want to know how you should implement a group coaching template?
As I said, my group coaching agreement comes in the form of terms and conditions, so they are easy to implement, and you can onboard clients without the awkwardness of having them (digitally) sign an agreement.
I discuss the ease of using online coaching terms and conditions instead of contracts to engage clients in this blog post on the 5 Reasons to Use Online Coaching Terms and Conditions Instead of a Contract.
If you want a step-by-step guide on how to implement your group coaching terms and conditions, read this blog post on the 7 Simple Steps to Implement a Coaching Terms and Conditions Template For Easy Onboarding.
Want to learn about what you need in a one-on-one coaching agreement template?
Are you also providing one-on-one coaching to individual clients? Then you must read this blog post on the 7 Crucial Protections Every Coach Needs in a Coaching Agreement Template.
This post was all about the essentials every coach must have in their group coaching agreement to safeguard their boundaries, business and clients from bad apples.
Want to learn more about how to protect your boundaries with one-on-one clients? Read this blog post on the 10 Vital Boundaries Every Online Coach Must Set in a Coaching Contract Template.
Are you a life coach? Read this blog post on the 5 Essentials Every Life Coach Must Have in Their Life Coach Terms and Conditions.
Are you a business coach? Read this blog post on the 7 Essentials Every Business Coach Must Have in Their Business Coaching Terms and Conditions.
Get your coaching contract template that includes all the boundaries you need (and more) on this page of my contract shop!
