7 Best Group Coaching Certifications To Scale Your Business

Group coaching is having a major moment in 2025 and it’s not slowing down anytime soon.

Coaches everywhere are realizing they don’t have to trade time for dollars forever. Instead of cramming their calendar with back-to-back 1:1 sessions, they’re packaging their expertise into powerful group programs that create even bigger results for clients.

It’s a win-win.

Clients get community, momentum, and support that 1:1 coaching can’t always deliver.

Coaches get to scale their impact, work fewer hours, and build real assets instead of burning out.

In a world where people crave community, connection and transformation, group coaching hits all three, and it lets you move from selling hours to selling outcomes.

Why Get Certified In Group Coaching?

You don’t technically need a certification to run a group, but the right course can sharpen your skills, boost your confidence, and make it easier to sell high-ticket programs.

Plus, good training gives you plug-and-play tools for facilitating deeper transformations in a group setting without feeling like you’re “winging it.”

The best group coaching certifications and courses help you not only facilitate group coaching but also build the sales funnels and scalable business systems necessary to consistently pre-qualify and pre-sell new clients into your community each month (otherwise your group will lose momentum).

What to Look for in a Group Coaching Certification

Here’s what you should look for when you’re doing your research on certifications or courses:

1. Practical Frameworks

Look for programs that teach you step-by-step how to design sessions, manage group dynamics, and create outcomes clients can brag about. If it’s all theory and no templates, move along.

2. Experiential Learning

Good certifications make you practice. You should be leading sessions, not just reading slides. Workshops, practicums, and peer coaching are green flags to look for.

3. Community-Driven Learning

The best way to learn group coaching is to be part of a group coaching community that supports you as you make the transition to group coaching and learn the necessary skills and systems to sell at scale.

3. Focus on Group Dynamics

Managing a group is wildly different from 1:1 coaching. You need skills like handling dominant personalities, drawing out quieter voices, and building collective momentum.

4. Online Business Skills

Bonus points if the course teaches you how to package, price, and sell your group offer. It’s not just about being a great coach, it’s about being able to fill your groups and run a well-organized business.

5. Marketing & Sales Skills

The reality is that most coaches fail in generating consistent leads and sales. Your certification or course should have a big focus on how to productize your expertise and sell the value of group coaching.

7 Best Group Coaching Certifications and Courses

Here’s a mix of well-respected options for mastering group coaching, depending on your goals and budget:

1. International Coaching Federation (ICF) Team Coaching Credential

If you want that gold-standard credibility, this is the way. The International Coaching Federation offers rigorous and recognized training worldwide. You need an ICF-approved coach training program first.

• Price: Varies (typically $5,000–$15,000+ after foundational ICF certification)

• Best for: Coaches who want high-end credibility and to work with corporations or executive clients.

• Details: You must already be an ICF-certified coach. This is an add-on credential that focuses on ethical guidelines, advanced facilitation, and group dynamics. Very structured, very professional.

2. The Social Creators Group Flow Coaching Accelerator

A mastermind-style weekly accountability community and group coaching roadmap for productizing your expertise and making the shift from 1:1 client work to a 1:many group coaching community.

• Price: $3000 (or $300/month for a year)

• Best for: Coaches who want to build the funnels, systems and facilitation skills for group coaching.

• Details: You must already be an established coach. This program is ideal for coaches who want to free up their time and impact more lives by building a group coaching community and hosting retreats.

3. The Group Coaching Insiders Program (Jennifer Britton)

One of the pioneers in the space. Practical frameworks, templates, and a strong community. Great for newer group coaches.

• Price: Around $2,000–$2,500

• Best for: Newer coaches who want a proven roadmap without the corporate stuffiness.

• Details: Highly practical. Includes templates, session guides, marketing strategies, and practice groups. Focuses on building small group programs in wellness, business, leadership, and personal growth niches.

4. Co-Active Group Coaching Course (CTI)

CTI is known for its experiential approach. Their group coaching add-on is great for certified coaches who want to pivot into groups.

• Price: Around $2,000 (additional to their main coaching certification)
  
• Best for: Coaches already trained in the Co-Active method who want to add group coaching to their toolkit.
  
• Details: Experiential, high-energy training. Big focus on leadership, personal presence, and managing group energy artfully. More emotionally intelligent approach than purely business-focused ones.

5. The Art of Group Coaching (Shana Lynn)

Focuses heavily on building connected, transformational groups for entrepreneurs, health coaches, and facilitators. Strong community vibe.

• Price: Around $1,500–$2,000

• Best for: Entrepreneurs, wellness coaches, retreat leaders, and anyone who values community-driven coaching.

• Details: Strong emphasis on how to build a community and create safe, connected spaces where members coach each other as much as you coach them. Great for heart-led coaches who don’t want cookie-cutter programs.

6. The Mindvalley Certified Life Coach Program

If you’re into more transformational, “spirituality meets science” experiences, Mindvalley’s method is flashy but solid. Great for personal development coaches.

• Price: Around $4,000–$5,000

• Best for: Personal development coaches who want a Mindvalley-style transformational vibe in their groups.

• Details: Focuses on deep inner work, habit change, and personal mastery techniques. Heavy on frameworks like the “Hero’s Journey” model. Flashier and more personal growth–oriented than business coaching certifications.

7. Tara Mohr’s Playing Big Facilitators Training

Designed for leadership and personal development coaches. While not “group coaching” in the traditional business sense, it trains you to lead transformational groups for deep inner work and change.

• Price: Around $3,000–$4,000

• Best for: Coaches helping women or leaders step into bigger roles and voices.

• Details: Less about “coaching business” strategy, more about transformational leadership work. Teaches you to run deep-dive groups rooted in inner work and confidence-building.

How Long Do The Certifications Typically Take?

Most group coaching certifications take 2 to 6 months if you’re studying part-time.

Some fast tracks wrap up in a few weekends. Others stretch over half a year with practicum hours and assessments. If a program takes longer than that, it’s usually because it’s bundling group coaching with a full professional coaching certification.

But here’s the real truth: Getting certified is just the start.

Building a thriving group coaching business is its own journey.

Here’s what the full process looks like after certification:

1. Choose a Niche and Problem to Solve

General “life coaching” groups are a tough sell. Specificity wins. Build a group around a real, urgent problem your ideal client wants to solve.

2. Design a Signature Group Offer

Map out a clear transformation. 6–12 weeks is the sweet spot for most programs. Outline the milestones clients will hit along the way, and make sure you’re not just stacking Zoom calls—you’re leading a clear journey to the outcome they desire.

3. Set Up the Infrastructure

You’ll need a simple enrollment process, onboarding system, and community platform (Zoom, Skool, WhatsApp group, etc.). Don’t overcomplicate it. Done is better than perfect. Many successful coaches start by selling their offer with only a Google Doc.

4. Launch and Fill Your First Group

Start small. Beta test with a founding members offer. Fill 6-8 seats. Deliver. Gather testimonials. Iterate. The important thing is to create momentum and learn by doing to see what does and doesn’t work.

5. Scale With Evergreen or Cohort Models

Once you have a proven process, you can move into automated enrollment funnels, ongoing enrollment, or running multiple cohorts at once. But first, you need to have an irresistible offer that is validated.

What You’ll Typically Learn About Group Coaching Facilitation

Getting people together on a Zoom call is easy. Leading a group so they feel seen, supported, and stretched? That’s the real art and it’s what the best group coaching courses teach you to master.

Here’s what you’ll usually need to learn to be successful as a group coach:

1. How to Create a Safe, High-Trust Environment

People won’t open up if they don’t feel safe.

You’ll need to learn techniques to build trust quickly, set clear agreements, and create an inclusive container where every voice matters.

2. Structuring Sessions That Actually Flow

Winging it doesn’t work with groups.

You’ll need to learn frameworks for opening calls, running exercises, encouraging group shares, coaching individuals in front of the group, and closing with clear action steps.

3. Managing Group Dynamics (Even When They Get Messy)

Every group has “that guy or gal” at some point—the overtalker, the ghoster, the challenger.

You’ll learn how to read energy, intervene skillfully, and keep momentum without shutting anyone down or letting things derail.

4. Facilitating Peer-to-Peer Learning

The magic of group coaching isn’t just what you say, it’s what happens between members.

You’ll learn how to encourage collaboration, foster peer feedback, and create a culture where the group becomes the coach.

5. Balancing Teaching, Coaching, and Community

Too much teaching? It becomes a class.

Too little structure? It becomes a hangout.

You’ll practice balancing the three so that sessions feel dynamic, purposeful, and transformational.

6. Keeping Engagement High Between Sessions

Most certifications will show you how to create challenges, prompts, bonus sessions, or community touchpoints to keep clients connected, committed, and making progress between calls.

Often the magic happens between the sessions when members become friends, schedule calls with each other and create joint ventures for business or collaboration.

Pro Tip: Certification Vs Real-World Experience

You could get a certification first… or you could start a free pilot group, get real-world feedback, and then invest in sharpening your skills.

Clients care about transformation, not acronyms after your name.

Certification can make you feel ready but real-world experience is what actually makes you good.

Here’s the truth nobody tells you: Clients don’t ask about your certifications.

They care about one thing: Can you help me get results?

That’s why some of the best group coaches aren’t the ones with the most credentials.

They’re the ones who ran messy pilot groups, learned what worked (and what tanked), and kept getting better by doing, not just studying.

If you’re serious about group coaching, here’s a simple path:

• Start before you feel ready. Launch a free or low-ticket beta group.
• Learn from every session. Notice what energizes people. Notice where you lose them.
• Tighten your offer. Each round, make the experience sharper and more valuable.

Think of a group coaching certification like seasoning… not the whole meal.

It gives you frameworks, templates, and confidence boosts, but it’s the reps that make you a coach people rave about.

Bottom line: You don’t need permission.

You need practice.

Final Thoughts: Group Coaching Is the Future

Training can fast-track your success, but what builds a magnetic group coaching brand is your energy, your clarity, and your ability to create wins for your clients. A piece of paper won’t do that. Your presence will.

Group coaching isn’t just a smart way to scale your business, it’s a better way to serve your clients.

People grow faster when they’re supported, challenged, and witnessed by others walking the same path.

And you?

You get to stop trading hours for dollars and start building a business that grows with you, not at the expense of you.

If you’re ready to launch or level up your group coaching offer, I’ve got something that’ll save you months of trial and error.

🎯 Download my free Group Flow Coaching Guide — it’s packed with the frameworks, templates, and tips you need to create transformational group experiences your clients will love (and happily refer).

Let’s build something that feels as good as it looks on paper.