Episode 316 Why Group Programmes Disappoint and What to Look for Instead

In this week’s episode, Anna explores five key reasons why group programmes may not work for you, touching on the lack of personalisation, overwhelming information without actionable steps, insufficient accountability, limited interaction, and potential misalignment with your values. Whether you’re considering joining a programme or you’re designing one yourself, these insights are crucial. Stay tuned as we unpack these issues and offer solutions to choose group programmes that are more effective and aligned with your unique needs.

Key moments:

[00:02] Introduction and Overview

[01:08] Lack of Personalisation Explained

[02:39] Information Overload Without Clear Pathways

[05:09] Importance of Accountability and Support

[06:44] Limited Interaction in Group Programmes

[09:41] Misalignment with Personal Values

[12:21] Call to Join the Business Accelerator

[12:53] Conclusion and Next Episode Preview

Resources mentioned:

Outside of the 9 to 5 by Anna Lundberg

The 3-part webinar series on building a business that works for you

The Business Accelerator programme

Why group programmes fail

I have done so many group programmes over the years of deciding what I want to do in my career, building my business, growing, scaling, trying to be a better speaker, make more money, all sorts of different focuses. And there is so much value to be had in a group programme, obviously. Hopefully it’s less expensive, I was going to say more affordable than working one to one with some leading expert. There’s the community element, which, which I always think is the best bit, and there is the stuff that you learn, which arguably I’d say is the least important part of it. But I have seen again and again and been part of again and again, so many programmes that just don’t work, that just don’t deliver on their promise. And that’s especially frustrating when it’s really what they call high ticket offer, when you’re paying loads of money and not getting the results. So I wanted to talk through some of the key reasons why group programmes don’t work. And I’m sure you will have experienced some, if not all of these.

If you have been part of a group programme, and I’m talking specifically here, business, I’m going to say, obviously that’s the context that we’re talking here, but I think it could apply to lots of different programmes. But the first reason, and it’s pretty obvious, is the lack of personalization. Obviously, by definition, a group programme is kind of giving you a one size fits all. This is the advice I have to offer. This is my approach, therefore these are the steps you need to take, right? Or this is the information I’m giving you. So by definition, as compared to a one to one working relationship where I’m coaching and mentoring you and tailoring everything to you, a group programme generally doesn’t consider the unique needs of each business. Now, ideally, the expert does an amazing job at being super clear on who would benefit most. And with filtering and qualifying and getting those ideal client avatars onto the programme.

But even then, we’re so unique and different. We have all these different preferences and strengths and skills and backgrounds. It’s unlikely that the same advice is going to work for me and for you. Right? There are certain things, of course, there are tips and tricks and strategies that can apply to all of us. But unfortunately, as I said, every business is different. Our goals, our challenges, our values are specific. So if and when something inevitably doesn’t work, it’s really hard to know why that is. And it can feel frustrating, it can feel like I’m doing something wrong here.

So first of all, it’s hard to Apply it. I might not know how to apply what someone is telling me to do. And secondly, it might not be working. And then what? Right. So instead of that, I’d really. And I guess this is where I’m going with this. When you’re thinking about joining a group programme, I would really look for a programme that offers a mix of that group dynamic and the group learning. And there’s so many benefits with that.

And by all means, the overall approach is aligned, but also complements that with individual tailored feedback. Right, because that’s what’s going to make the difference for you. Not just a quick sort of Q and a post in the Facebook group or whatever, but really ongoing tailored feedback and advice. So that’s the first problem, lack of personalization. And the second one is kind of information overload without a clear pathway to action. And this has been in particular in programmes that, you know, on paper, or rather on the screen look like they have so much value. And I’m thinking of a couple of membership programmes in particular. In the early years of the work I did that, I joined so many experts, so many webinars and guides and resources packed with content, but there’s no structured path, there’s no implementation.

Right. So we’re in learning mode. I dive in, I listen to all these things, but I never actually take action. And all these modules, PDFs, unfortunately, more content doesn’t equal more results. So while we can be easily tempted and attracted by all the content, ultimately this. I was gonna say, in this day and age, a lot of that information is available anyway. You know, I’ve got my book that outlines a lot of my strateg strategies and things. You can ask ChatGPT these days for it.

You can Google, you can listen to podcasts. So much information out there, that’s not what we’re missing to make progress. So what I’d really encourage you to do is look for a programme that has structured action steps and, you know, breaks down content into practical bite side tasks with accountability there, which I’ll talk about a moment in fact, next. But, you know, like a little mini sprint or. These are the steps. If you want to do this thing, this goal, this is what you need to do. So information overload without clear pathways to action. The third reason why so many group programmes don’t work and sorry for the negativity, but this is the core one that I think is so, so important and so missing from most of these programmes is the lack of accountability and consistent support, really, over time.

So without that accountability I’m just kind of, yeah, this is my goal, I might share that. And then in the next call there’s another thing and nobody holds me to account. Nobody kind of cheques in. It’s really easy to lose momentum, to fall back into old habits, to get distracted by shiny objects and so on. Right. One of the programmes that’s inspired me is the personal trainer and nutritionist that I work with. She has weekly cheque in where we answer questions to say how motivated we are, what our results have been and where we need help and so on. And it’s such a simple tool for her to go through.

Simple for me to fill in, keeps me focused, allows her to support me and the rest of the group when we need it and, you know, whenever needed as well, just jump on a call to kind of bash that out, find a solution for some specific conundrum. So I really suggest that you look for a programme that offers that kind of support, the cheque in, the accountability, the structures to keep you moving forward. And of course, we’re all different, so we need more carrot or stick and whatever that looks like for you. You need to find something that’s going to work for you. The frequency of calls, whether it’s a cheque in via WhatsApp or an email form that you need to fill in, whatever it is that’s going to work for you. We all have different preferences and different ways of working. The fourth one is very much linked to these and they all kind of are very much tied together. One problem leads to the other and vice versa.

But it’s sort of the limited interact action and feedback. I was part of a programme, we were in this big Facebook group and there were these big glamorous calls and quarterly cheque ins and so on, but there’s no personal feedback at all. You know, there’s no direct interaction. Maybe I could ask one live question, get like a two sentence answer. You know, there’s a few sort of weekly posts, hey, what are your goals? How are you getting on? That was the model we used to follow years ago and I did that in my group as well, I will admit it. But nobody, maybe I get a tag or something, but nobody would say, hey, Anna, you said you were going to do this. How can I help you with that? What do you need to do? Do we need to change that plan? So you’re really missing out on the chance to get tailored advice, to get more than one or two mini questions answered and to actually receive specific guidance that applies to your business. So again, My preference is for a smaller group setting.

And that’s good news because it’s also, if you’re organising a group, by the way, as an expert and you know, you don’t need to get the hundreds and hundreds of clients into that group, but a more intimate setting where you as the coach or you as the participant can have that relationship of having that regular individual feedback. I can really get to know your business then, and you’re still the owner, you’re still fully responsible and accountable for your results and so on, but I can really support you. And that, of course, is also the facet of sort of ongoing support. That’s why I prefer to work in sort of an annual programme and in my accelerator, when I had it before previously, in previous years, people would join and stay on for years. Right. And I love that because that’s what it’s about. It’s about having the ongoing support and implementation, accountability structure as well as the community, then get to know each other and so on. I think that’s where the value lies in the longer term, support.

And of course there’s a moment where you might outgrow your coach and then you want to up level into something else or you want to focus on something specific. Like I said, I joined a speaker programme, for example, or it’s a specific level up on LinkedIn or sales or whatever. Or maybe you’ve surpassed what your coach can help you with and you just want to go to someone now who can help you get from six to seven figures or seven to eight or whatever your goal is. But it’s getting that really hands on, I suppose, individual feedback and getting to know each other. And then finally, and it’s a bit of a negative one, I suppose, is the misalignment with your values. Partly because these group programmes often push these one size fits all methods and step by step and so on, they might not and probably won’t align with how you want to run your business. So whether it’s kind of aggressive sales tactics or an expectation that you are going to hustle and work late and do calls all hours and so on, that doesn’t work for me. With young kids, maybe it doesn’t work if I want to actually sleep.

I get migraines now. Well, always if I push myself too hard and so on. Right. I only want to work so many hours in the week and all these things. Right. Also not just my personal preferences, but also ethics and being authentic, showing up, these manipulative tactics. And even again, there’s a fine line to be drawn between kind of effective copywriting and then manipulating and kind of not being transparent. That stuff is quite icky.

And it’s really hard to stay motivated and achieve long term success if the strategies feel misaligned out of alignment with your values and your goals, or if they don’t feel like authentic to how you want to show up. So instead of course you want to look for the coaches, the experts, the communities that share your values. And again, the greatest benefit I’ve had of programmes, partly because they haven’t provided the accountability. I think if they did provide the accountability, like my trainer, that would be my favourite thing, that’s the most powerful aspect. But because they haven’t provided that, I resorted to finding connections in the community, finding people to go my podcast and being inspired by what other people are up to and so on. And you know, different programmes have different benefits. I’m thinking to one I’m in where really the calibre of people is amazing. You know another one, it might be that the expertise is really what you’re after, but again, you want to get the personalised support, the accountability, that feedback and the connection with your values.

So those are the five reasons why I see that a lot of group programmes don’t work. I’d love to hear from you what you think and what your experience has been. You can email me@podcastepoutside.com or connect with me on social media to share your experience. The five reasons that I shared again, lack of personalization, information overload, all that content without clear pathways, lack of accountability and consistent support, limited interaction and feedback and misalignment with your values. If that sounds about right, and if you are looking for those things that I’ve talked about, I would love for you to consider my business accelerator. If you go to onestepoutside.com accelerate one step outside.com forward/accelerate, you’ll hopefully see that this is a programme that addresses a lot of these issues in terms of really having that accountability and support, having short focused sprints, having regular cheque ins, getting tailored feedback. And I hope you share my values and my approach to building a business that works for you as well. So love to talk to you.

You can register your interest there on that site and either join us now as we go live or I open the doors at the moment, quarterly in the coming months. You can always come back in a few months if the time would be better for you then. So thanks so much for listening. I hope it was an interesting exploration into some of the darker sides of group programmes. Look, they can be really effective. I’ve got a lot out of them. And even the worst programmes, it goes, I should say, have given me something right. Whether it’s community or some information or some connection.

But that’s, you know, if we’re paying lots of money, that’s not necessarily what we want. Ideally, we’re getting way more value than we feel that we’re paying, or at least we don’t regret our investment. So, again, I’d love to have you consider working with me in the accelerator. And if nothing else, I will see you back here next week when I believe we have another interview for you. So, another example of someone who is building a business that works for them. Thanks so much for listening and I’ll see you next week. Bye for now.

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