What is a hot seat in group coaching?

One client gets the coach's full attention on one problem for about ten minutes, while the group listens. The client names their stage, the goal, what they did, where they are stuck and one question. The coach answers that question, and the hot seat ends with one action and a time, logged on the client board.

How long should a group coaching call be?

Under 60 minutes, ending on time. In an example hour, about seven minutes go to one client's result and the agenda. Then 35 to 40 go to hot seats, five to one teaching point and five to the next actions. Teaching beyond that belongs in the video training, where clients can watch it at the right step.

How many hot seats fit in one group coaching call?

Three or four in an example hour, at about ten minutes each. More than that and every hot seat gets rushed. Pick them from clients who asked, then clients who are overdue, and rotate so the same few people do not take every seat. Quiet clients need the seat most.

Should the coach teach on a group coaching call?

As little as possible. The video training teaches every step, with an action under each video. The call handles what a video cannot: one client's case and the point where they got stuck. If the coach keeps reteaching the same module, the module needs rebuilding, and the calls are covering for it.

How to run a group coaching call: the agenda and the hot seat.

A group coaching call built on hot seats: the call note, an example agenda, the five parts of a hot seat, who gets one, and what happens after.

Laundry Profits teaches in short videos with an action step under each. Live calls are for the step a client is stuck on.

That split decides the agenda. A call where the coach teaches the module again competes with the training and bores the clients who watched it. A call built on hot seats moves the people who came.

Attendance, reminders and the weekly rhythm have their own page. This one is the inside of the call.

What goes on a group coaching call agenda?

Five parts, in a fixed order, so clients know what they are walking into. The times below are an example for a call under 60 minutes. Adjust them to your offer.

Part	Example time	What happens
Opening	5 minutes	One client's result from the week, shared with their permission
Agenda	2 minutes	Who is in the hot seat, and which stage each one is on
Hot seats	35 to 40 minutes	Three or four clients, about 10 minutes each
One teaching point	5 minutes	Only where several hot seats hit the same problem
Next actions	5 minutes	Every hot seat's action repeated, with its time

An example agenda for a call under 60 minutes. The times are illustrations, not data; the order is the part to keep. · Source: Live coaching calls that clients actually attend

What is the call note, and who writes it?

A note filled in before the call starts, so it is never a random call. It holds the hot seat list, each client's stage and how long they have been on it. It also lists the overdue clients who were invited.

The client success manager can build it from the Monday.com board, where every client's stage and status already sit. Some offers have the client success manager on the live calls too. Then the follow-up starts the moment the call ends.

Every meeting has a meeting note filled in beforehand, so it is never a random call. I hate random calls. Some offers have the client success manager on the live calls as well.

Diego Miescher

Founder

How do you run a hot seat?

One client, one problem, about ten minutes. The client gives five things before the coach says a word. Keeping that order stops a hot seat from turning into a story.

Stage: which level and step they are on.
Goal: the number that stage aims for.
Done: what they did since the last call.
Stuck: the exact point where it stopped.
Question: the one thing they want answered.

If the client cannot name their stage or their goal, that is the answer. They are lost, and the hot seat becomes a quick reset: your stage, your next video, your time.

Otherwise the coach answers that question and only that one. The hot seat ends with one action and a time: do this by the next call. The client success manager writes the action on the client's row.

Who gets a hot seat?

Clients who asked, then clients who are overdue. An overdue client is past the time set for their stage, and a hot seat is often the fastest way to unstick them. Ask them first, in a direct message, so nobody is put on the spot.

Rotate the seats. If the same three clients take every hot seat, the quiet ones never get help. Quiet clients are the ones who drift.

What happens after the call?

The actions go out the same day, and the board is updated. Each client from a hot seat gets their action in writing, two lines, with a link to the video that covers the step.

Clients who missed the call and are overdue get a direct check-in from the client success manager, by DM or voice message. A broadcast saying the recording is up helps nobody who is behind.

Then watch where the hot seats come from. When most of them come from one stage, that stage is a friction zone. The fix belongs in the video training, so the next client does not need the hot seat.

Count the hot seats per stage once a month. A stage that keeps showing up gets a shorter video, a simpler action step or a smaller result inside it. Then the next month's count shows whether the change worked.

Watch out. A call that turns into a lecture tells clients the training is not enough. If the coach reteaches the same module every week, rebuild that module.

Further reading: Live coaching calls that clients actually attend · On-track rate: how to see which stage of your program is broken

This week. Before your next call, write the call note: three hot seats, each with the client's stage and their time on it. End each hot seat with an action and a time, and put it on the board that day.