Aletheia Home Group Host Guidelines
PURPOSE OF HOME GROUPS
Home Groups are for Building and Deepening Relationships: With cohorts that are frequently 40-70 people, it is hard to develop a sense of community. Therefore, we introduced Home Groups, with a max of ~8 people. One of the primary goals is to give participants an opportunity to build and deepen relationships with a smaller subset of the cohort, enabling them to meaningfully expand their professional network of support.
Home Groups are for Practicing Listening and Speaking as an Aletheia Coach: To develop competency, participants don’t just need to learn the steps of the method; they must inhabit the Unfoldment Paradigm. This requires learning to listen and speak from within this paradigm. One of the primary challenges participants will encounter is how to build the context for unfoldment practice with their coaching clients outside the cohort. To do so, you must be fluent in this paradigm. The Home Groups are designed to give participants an opportunity to practice this and develop fluency by sharing their experiences of unfoldment, discussing challenges, and offering each other support.
Fostering Responsibility for Learning: The agenda for the live sessions with Steve is held by him. However, it is important for participants to also take responsibility for their own learning. The design of Home Groups gives participants a venue to do so. Each participant is invited to lead the group conversation for 10 minutes during each meeting. At this time, they can focus the conversation in a way that meets their own learning needs.
REQUIREMENTS FOR HOSTS
Hosts must be a graduate: Hosts must be graduates of the program they are hosting in. As such, they understand the flow of the curriculum and can help participants stay oriented as the program progresses.
Hosts must be practicing as professional coaches: Hosts must also be practicing as professional coaches and applying Aletheia Coaching outside of course cohorts. This practice builds experience that can be appropriately shared with participants.
Host must be able to host Zoom calls: Hosts must have a paid Zoom account to host 2-hour Zoom calls.
Role of Home Group Host
Hosting is a voluntary leadership role: the Home Group Host role is voluntary. There is no monetary compensation for the role; however, there are many benefits with tangible value (see below). The Host is the facilitator of the Home Group meetings, a position of leadership in the community. Hosts facilitate Home Group meetings, ensuring everyone has an equal chance to participate so that the conversation stays balanced and focused. They guide the group and allow the structure to evolve naturally over time as needed.
Hosts are members of the course faculty: Home Groups play an important role in shaping the course's learning outcomes. As such, Hosts are members of the course faculty. The job is to host a psychologically safe, well-organized learning space for participants to develop a professional network of support, practice listening and speaking within the Unfoldment Paradigm, and lead conversations about Aletheia Coaching and unfoldment.
Hosts are an essential part of the network of faculty support: Sometimes, participants struggle. Sometimes practices or exercises trigger participants or surface trauma unexpectedly. While we always encourage participants to reach out to faculty for help, sometimes they don’t. Hosts are on the lookout for participants who might be struggling and 1) encourage them to reach out to faculty and 2) raise concerns to the leader and mentor coaches so that they are more aware of who is struggling and with what.
Hosts are representatives of Aletheia:
Hosts are not mentor coaches: Hosts are not expected to coach participants in your Home Group, review coaching videos, or offer feedback. Also, please don’t use Home Group meetings to sell your coaching services to participants (see below for more on this point).
Hosts are not teachers: You are not expected to teach Aletheia Coaching. Please let core faculty (Steve, the course leader, and the Mentor Coaches) do so.
Hosts are practicing coaches with valuable experience they can share: Of course, participants will ask you questions about the course and the method, and how you are applying them in your professional practice. As appropriate, open the conversation up among the participants first. This gives them an opportunity to develop fluency in this paradigm. You can join the conversation and share your own experience, but first allow space for the group to explore the question. In sharing your own experience, you aren’t speaking for Aletheia or giving them a definitive answer to their question. You are sharing your experience. There is also no need to defend Aletheia when participants challenge the approach. Listen, mirror, and support participants to return to their experience and follow how it unfolds. You can also encourage participants to bring their questions to the next live session and/or post them on Mighty Networks.
BENEFITS FOR HOSTS
Additional Training: Hosts meet with Steve March for several Home Group Host meetings during the course. You are invited to bring questions or discussion topics about Aletheia Unfolding and/or what’s unfolding in the world, and how to respond from within the unfoldment paradigm.
Access to the course: Hosts are invited to participate in the live sessions and discussions on Mighty Networks and will have access to the current course materials and videos. If you have important experience to share, please feel free to bring it during live sessions and ask your questions. Because of their familiarity with the course, the method, and their experience applying it, we often find that Hosts bring poignant and powerful questions and stories that can really help newcomers learn.
*Note: Coaching calls with faculty are not included, and if you want to participate in practice groups, please indicate this in your Home Group Host application form.
Networking & Professional Growth: This role offers you the opportunity to step into a leadership position within the Aletheia community, build professional stature within the community, and expand your professional network.
Expanding Your Referral Network: In the past, holding faculty roles at Aletheia and the professional status that comes with them have been effective ways to increase referrals. Participants in your home group might refer prospective coaching clients to you. While we obviously can’t guarantee this, how you show up, your care, the safe space you create, the power of your listening, your dedication to learning and development, and the experiences that you share are all powerful ways to build your reputation within the community. Please take this as an opportunity to build your professional reputation. However, please do not actively market your coaching services directly to participants in your Home Group. This means not adding them to your mailing list (even though they can opt in), not sharing announcements of upcoming offers, or not directly offering them your coaching services. The Home Group is a space for learning, not selling. When the space becomes commercialized in this way, it often doesn’t feel as psychologically safe. Keep the Home Group commerce free.
scheduling Logistics
Home Group meetings are two hours long. The only exception to this is by mutual agreement with all participants present in a meeting. For example, you might only have 3 people show up. Everyone has had a chance to share, the discussion feels complete, and extending the meeting for the full two hours feels forced. (Nothing should ever feel forced in Aletheia.) So you mutually decide to end early. That’s okay.
In 2026, Level 1 has 10 sessions (not 12). Therefore, Level 1 Home Groups will meet four times.
The meeting schedule is established at the launch of the Home Group. Ideally, each meeting occurs within the specified date ranges, which correspond to the course schedule. Namely,
For Level 1, please host meetings between sessions:
1st call in module 2 - between February 25th and March 23rd.
2nd call in module 4 - between April 22nd and May 18th.
3rd call in module 6 - between June 17th and July 13th.
4th call between modules 8 or 9:
Module 8 - Between August 17th and September 4th (3-week window)
Avoid the week commencing September 7th (module 9 live session happens on September 8th)
Module 9 - Between September 14th and October 2nd.
To avoid the scheduling craziness with ~8 people, participants sign up for a time slot (day of the week and time). Hosts are assigned to a Home Group based on their availability to host at that group’s time slot. Hosts then declare which dates meetings will be hosted on. Hosts are responsible for creating, maintaining, and publishing the meeting schedule. Please publish the complete schedule for all meetings as soon as you receive the role at the beginning of the course, and ask participants to arrange their calendars accordingly.
We highly recommend not changing the schedule once it is published. We recommend sticking to the established schedule unless a majority of participants are unable to attend. We do not recommend shifting the schedule to accommodate one or two participants who cannot make the date work. In the past, some hosts have tried to accommodate everyone by shifting schedules around, only to find it was a lot of work, and still, there are those who cannot attend.
In the past, some groups have wanted to meet more frequently than the required schedule. We even had one group that wanted to meet weekly. There is no obligation for Hosts to facilitate more meetings than the required number. If the group wants to meet more frequently, these meetings can be self-organized and self-facilitated.
Format of the First Meeting
The first meeting is unique. Please facilitate the meeting so that everyone has 10 minutes to introduce themselves. Some people will find that 10 minutes feels too long. Others will be frustrated because, once they get going, they find the time too short. We do this because it develops the group field very quickly, and people get to know each other much more deeply than the typical 1-minute or less introduction, where you say your name, where you live, and what you do.
You will experience this in the first Home Group Host meeting with Steve. Everyone will introduce themselves for 10 minutes. We do this so that you have experience with the format and understand how powerful it is.
Some tips:
Start the meeting with a brief arrival meditation similar to what Steve offers at the beginning of each live session. You will be provided with a meditation script to use; however, you can also create your own.
Take a few minutes to remind participants of the Home Group's purpose: Name how this is an invaluable opportunity to practice listening and speaking within the Unfoldment Paradigm and for exploring and integrating what they are learning in the course. Be mindful of time here and plan accordingly so you have enough time for the exercise.
When you set up the exercise, remind participants that this is an opportunity to practice listening as a coach. Invite them to imagine the speaker is one of their coaching clients. What world does this client inhabit? Notice what they choose to share and how they share. Notice what they don’t share. For example, the speaker may only share about their work, not their home life. Perhaps the speaker only shares about accomplishments and nothing about struggles. Perhaps they only share about struggles. There is so much that we can learn about our clients by listening carefully. This exercise is an opportunity to practice. How often do you have the opportunity to just listen without any pressure or need to talk? Almost never.
Ask everyone turn their camera on: For many people, it is disconcerting to share in a personal way when some participants have their cameras off. Sharing is an opening for contact.
Use a timer for 10 minutes: Zoom includes a built-in timer that shows the timer to everyone on the screen. Use that. For planning purposes, assume the exercise will take 11 minutes per person. One extra minute was added for transition time. Facilitate the exercise so that everyone has equal time. When estimating, be sure to include yourself in the count. Do not shortchange anyone on time.
Demonstrate giving an introduction by going first: Don’t plan your introduction. Just let it unfold spontaneously. It doesn’t have to be well organized. How you share sets the stage for how others will participate in this exercise. Be real. Be authentic. Be open. Be vulnerable. Be personal. Be truthful. Of course, there is plenty of room within this, so you can share what you want and keep private what you prefer. There is no expectation to reveal your deepest and darkest secrets. That’s not the intention. The intention is to deepen relationships quickly through practicing personal sharing and listening.
After a participant has introduced themselves, I recommend that, as the Host, you say “Thank you” in a heartfelt way. If someone has shared something vulnerable, it is appropriate to acknowledge it. You might say, “Thank you for your courage to share,” or “Thank you for really sharing from your heart,” or whatever feels appropriate. Often, when someone shares vulnerably, they are left wondering how it is being received. Your acknowledgment helps to settle the question. Please do not open the process to responses from the group or group discussion, as this risks derailing the exercise's timing.
To speed the process along, have each person call on the next person when their 10 minutes are up. It is okay for them to pass. If the person they call upon passes, then ask them to call on another person.
Take a short pause and a stretch break (no more than 30 seconds) between each introduction. Always invite participants to take care of themselves as needed.
With 9 people, this will take ~100 minutes of a 2-hour (120-minute) meeting. 15 minutes for the introduction, arrival meditation, and exercise instructions. This leaves only 5 minutes spare at the end of the call. There is time for this to feel spacious rather than rushed; however, you must stick to the exercise's format and not deviate. Note: If you have a group of more than 8 people, you will need to adjust the timing. For example, give everyone 9 minutes instead.
In your first meeting, suggest setting up a WhatsApp, Signal, or other platform group (whatever participants agree on). This can be used for asynchronous communication and check-ins. It can also be used for announcements, like schedule changes.
Ask participants to agree to let the group know when they will be absent from a meeting. This is a way that participants express their presence in the group even when they can’t make meetings.
Format of Subsequent Meetings
The format for subsequent meetings is different from the first.
Start the meeting with a brief arrival meditation similar to what Steve offers at the beginning of each live session. You will be provided with a meditation script to use; however, you can also create your own. This should be no more than 5 minutes.
Each participant will have 10 minutes to lead the group. During this time, they can share something personal, request support, bring up topics for discussion, or anything else. This is a structured time.
The hosts should ensure everyone gets an equal opportunity to speak and contribute.
After everyone has had an opportunity to lead, there is an open discussion. This is unstructured time.
Some tips:
Some people really like structure. Others hate it. The people who like structure will probably appreciate the structured time. The people who hate structure will probably dislike it. On the other hand, the people who dislike structure will probably love the unstructured time, and others will dislike it. The intention of this design is to ensure that everyone participates. When time is unstructured and there is open discussion, groups tend to see some people repeatedly dominate the conversation and others repeatedly stay silent. The format, as designed, will give everyone a challenge and everyone an opportunity.
Remember that these meetings are opportunities to practice speaking and leading, as well as listening. They are opportunities to practice requesting and offering support to each other. They are opportunities to practice using the language of Aletheia Unfolding - observing, framing, naming, etc. They are opportunities to build clarity and understanding. They are opportunities for exploration and integration. As such, they are an essential aspect of the course's learning environment.
In subsequent meetings, remind participants that their 10 minutes do not need to be a monologue. If they plan to ask a question or request support from the group during their time, encourage them to leave enough space for others to respond.
It is possible to evolve or adapt the format of these meetings in response to the group’s needs and desires. However, do not do this until the group has experienced this format first (meaning until the 3rd meeting). Also, ensure that the design intention that everyone has a chance to lead is not sacrificed. The design change we have seen most often is shortening the structured time by 1 or 2 minutes to open more unstructured time. Some groups will like this, while others will want even more structured time. Whatever you do, do not abandon the format and just ask the group, “What do you want to do this time?”
During a participant’s time to lead, silence is acceptable. Really, anything that the participant-as-leader wants to do is acceptable.
If a participant has feedback about the course or Aletheia, please ask them to fill out a form on the Open Feedback Portal in the Start Here section on the Mighty Network Course space.
Please raise any issues or concerns with the course leader. Do not wait until the next Home Group Host meeting to ask for support.