Pure online coaching without face-to-face contact is unimaginable for many coaches. However, conducting coaching online can be a great benefit for clients and coaches alike! We show you 3 advantages of blended coaching over traditional coaching that prove: spatial separation can even be helpful!

Coaching and online - how does that fit together?

Whether executive, team, or personal coach: all coaches strive to support their clients individually and sustainably in development processes. Fundamental to this is – of course – a personal relationship between coach and client: Gestures and facial expressions are often just as important in the coaching process as the words in face-to-face conversations.

However, the trend is increasingly moving towards "online": many companies and clients desire less in-person time and instead more flexible online content – if only to save time and thus money.

But to forego in-person appointments in coaching – doesn’t that contradict the fundamental idea of personal support?! Only at first glance: different forms of e-coachings are already being offered.

If you as a coach do not want to completely forgo direct contact with the client, you can make use of a method that has proven itself in further education for years: blended learning, the integration of traditional in-person learning and e-learning.

Blended learning means sensibly integrating in-person learning and e-learning.

You can also transfer this connection to coaching: Combine your personal coaching appointments with online support! Below you will learn what advantages this has for you as a coach and your clients:

What can blended coaching achieve?

Advantage 1: High flexibility in everyday life

Part of your coaching process takes place independently of time and location via the Internet – even outside the actual coaching time. For example, this allows you to offer your client regular impulses via email, messenger, or specialized software. These remind your client regularly of the content from the coaching and help to integrate it into their daily life.

Impulses could be short video messages from you to the client. Questionnaires with reflection questions, small exercises, or a coaching journal are also suitable content for online support. The communication method you choose largely determines what impulses are possible: specialized software like blink.it offers you the best selection for this.

Advantage 2: Reflection in a personal space

In blended coaching, you gain a second space in addition to the traditional shared coaching space: the personal space of your client. This could be at home, on the go, or simply a place that the client has chosen for themselves.

This personal space provides your client with tranquility and a pleasant atmosphere to engage with coaching impulses, their own development, or personal thoughts - keyword self-reflection! Since there is no time pressure in the personal space, as is often the case in the coaching room, introverted clients particularly benefit from this.

Blended coaching enables clients to work on coaching impulses at home in a relaxed atmosphere.

Advantage 3: Writing helps the development process

If you rely on a coaching journal (see advantage 1) and reflection in the personal space (see advantage 2) in your blended coaching, the third step arises naturally: written expression of thoughts, feelings, and progress in the coaching process.

Writing has numerous benefits for the development process: thoughts and feelings are expressed rather than remaining in the mind. Writing also "forces" the client (in a positive sense) to articulate their thoughts precisely. Additionally, writing allows for an external perspective to judge processes and problems more objectively.

Summary: Blended coaching vs. traditional coaching

Conclusion: Combining in-person and online for more effective coaching

In coaching, you can perfectly apply the principle of blended learning: combine in-person coaching and online phases to leverage the advantages of both methods perfectly. In the end, both you and your client will experience a more sustainable coaching experience.

For you as a coach, blended learning or blended coaching offers many additional benefits that you can also communicate wonderfully as sales arguments to your clients. We have compiled these arguments in the free PDF "Sales Arguments for Your Online Support." Download the PDF now and also convince your clients of the concept of "blended coaching"!

Have you tried blended coaching yourself? If so, please share your experiences with the concept in the comments! We look forward to your input 🙂