Coaching is a long-term affair. No wonder, since most coaching instances have to do with changes. To successfully implement changes, time is needed. The more meetings with a coach are necessary, the more expensive the fee becomes. A price of several hundred euros deters some clients. Besides the price, time also plays a major role. The time investment is much more valuable to many leaders than the monetary investment.
The solution: Conduct the coaching process both “offline” and online. If you, as a coach, offer online support, you can restructure the time required for coaching. The time with the client on-site is shortened. The client works on their coaching topics on their computer or smartphone. This saves you and the coachee time and travel expenses.
Note: Digital coaching offers many different application possibilities. Colleague Laura summarized 5 formats for online coaching in a recent blog post.
Does online coaching deliver on its promises? Research on online coaching is scarce.
Online therapy is now well-researched, and the results are promising: A meta-analysis from 2015 showed equivalent effects of cognitive-behavioral online therapy compared to conventional cognitive-behavioral therapy for various psychological disorders (Source).
But coaching is not therapy! There are currently only a few studies comparing the effectiveness of online coaching to traditional coaching. In the book “Professionalization of Coaching” by Astrid Schreyögg and Christoph Schmidt-Lellek (2015), the relationship between coaching research and coaching practice is very nicely illuminated. Every coach should engage with this topic. You can find the complete book here: The Professionalization of Coaching.
If you want to dive deeper into the topic, I recommend the website Virtual Coaching by Prof. Dr. Harald Geißler. In the download area, you will find many resources on online coaching, including his study on E-Coaching. According to his recommendation, the combination of online and offline coaching is the ideal choice, as it utilizes the benefits of both types of coaching.
Utilize the strengths of online and offline
There are certain parts of the coaching process that are very individual and require personal contact. Of course, there are exceptions. Some coachees desire anonymous coaching and therefore want to take advantage of online coaching only. In business coaching, multiple meetings at the beginning of the coaching process are important to build rapport, clarify the assignment, and establish a working relationship. If we use the COACH model as support for the coaching process, then clarifying the assignment, analysis, and certain methods can be better implemented in personal contact.
An online support can be a helpful tool in the coaching process to inform, maintain contact, reflect, and provide practice suggestions. It is certainly possible to provide the coachee with preparatory information before the coaching begins. However, online support will mainly come into play during the change and harbor phase. For practice transfer, online support can be a powerful tool.
Furthermore, there are topics and information that affect many coachees and are similar (e.g., exercises to build good self-management). If you create online content on these topics, you only need to create this content once and can reuse it in various coaching sessions. For example, it might be informational offerings. In a coaching session, a leader may have expressed interest in different models for conflict resolution. However, since there is no time during the live session to discuss such a model, you send your coachee the prepared information, and in the next meeting, you discuss the content.
Another form of support is provided by online support through regular reflection questions in the follow-up. In this way, the coachee directs their attention to the change topic or the implementation of the practice.
Towards the end of the coaching phase, the frequency of contact with the coachee decreases. Through online support, the coach and coachee can exchange ideas sporadically. If you add new content for the coachee during the coaching phase into the online support, the coachee can also look back at the contents of their coaching process later and can inform themselves even weeks or months after the coaching ends if needed. You create these online contents “on demand.” The online support “grows” with the progress of the coaching and is available after completion.
You could also surprise your coachee with small video impulses every two weeks. You support your coachee and might secure a recommendation if you provide a good coaching experience. The competition in the coaching market is growing, and with such an additional offering, you can distinguish yourself from other providers.
Take two or three minutes to outline your online support. If you want to be more specific, call us and tell us what you are planning. If you know good sources on the topic of online coaching, please feel free to leave me a comment. I am always curious!
