Grow Your Coaching Practice With An Online Coaching Platform

Grow Your Coaching Practice With An Online Coaching Platform

Online coaching solutions provide accessible online coaching platforms for facilitating real behavioral change by utilizing available technologies. An online coaching program allows coaches to reach and captivate the person being coached (PBC) in ways that face-to-face interaction cannot fully imitate.

What started out as a way to accommodate learning during a global pandemic has evolved into a medium worthy of further development. The advantages of online coaching have already been established, and as digital coaching technology and theoretical understandings of e-learning develop, this upward trend appears poised to continue.

Find out how an online coaching system and coaching software could potentially help grow your business. Investing the effort into learning how to grow your coaching practice using online coaching platforms will help you as a professional coach to meet all the needs of the PBC. 

Using Technology For Your Online Coaching Business

The capacity for professional coaches to use both real-time and asynchronous coaching sessions as part of their coaching practice is a fundamental benefit of taking your coaching platform online. Video conferencing allows for live group coaching opportunities. Instant messaging apps and text discussion groups add to this by helping the coaching client to feel connected to the coaching process outside of interactive sessions. 

Remote interactions carry the consequence of relying on technology rather than personal human interaction. Utilized correctly, however,  this distance between the tutor and the learner can also inspire behavioral change equivalent to that received from more traditional methods. 

A study carried out by Fielden and Hunt analyzed how online coaching could enable behavioral change in a disadvantaged group (in this case, women) looking to enter the professional environment. 

They highlight that online coaching could offer the social support needed to support entrepreneurial skills development. In particular, it was seen that online coaching can sufficiently provide the one-on-one interaction required for optimal skill development. When used correctly, online coaching can obviate the intrinsic limitations of remote interaction and effectively foster positive behavioral change

Jackson and Bourne found that online coaching platforms both enable coaches to conduct their sessions from anywhere and helps the learner by allowing them to experience the coaching process from a familiar, comfortable environment. This leads to increased self-confidence and learning flexibility. In the context of vulnerable or disadvantaged individuals, a sense of security is also created by allowing them to remain in their home environment during coaching sessions. 

Stenbom, Hrastinski and Cleveland-Innes, in a study evaluating the effectiveness of student-to-student online coaching, observed that technology was able to emphasize learning in the coaching process. The technology in this instance - an asynchronous instant messaging system - was used to supplement the traditional classroom experience to great effect. Even when the coach in this instance was not supremely experienced, the clients of the coaching program benefited from the additional support offered by an online coaching platform which made use of instant messaging only. 

The research shows how the internet has revolutionized the accessibility and value of services such as coaching. It is in every coaching practitioner’s best interest to, if they have not already, start an online coaching management platform. The undeniable processing power that this  provides coaches should not be overlooked. 

The academic works consulted in this article have all considered the benefits of online coaching. A critical point of departure is that the online coaching looked at in the articles made use of either only one feature of an online coaching platform or simply amalgamated a host of third party services such as Zoom or Whatsapp. Read on to find out how to solve this.

A Central Learning Location 

User interaction lies at the heart of any successful online coaching platform. In order to handle the challenges of coaching, the coaching content and the accompanying asynchronous communication must be tailored to suit all the needs of the client. This includes the social need to interact with a coach and receive substantive feedback or encouragement. 

Having all the online coaching tools on one easily accessible platform helps to streamline the coaching process. Moreover, by not needing to constantly switch between apps and services and by being consistently exposed to branding, a central learning platform helps to strengthen the coaching bond between the coach and the client. 

A coaching app for coaches and clients also fills the gap between the need for personal interaction and leverages the efficiencies and capabilities of modern technology. Apps of this sort can be used to accommodate both live sessions and asynchronous learning. To increase a sense of participation, an app like myQuest, allows for clients to book their consultation in advance, and complete an onboarding, ensuring that they do not rely on text messages and videos alone to supplement their coaching journey. 

When combined with an online coaching platform, an effective coaching app adds a sophisticated dimension to the online learning experience and groups all the necessary coaching resources into one convenient forum. Video conferencing, discussion boards, text channels, immediate feedback, reminders and notifications are but a few of the examples of what an app can do to assist online coaching. 

Furthermore, apps like myQuest, with white label branding solutions allow coaches to incorporate their own logo and company images into the coaching process. Rather than needing to use a plethora of third party services, having all the requisite coaching tools in one place gives off a sense of preparedness and professionalism. 

Observations and Takeaways 

All in all, the benefits that including online coaching with any existing coaching program offers are sizable. The last two years have revealed that business and coaching can utilize technology to keep things moving when face-to-face interaction becomes problematic or impossible. When combined with the correct theoretical application, online coaching can surpass the limitations of remote interaction and enable behavioral change in a way almost identical to in-person coaching. 

Additionally, online coaching holds benefits that cannot be found in traditional coaching mediums. Blending coaching and technology opens paths to learning that would not have otherwise been available. The ease of setting up online coaching sessions allows for the seamless incorporation of incentives such as free trials and bonus content which would not work as well in interpersonal settings. All in all this is a winner for professional coaches wanting to grow their coaching practice.

Written by Kirsten Garbini