Harald Geissler

E-Coaching
1. New types of coaching

E-coaching makes use of the possibilities of the new media to enhance coaching. A number of new types of coaching are created this way:

Fig. 1: Overview of old and new types of coaching

Any type of coaching that does not make use of modern media, i.e. in which coach and client work together in the same place, we can call presence coaching or on-site-coaching. It can be divided into two subcategories:
Live coaching takes place wherever the need for coaching arises, e.g. at the client's

workplace.

In face-to-face coaching, the coach has no immediate access to the client's problem areas,

but gets a "virtual" idea of them through information by the client. The only immediate observations by the coach are of the activities of the client through the client's eyes (cf. Backhausen/Thommen 2003, p. 37f).

All types of coaching that do not display the basic characteristics of presence coaching I refer to as e-coaching. These are without exception types in which the means of modern communication and information technologies are used. Where forms of presence coaching are combined with forms of e-coaching, the result is blended coaching. In the context of e-coaching, two areas can be distinguished: didactically open e-coaching and didactically pre-structured e-coaching, the latter of which I will refer to as virtual coaching in the following. The distinctive criterion is whether or not the type of coaching has been pre-structured

by modern media (Meier 2006, p. 172). With regard to didactically open e-coaching and virtual coaching, three areas can be distinguished in practice, namely: exclusively didactically open e-coaching, hybrid forms combining didactically open e-coaching and virtual coaching and virtual coaching with no elements of didactically open e-coaching. Didactically open e-coaching can be subdivided into: synchronous didactically open e-coaching and asynchronous didactically open e-coaching, in both of which modern media are used for audio, visual, and/or written communication. Synchronous didactically open e-coaching Modern media are used as a technical means of permitting simultaneous communication when coach and client are physically separated, thus acting as a substitute for or imitation of presence coaching. Depending on the chosen medium, however, certain features of presence coaching will be lost. This way, coaching is virtualised. Asynchronous didactically open e-coaching Modern media are used as part of an asynchronous coaching that is geographically independent (Ensher & Murphy 2007). In contrast to synchronous didactically open e-coaching, it is no longer possible or advisable to base coaching exclusively on presence coaching and to attempt to imitate it as closely as possible by using modern media. Virtual coaching The conceptual counterpart of didactically open e-coaching is e-coaching that is didactically prestructured by modern media, which I refer to as virtual coaching. Its distinctive feature is that the modern media assume an (external) control function, which in presence coaching is performed by the coach. Three variants can be distinguished, namely:
virtual coaching without a coach, i.e. clients work on their own supported by the didactically

structuring medium but not by a coach, communication and

virtual coaching with a coach, with whom there is synchronous (written, audio or visual) virtual coaching with a coach, with whom there is asynchronous communication. The written

work done by the client using the didactically structuring medium (Internet program) is observed and supervised asynchronously by the coach, i.e. when a need for support is

assumed, deferred written feedback and/or further suggestions are given. Since there are different ways of linking these three structural variants, there are several possible designs of virtual coaching (fig. 2).

Fig. 2: Design variants of virtual coaching

2.

Virtual Coaching

The first of the current total of eight programs for virtual coaching (www.virtuellescoaching.com), namely virtual self-coaching, was developed in 2006 and tested extensively (cf. Geissler 2007; Geissler/Helm/Nolze 2007). It was followed by virtual employee, executive, academic, transfer, call-centre and sales coaching as well as virtual coaching supervision. In concrete terms, virtual coaching includes Internet programs of different content for assisting the client in tackling problems and challenges and in realising his or her aims and intentions. The priorities differ depending on the program: virtual self-coaching and virtual coaching supervision, for example, are useful for self-assessment, while virtual transfer, sales, call-centre and academic coaching primarily provide assistance in achieving set objectives. Finally, virtual employee and executive coaching are means for both self-assessment and the realisation of aims. What is common to all programs is that open-ended questions are asked, which the client must answer in a written form. The underlying concept is that dealing with questions systematically based on and/or interconnected with each other, inviting clients to observe themselves, their environment and the connection between these two, will automatically improve self-observation and the observation of the environment and, in the next step, the self-management of the client.

Guiding clients to systematically observe themselves and their environment based on the paradigm of constructivism and systems theory is therefore the conceptual heart of virtual coaching. Another conceptual characteristic is based on a technical feature allowing the client to choose a coach as a tutor, granting a read permission, thus enabling the coach to supervise the client online while the client is answering the questions. Self-motivation and self-discipline of the client are improved by this, since he or she in the positive sense of well-meaning support feels constantly watched by the coach while working with the tool. This effect is increased when, for whatever reason, the client neglects or interrupts work, the coach immediately sends an e-mail, asking what is wrong and offering help in a friendly but determined manner. The client can be supported even further by phone coaching, which leads to highly effective counselling, because both client and coach prepare thoroughly for the conversation, the client by answering the questions of the Internet program in written form, the coach by reading the answers. The aim of the subsequent phone coaching session, which is consequently very brief, is to intensify the self-observations and observations of the environment made by the client during individual work and, if necessary, to put them to a test by confronting him or her in order to create a better basis for the following virtually coached individual session. 3. 3.1 Virtual coaching programs Virtual self-coaching

The general characteristics of virtual coaching (V.C.) take different forms in different V.C. programs. We have the most experience with virtual self-coaching (see Geissler/Helm/Nolze 2007), which is useful in three situations: preceding presence coaching, before clients are sure whether they will, supported by an adequate tool, be able to deal with their current problems or challenges on their own, or whether they will need additional help from an expert, supporting presence coaching, using virtual self-coaching for clients to continue working on the subject independently between coaching sessions and following presence coaching as follow-on support. As demonstrated by these three situations, cost-cutting and quality enhancement are the main motives for applying virtual self-coaching. Trials have shown that the subjects that can be dealt with using virtual self-coaching may be very diverse (cf. Geissler/Helm/Nolze 2007). The tool is most frequently used by people who want to gain some clarity about their professional future often with regard to questions of work-life balance or are looking for ways to apply their capabilities to becoming self-employed, pursuing a career option or attempting reintegration into the labour market. The reason for this broad applicability is that the content of the program is based on a general method of problem solving that can be applied to the most diverse subjects. Thus, the first step in this method is to condense the respective challenge in the form of a question starting with the words: "What should I do in order to ...?" This key question is subsequently examined systematically from different angles. Based on the existing specific problem or challenge of the client, the aim of virtual self-coaching is thus to improve the client's capacity for solving problems and organising his or her own work.

3.2

Virtual executive coaching

In contrast to virtual self-coaching, virtual executive coaching is not open to various executive issues but pursues a precise objective, namely to support executive personnel in identifying and improving their crucial activities, i.e. those activities that are essential to their success as managers. Against this background, virtual executive coaching it a valuable tool for enterprise knowledge management and organisational development. What is more, the tool contains questions for managers to pose during the regular talks they should conduct with their employees, which the latter must answer. Here, it functions as a documentation tool used for the generation/explication of precisely formulated knowledge o about the aims employees have effectively set for themselves in the review period (e.g. 2 weeks), o about the action they have taken to pursue these aims o and about the effects they have achieved. o Further important information refers to the subjectively perceived workload, the need for support and the planned objectives and activities expressed by the employee. o Suggestions by the employee on how to improve performance of his or her crucial activities on a short-term basis are of particular importance. 3.3 Virtual employee coaching

If managers and employees work at a distance from each other, virtual employee coaching is advisable. It contains open-ended questions to help the employee identify the tasks that have been most important recently, i.e. in the past one, two or three weeks, how well he or she fulfilled them, what factors contributed to or hampered success and what were the one or two most important activities in this context. Based on this retrospective analysis, positive consequences should be decided on in the next step for the following one, two or three weeks. All these entries the manager can then read online, whatever his or her location, adding comments and suggestions to the text. Virtual employee coaching thus serves to improve the employee's capacity for self-organisation as well as being a tool to support "distant leadership". It can easily be combined with virtual executive coaching. 3.4 Virtual call-centre coaching

A special combination of virtual employee and executive coaching is "virtual call-centre coaching" (VCC). It consists of the following elements: Internet program for the agents (VCC) Internet program for the self-coaching of the superiors / team leaders of the agents (VCC-S) talks between team leaders and agents based on coaching supervision (e-mail and phone coaching) of team leaders by external coaches

Fig. 3: Structure of the individual elements of virtual call-centre coaching

VCC involves and (!) combines two functions: For the agents, it is a self-coaching and self-training tool and not least a self-motivation or self-disciplining tool that helps them concentrate again and again on those points that are essential for success, enabling them to draw constructive conclusions independently. For the team leaders, it is a management tool that, on the one hand, substitutes personal executive tasks by virtualisation, thus easing demands on their time, while on the other hand committing them to a certain style of communication and management namely high-quality coaching-based communication and management. The commitment to high-quality coaching-based communication and management necessitates adequate support for the team leaders as well. This support is provided in two ways, namely by an Internet program, the VCC-S, that gives systematic instructions based on self-coaching, and by e-mail and phone coaching through an external coach. Thus the underlying cascade model is revealed, which is made up of two levels: at the lower level, the agents work with the VCC to improve their self-organisation; they are coached by the team leader. At the upper level, the team leader works with the VCC-S to improve coachingbased communication and management, while being coached by an external coach. 3.5 Virtual sales coaching

Virtual sales coaching is designed for people working in the sales of products or services to end customers. This tool is used to enhance face-to-face or live coaching conducted by specialised

coaches by giving clients the opportunity to specifically use the periods between presence coaching sessions for individual work. The tool contains twelve subject areas from which the client chooses, with the advice of the coach, those that suit his or her needs: handling consultancy documents, preparing for customer communication, conducting talks and interviews, handling customer requirements, creativity, process control, self-concept of the consultant, authentic behaviour of the consultant, customer appreciation, results-oriented interview techniques, emotional and pictorial language and further rhetoric strategies. Each of these twelve subject areas consists of a number of central coaching questions that the client must answer in written form. With the necessary read permission, the coach can read it online to prepare the next presence coaching session or to quickly offer support via e-mail or phone. 3.6 Virtual academic coaching

The third VC program available up to this point is virtual academic coaching. It has been designed for distance learners and has so far been used the most extensively by the Hamburger Akademie fr Fernstudien (Hamburg Academy for Distance Studies). The academy offers this tool to its 13 000 distance learners as an auxiliary service, advising the students to choose a study counsellor as a tutor and grant him or her "read permission", i.e. access in order to read the answers they have entered when working with the tool. By virtue of this permission the tutor must supervise the work of the distance learners regularly and contact students via email as soon as there are signs of problems, offering help. With the introduction of virtual academic coaching, a more extensive use of the offered study counselling was achieved than before. Up to that point, distance learners had been reluctant to take up this offer since they considered it a loss of face to ask for help on the phone without exactly knowing what to say or what one needs to know. The most important reason was that problems emerging during studying were felt to be unclear, emotionally uncomfortable problems because most distance learners paid too much attention to subject matter and too little to methodology and organisation of the study process. The result was that study problems were suppressed until they became so huge that failing the study course was almost inevitable. Virtual academic coaching is a tool that uses written questions to guide the attention of distance learners specifically to the points crucial for study success. The answers given provide tutors with valuable information about possible or imminent study problems, prompting them to take the initiative, i.e. contact the distance learner in question in order to obtain more detailed information and offer help. 3.7 Virtual transfer coaching

The fourth VC tool available is virtual transfer coaching. It attempts to increase sustainability and/or effectiveness of training, which is usually at an estimated 10-20%, using a design whose basic structure is very similar to that of virtual academic coaching: The attention of the client is specifically guided towards those points that are crucial to a sustainable application of what has been learned during the course. The participant of the course is encouraged to choose the trainer as a tutor outside the course, granting him or her "read permission". The trainer supervises the work of the participants online and regularly conducts phone coaching sessions based on this supervision. In concrete terms this means that course participants start work on the first module of the tool

directly following the course by noting down spontaneously which topics and suggestions they would like to apply in their work routine, what they should be aware of in doing so and how they would like to proceed. The second module, which should be started two or three days after the participants have returned to their work routine, demands the detailed planning of the actual steps that should be taken in the following two or three weeks to put into practice the lessons learned. To assess the realisation of this plan and to draw conclusions from this assessment for the next two or three weeks is, finally, the key question of the third module. Technically, it can be used an infinite number of times, making it possible to accumulate a series of documents that give valuable insights into the study history of the person concerned. The main feature is that work with the third module is always followed by a phone coaching session, which is usually very brief due to the extensive preparatory work on both sides. 3.8 Virtual coaching supervision

The quality of coaching depends on the quality of the coach. Coaching supervision is thus imperative, which also applies to coach training. Just like coaching, supervision can also rely on the possibilities of modern media. Consequently, virtual coaching supervision is an Internet application that is largely similar to the other forms of virtual coaching. It consists of open-ended questions to be answered by the coach in written form. If read permission has been granted, a supervisor can read the answers online, taking them as the basis for a personal supervision talk that is conducted face-to-face or on the phone. Supervision questions refer to an actual example of a coaching session and include the following topics: reflections on the actions of the coach, with a view to ascertaining the needs of the client, the client's image of his or her reality, and past and future actions taken by the client to solve problems. Further topics are reflections on underlying core problems of the client and the question what consequences the coach thinks should result from this reflection for the next session with the client. 4. Prospects

Based on the comments above it can be assumed that virtual coaching will convey various and valuable impulses to advanced training, mainly because it stimulates the development of new combinations of coaching with e-learning or blended learning, technical and other training or organisational development. 5. Bibliography

Backhausen, W & Thommen J-P (2003) Coaching. Wiesbaden. Ensher, EA & Murphy, SE (2007) E-mentoring. In Ragins, BR & Kram KE (Eds) The Handbook of Mentoring at Work: Theory, Research and Practice. Los Angeles pp 299-322 Geissler, H (Ed.) (2008) E-Coaching. Baltmannsweiler. Geissler, H (2007): Virtuelles Selbstcoaching. In: Neuendorff, H./ Oberquelle, H./ Ott, B./ Schlick, Chr. M. (Ed.): Arbeitsgestaltung in der Netzwerkkonomie. Hohengehren, p. 203 223. Geissler, H, Helm, M & Nolze, A (2007) Virtuelles Selbstcoaching - Konzept und erste Erfahrungen. Organisationsberatung, Supervision, Coaching 14 (1), p. 81 - 93. Geissler, Helm, M & Theis, F (2007) Per Internet optimal beraten. Virtuelles Coaching: Konzept und erste Erfahrungen. Weiterbildung, vol. 5, p. 26-28.

Meier, R (2006) Praxis E-Learning. Offenbach.