Coaching from the Cloud

What does Coaching from the Cloud mean? Imagine erasing the coaching and training barriers naturally created by distance. Imagine reaching any client, for any type of coaching session, anywhere in the world, around-the-clock. Now imagine you could do this without ever setting foot on a plane, train or automobile. Can you envision the possibilities? Among other things, it means expanding your pool of prospective clients to every person on the planet. Coaching technology pioneer Doug Devitre shares his innovations and discoveries in today’s story!

Coaching from the Cloud

by Doug Devitre

Confucius is often quoted as saying, “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” He was right.
Many times when coaching clients try to remember insights taken from coaching sessions, they fall short because the dialogue in their memory was restricted to the spoken word.  If you have coached via phone in the past, and want to try something new, video-conferencing may be for you.
The four things you can do differently for your next coaching sessions include: selecting the best screen-to-screen meeting technology, using visual frames in your dialogue, affirming listening with a digital whiteboard, and summarizing the dialogue with visual annotations.

Screen-to-screen meeting technology

Video conferencing allows you to observe facial features, body language, and behaviors that are absent from a traditional phone call. The Zoom video cloud meeting platform sends one link to a client’s computer or mobile device and once they click on it, will beam them into your room without being physically in the same room. Skype is a popular tool as well; however, be mindful that the client will need to create a user name and password to join Skype prior to the coaching session.

Visual frames

If picture is worth 1000 words, then the screen share is worth a million. When a client asks you more specifically,” how do you mean?”, you can use a screen share to reference an image, website, or a document that narrows down a general understanding to the specific context of the meaning. This saves you both time because you have moved from the abstract concept into a visual you share mental synchronicity.

Digital white board

You can generally tell if someone is listening when do you look directly into their eyes, and with the use of video chat during a meeting, you now have that option. However, in some situations shaking your head can be a polite way of saying no.  To avoid situations where something they might say is different from your interpretation, a digital whiteboard will affirm answers in writing so that.

Visual summary period

The problem with recording and audio of a coaching session is that it might take 30 minutes to listen to get to that one gem buried somewhere in the middle. The combination of visual frames, whiteboard annotations, and screenshots of teachable moments can be shared as one PDF to summarize the key discoveries and what actionable steps the coaching client will take next.  If your meeting tool has clunky whiteboard feature, try the Doceri iPad app to insert visual frames, draw on client’s computer screens during a screen share, and send a summary they can act upon.

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Doug Devitre is the founder of Doug Devitre International, Inc and author of Screen to Screen Selling: How to increase sales, productivity, and customer experience with the latest technology (McGraw Hill October 2015). Past kudos include National Association of Realtors Business Specialties Hall of Fame, Entrepreneur of the Year from University of Missouri-Columbia, and bestowed the top honor of Certified Speaking Professional Designation by the National Speakers Association.