Coaching-specific apps are few and far between, but, argues Jonathan Dyson, with the huge rise in the use of mobile devices among coaches, it’s just a matter of time before a range of targeted apps appear
The use of smartphone and tablet apps looks set to become increasingly important in coaching. New apps are emerging that help coaches and clients during sessions, offer clients a ‘coach in your pocket’ and even provide self-coaching.
Currently, apps are not widely used in coaching, and little hard data exists. However, Abby Tripp Heverin, communications coordinator at the International Coach Federation (ICF), told Coaching at Work that, based on the ICF’s interactions with its members, around one in every five or six members globally uses mobile devices in daily professional communications.
A growing interest
Demand for coaching-specific apps is on the increase though, as is a growing focus among leading coaching companies on developing new ones.
One of the most recent and significant is The Coaching AppTM, (bit.ly/1jqAJJl) launched in January 2014 by Tony Latimer, director of the Singapore-based Asia-Pacific Corporate Coach Institute (ACCI). The institute offers leadership development, management training and executive coaching to more than 60 multinational corporations.
The Coaching App is free and designed for use by executive and internal coaches; and also for managers, for their own learning as well as for coaching and training their own staff. It features 42 podcasts, with content ranging from ACCI’s Profitable Leadership programme, to ‘Coaching Journal’ and ‘Coaching Log’ features that will record and save material.
The app, Latimer explained, is designed, in particular, to meet demand among corporations for a more convenient way of coaching and training staff.
“Some companies handle the learning components via email, but in corporations a big problem is an overload of emails, so things easily get delayed,” he said. “People told us that if they had the material on their phone, it means it’s there all the time, so it’s much easier.”
Latimer said the app, available on iPhone and Android phones, with an iPad version to be launched shortly, has already been downloaded in 30 countries, with Singapore, the US, UK and Australia the biggest markets so far. He is also anticipating strong demand from multinationals with offices in large, emerging markets, such as Africa, where high-level executive coaching may not be available and is often too costly.
Latimer is also planning to launch a new paid-for app towards the end of 2014 designed to help support a mass roll-out of, for instance, a culture change within an organisation. He noted that the new app will enable managers and their staff, as well as coaches’ clients, to learn by watching videos of pre-recorded coaching sessions, and then doing a line-by-line analysis. He added that the app will be designed to support ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) policies, which most corporations are now moving towards.
New developments
Another recent innovation is Niggle, launched by UK-based TNM Coaching (bit.ly/1fdvDPh), which provides a wide range of coaching services. Niggle contains a database of more than 800 questions and over 200 quotations provided by a group of coaches. The user types in a problem – or ‘niggle’ – prompting a series of random questions designed to open the user’s mind and change their perspective to help resolve the issue, followed by an inspiring quotation at the end of the session.
Niggle co-creator Lydia Kimmerling said: “The problem could be absolutely anything. You could, for example, be struggling with delegation, and Niggle might, for instance, ask you, ‘What would your mum say?’ It really takes you out of your space, and makes you think out of the box.”
She added that as well as self-coaching, the app helps complement the overall coaching process. “Niggle helps the client unlock the answer to a problem, rather than being given the answer by the coach,” she said. “And coaches could, for instance, use Niggle to start a session, by throwing up a wild question.”
Niggle, which was launched at ICF conferences in 2010 in Las Vegas and in 2012 in London, comes in the form of two apps: Niggle Lite, which is free, and Niggle Pro, which has additional features such as saving a user’s outcomes, and costs GBP0.69.
Both versions are available on the iPhone and iPad, with an Android version to be launched towards the end of 2014.
Kimmerling said that so far there have been around 8,000 downloads of the Niggle apps, with the majority in the UK and US. Niggle will be launched in China in the next few months, and Kimmerling said it is also looking to launch it in India.
TNM Coaching hopes to develop further extensions of Niggle. “One of our big goals is to take it a step further so people can get instant coaching with a person through a laser-like session,” she added.
Another app that has proved popular is Secrets of Success (bit.ly/1rWZPDH) from US-based Dale Carnegie Training, which provides performance-based learning to companies of all
sizes worldwide.
The app allows users to “carry a Carnegie coach in your pocket”, with access to 30 videos covering each of the Dale Carnegie HR principles. If the user clicks on, for example, ‘Be a Leader’ they get advice on how to motivate their team. The app also features a number of interactive tools, such as the ‘Daily Dose of Confidence’, which automatically delivers a daily inspirational quotation for a burst of motivation.
“You can’t always have, for example, a Kindle at hand to read one of our books, so the smartphone is a great distribution tool for people on the move,” said Piera Palazzolo, senior vice president of marketing at Dale Carnegie Training.
The app, first launched in 2010, is now available in several languages, and on BlackBerry, iPhone, iPad and Android smartphones and tablets.
Other apps for coaching include:
l FocalPoint Business Coaching An iPad app from US-based FocalPoint, giving access to its coaching material through intuitive links and automated emails bit.ly/1lhfJER
l Co-Active ThinkPal, from US coaching organisation CTI, featuring tools for coaches and clients, such as provocative questions to help think through key coaching topics. bit.ly/1dHgvve
l NUhRTURE Work Life Balance, launched by Melbourne, Australia-based NUhRTURE Business Solutions, a tool helping coaches’ clients set goals and monitor time spent on certain core categories, such as career development and health. bit.ly/1pxHlHF
l Coach Pro, from US business consulting and executive coaching services company, Catalyst 4, helping keep all aspects of a coaching business – including session notes, a calendar, billing and coaching questions – in one place. bit.ly/1pxJtPC
Do the apps launched so far add real value to the coaching process itself? C B Bowman, CEO and founder of the US-based Association of Corporate Executive Coaches, and an expert on the use of technology in coaching, says not. In fact, she thinks many of the key trends emerging among existing apps have the potential to damage the coaching industry.
“Managers being wannabe coaches is risky as they are not trained in coaching, so it can do more damage than good,” she said. “We are seeing way too much of this. So managers that are thinking, ‘I’m going to use an app to coach someone’, is not good.”
However, Latimer believes a
tool such as The Coaching App can be enormously beneficial to corporations.
“Companies are one of the best places to spread the idea of coaching, as it means sharing it with others,” he said, adding that “when companies want to change how people work, the managers don’t want to spend lots of time training, or sending staff on courses. Often, they will be sent on a four-day training course and only need a few bits of it. So in the corporate world, people need on-demand help.”
Bowman though, said generic self-coaching apps can be dangerous, as users will vary greatly. “Coaching has to be very client-specific,” she warned.
However, Kimmerling said that it is important for apps, such as Niggle, to be freely available.
“As the more tech-savvy generations grow up, we have to pave the way and ensure they can get access to coaching in a manner they’re familiar with: the more ways to access, the better.”
Mobile future
Looking ahead, Bowman said that it is important that apps are developed that use algorithms to support the coaching process. Such apps would be most useful if they could help coaches measure clients’ return on investment, letting “the client see the opportunities that are before them”.
She explained that a lot of problems arise when a client doesn’t realise the opportunity to progress.
“We look forward to seeing apps using algorithms that show the progress and the choices being made by a client, as well as the present, predictable and possible outcomes.”
Regardless, it is clear that demand will continue to grow for apps to be used in coaching – and that the new developments will keep coming.
As Palazzolo said: “Mobile is here to stay, so we have to look at how to take advantage of that.” n
Coaching at Work, Volume 9, Issue 3