Individuals and organisations throughout the world are actively involved in the use of social media to support learning yet its potential use within the field of coaching in organisations has presently not been empirically investigated. The aim of my research was to investigate the extent to which social media tools and materials are currently being used by internal or external coaches to support face-to-face coaching in a public, private or voluntary organisational context. The outcomes from the research provide the coaching community with information that they can use to consider whether social media could be of value in their coaching practice (or not).
117 coaches who work in an organisational context completed a questionnaire and the findings show that over a quarter use social media to support coaching and that there is scope and benefit to using social media tools and materials to support both individual and group coaching in organisations. However over 50% of coaches indicated that there are a number of disadvantages and barriers that can prevent the use of social media. Key Issues raised by coaches were organisational security concerns, client confidentiality and ensuring that all parties have the necessary technology skills.
… read the complete story ~ http://issuu.com/onlinetherapyinstitute/docs/titliss10/45
This article first appeared in the Spring 2012 issue of TILT Magazine ~ Therapeutic Innovations in Light of Technology.
Click here to read the entire PDF version of the The Social Media Coach article.
Lynn Wernham is an independent business change & learning professional with 20+ years’ experience in the design of L&D solutions and frameworks, blended learning, performance improvement, coaching, facilitation, and partnership working. Lynn has recently completed her MA dissertation exploring the extent to which social media is used to support face-to-face coaching in organisations. More about Lynn can be found at http://2coach.wordpress.com/about/ and http://www.linkedin.com/pub/lynn-wernham/9/159/6a6
