Coaching in the world of work is booming. This is shown by the worldwide surveys of the International Coach Federation (ICF, 2012, 2016, 2020), which are conducted every four years and show a steadily increasing growth rate of coaches in the market as well as annual turnover over the last years.
However, the emerging coaching industry is changing. It is currently confronted with the digitalisation of society and the world of work. With a view to these changes, the first voices from the field emphasised a few years ago: "It is only a question of time when digitalisation will arrive in coaching and change its fundamental structures, processes and qualities" (Bachmann & Fietze, 2018, p. 282). This goes hand in hand with the demands that coaches be open to new digital paths and actively shape the change in coaching. It is up to them to ensure the quality of coaching - also in the digital setting - and thus maintain digital coaching as a valuable personal development tool.
In recent years, professional coaches in German-speaking countries have been hesitant in dealing with digital coaching offers and looked at the topic of digital coaching with scepticism (Middendorf, 2016). Just a few years ago, for example, almost half of all coaches surveyed in Middendorf's survey stated that they did not use digital media in coaching. In an international comparison, however, the current Executive Coaching Survey (Sherpa Coaching, 2020) shows a continuous increase in the use of digital media over the last ten years.
The Corona pandemic, which has led to major restrictions in personal contact since the beginning of 2020, has had a lasting impact on and changed the German and international coaching market. A survey initiated by the ICF at short notice and conducted worldwide, entitled COVID-19 and the Coaching Industry explicitly examines the coaching industry under the influences of the Corona pandemic and accordingly looks at the developments in digital media use from a current perspective. In the survey, which took place from 16 June to 15 July 2020 and thus directly during the impact of the pandemic and related measures, 80% of coaches stated that face-to-face coaching had decreased. At the same time, 74% of coaches reported that their use of audio and video platforms had increased. The use of digital media thus seems to have largely replaced personal contact in coaching. In this respect, the Corona pandemic can be understood as a catalyst for the change that has already begun in the coaching industry.
At offstandards, we have been involved with digital alternatives in human resources and organisational development from an early stage - this also includes the implementation of coaching in a digital setting. For this reason, we can draw on a wealth of experience and offer coaching completely independent of location and thus extremely flexible. This opens up completely new possibilities for many. Our experience also shows that the quality with which coaching concerns are dealt with in the digital context is just as high as that of face-to-face coaching. With the right digital tools and the confident implementation of coaching by an experienced coach, digital coaching can thus be seen as an equivalent alternative to face-to-face coaching.