Whereas two years ago working from home was certainly not always welcomed by an employer or supervisor, today it is a totally accepted phenomenon. Where it is possible, working from home is mandatory for many employees. In my opinion, an important time to reflect on human beings: humans by nature do not like change.
So how do you deal with that as an HR manager or executive within your organization? How do you make sure your employees and your team stay in the picture? And how can you take preventive action to keep your staff “on the straight and narrow”? This is where an online coach – proven – adds serious value.
Different view of work
Perhaps cliché to name, but changes in the world follow in rapid succession: just look at politics, at the climate, the shifts in power from government to business, temperature changes and, of course, the Covid 19 pandemic. The latter in particular is causing a new view of work to emerge. Working remotely and much communication via screen or phone. Social talk at the coffee machine has been reduced to a minimum for now.
How do your employees deal with this? Besides the physical and cognitive challenge, having social contacts is an important part of work perception and motivation. Is everyone able to pick up the phone and call that one colleague even for the little things? Or do we now only communicate the much-needed strictly work-related topics? Working remotely does something to your “being” as an employee. Am I still in the picture? Am I going to try harder or can I take a longer break? Every employee handles it differently. Some keep themselves very disciplined to the agreed-upon working hours and manage to keep their focus, while others ‘sink’, getting into trouble with their self-confidence and motivation. Burn-out or bore-out symptoms lurk.
Online coaching
Online coaching is a serious solution to guide your employees (almost) à la minute in this changed way of working. It helps employees stay motivated and productive in these times of change and social distancing. In our opinion it is the tool to keep all employees motivated and happy at work, even at a distance. We are convinced that a good coach, such as a seasoned work and organizational psychologist, can literally bridge the distance between client and coach, even if there is a screen in between. It works!
De afgelopen jaren zijn er diverse onderzoeken gedaan, waaronder door de Universiteit van Tilburg en de GGZ, naar het effect van online coachen en blended coachen. Blended coachen is de combinatie van online en offline coaching. Onderzoekers en psychologen als drs. Anne Ribbers en drs. Alexander Waringa (auteurs van Ecoaching, uitgeverij Boom, Bookchat, managementboek.nl op YouTube, GGZ, Kosterman, Arkin op nu.nl, 2 december 2020) zijn ervan overtuigd dat online coaching de toekomst heeft.
Flexible approach
They know that the flexibility of online coaching is particularly appealing to clients. At Evoli, we also use the flexible approach of online coaching: you can get started right away and have a short session of no more than half an hour each time. Half an hour is an excellent amount of time in which to focus. You get to the point faster than in a face-to-face conversation, which makes the coaching conversation very efficient. Moreover, experience shows (Ribbers and Waringa) that clients do not mind the distance to the psychologist; coaching via the phone or screen makes it more anonymous, so the idea goes. And if after four half-hour sessions it is necessary to extend the program, then that is possible. For each situation, we assess together with the client whether we continue with online coaching or whether a face-to-face meeting is necessary.
Custom
Every program is a customized process anyway, whether it is online coaching or blended coaching. Our experienced occupational psychologists never work with standard processes. We first map the situation, okay, we do that through a questionnaire, and based on that we put together an appropriate coaching program. Here we always start from positive psychology. This tailor-made approach is important, because every client, every person and every situation is different and therefore deserves, as far as we are concerned, its own course, online and offline.
Annet Scholte Albers
Registered psychologist NIP/ Labor and Organization
