It used to be that when a business wanted to provide Baby Boomers with executive career advice, HR Managers would only think of coaching programs that were office-based and face-to-face.
With the rise of meeting and screen-sharing technology such as GoToWebinar, WebEx, AnyMeeting, JoinMe, Skype, and a proliferation of other platforms, face-to-face and office-based coaching no longer need to be the only way.
Some people in HR roles erroneously assert that the only people who are comfortable with digital technology are Gen X, Gen Y, and Millennials. They also incorrectly assert that senior managers and executives should given face-to-face and office-based coaching. How would executives and senior managers feel being coached via technology, heaven forbid?
Let me give you just 2 examples of Baby Boomers openly embracing their executive coaching sessions via technology.
‘Alice’, 54 a CFO, was in between jobs. She presented to our firm having been made redundant a fifth time in her career. The last time she had been made redundant and got her outplacement and career coaching in Sydney, she disengaged from the program primarily due to its inconvenience. However, when we worked together, we provided her executive career coaching remotely. Rather than having the hassle of logging in to the IT systems at a coach’s office, instead she conveniently used her own computer which was connected to her own broadband near to her own Android phone where we met via Google Hangouts. It took her only 4 executive career coaching sessions to determine her career direction. Alice has now happily secured her dream job.
‘Mike’, early 50s, was an Operations Manager with a large facilities management firm. He wanted to get executive career coaching, that was easy to do around his work hours and without the hassle of commuting to an executive coach’s office in Sydney. His HR Manager gave him the option of interviewing a traditional deliverer of executive career coaching versus one that could be served conveniently and digitally. While our first meeting was conducted in person, the rest of his executive career coaching sessions were served across FaceTime and Skype. Mike happily engaged with his executive career coaching program, but without the commuting hassle characteristic of Sydney. In fact, several of his sessions were in his Lycra active wear!
These two examples show that executive career coaching can be successfully delivered remotely via technology – even when it relates to Baby Boomers.
Today, almost everyone has a smartphone, a tablet and a desktop computer. Almost everyone has visited YouTube or an app like ABC iView that serves episodes digitally. Almost everyone has attended webinars or a meeting online.
Still not convinced? Baby Boomers often have family members travelling abroad. How else but keep in touch with the convenience of Skype, Google Hangouts, and FaceTime.
So the excuse that older people should experience executive career coaching in Sydney or any other large city in Australia, only when facilitated in an office, no longer holds water.
CareerSupport365 can help with career coaching of executive and manager level employees – find out how here and e-mail us via [email protected].
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