subject: Call Recording For Personal Coaching [print this page] Professional coaching is big businessProfessional coaching is big business. According to the ICF Global Coaching study, over 47,000 people worldwide are engaged in personal coaching, averaging almost $48,000 in annual revenue. And these numbers are expected to grow.
One technology that coaches have underutilized is call recording. While many coaches record their calls, many others do not, either for lack of good technological solutions or for concerns about client privacy. With the proper safeguards and protocols, however, there are good reasons to believe that call recording - whether done with a dedicated call recorder or telephone recorder software - can be a great addition to a coachs professional practice.
There are two ways that call recording can enhance what coaches do.
1) Record coaching calls with clients. A lot of coaching is done by telephone or by other remote communication technology (e.g. Skype.) In both cases, a coach might record their session with a client, which has several benefits. First, by recording the call, the coach is able to listen more intently, rather than being distracted by taking notes. Second, since much communication is non-verbal, recording allows a coach to review a call for subtle information that might be lost.
2) Review recordings of clients telephone calls. A large segment of the coaching professional is devoted to working with people whose work involves significant telephone communication. Whether the client is in sales (an obvious fit) or an executive (who spends on average about 1/3rd of the day on the telephone), because this is such an important part of their professional life, its also likely to be one of the focus areas of the coaches practice. By having the client record their calls and selecting the one they want reviewed, the coach gets a much closer and more accurate view of how the client performs in specific situations. This obviously improves the opportunity for direct and specific feedback.
To properly use recording in a coaching practice, its important to follow these guidelines:
1) Get informed consent. Let your client know youre recording the call, and let them know you can turn the recording off at any time.
2) Offer to share. Tell the client youll be glad to give them a copy of the recording for their own use. They may even find it useful to reinforce some of the points youve covered.
3) Have a delete feature handy. If you get into a topic that you or the client would rather not be recorded, make it easy to delete and confirm the deletion of the recordings.
4) Know the legal requirements. If you are going to recommend that your clients record their calls, find out what the laws are. Most states allow single party consent, meaning you can record your own calls, regardless of whether the other person knows the call is being recorded. But some states require that both parties consent and you should know which is which.
5) Follow good security practice. Encrypt all recordings, for example, and store them securely in a password protected area.
Call recording can be a powerful tool in professional coaching. Whether you use telephone recorder software on your PC or a dedicated phone recorder, try incorporating recording in your practice. You may even find that you can use the recorded sessions to coach yourself.
