Have you tried audio only coaching?

As a professional coach, it’s likely you will spend numerous hours each day on video. Indeed, I sometimes have as many as 6 hours of video meetings in a day. But do they need to be that way?

I recently presented a 3-hour team development class using the Five Behaviors program material. Interestingly, this leadership team I was working with wanted to be off camera the entire time.

Here’s the backstory on this. When I did the 40-minute kick-off meeting with them, I had trouble getting their Zoom video windows to show up as I was presenting the intro material. So, I just presented to the camera and did the best I could without them knowing I couldn’t see them. It wasn’t my ideal experience.

I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen again for this most recent workshop, so I had a test with my son and figured out what was happening between Zoom, PowerPoint and my laptop and monitor. I was now ready to see the team for 3 hours.

So, back to the workshop. The CEO told me they believe cameras should be optional for meetings like this to prevent Zoom fatigue. The team stayed off camera throughout the whole meeting. That was not what I expected and It threw me off a bit at first, but before too long I found it to be just fine to not worry about looking into the camera the whole time. I also noted that they seemed plenty engaged and speaking frequently. They were in the workshop with me.

When coaching 1on1, do you always go with camera on? I observed a mentor coaching practice session recently where both coaches decided to try audio only to see how it would affect their coaching. What happened was very interesting.

They both made an effort to listen even more carefully. They reported closing their eyes at times to really concentrate on fully hearing the other person. They also sought to be more careful with their words and tone than they might have been since that’s all they had.

One of them had issues on occasion with interrupting the coachee because they wanted to let them know they were hearing them. So, they would say, “Yeah, yeah.” The coachee actually didn’t need this any more than we would need it with video on. What they needed more of was simply silent and active listening.

Both coaches really enjoyed the experience. It reminded me that I can do this too. I occasionally do coach my clients with audio only, but it’s usually because the internet connection is buggy or they need to be in the car driving. I’m thinking that I will offer my clients to have audio only coaching anytime they desire going forward so they know it’s an option.

The benefit to me as the coach is time away from the camera but more importantly perhaps, the opportunity to listen to my clients even more closely and intently than before.

I know this is an area of great debate amongst coaches. Is it better with cameras on or off when coaching virtually? There are proponents of both sides, and I’d love to hear what you think. For me, I’d like to leave it to the client to decide what’s best for them.

As I continue to fulfill my role as a Mentor Coach, I observe coaches commit to bringing more silence into their sessions and then not doing it. Why is this so hard? Read our article on “Why is silence so hard?”

Contact me if you have follow-up questions or would like to talk about your coaching business and how to develop it.

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