Tools: CoachMeRightNow.com

Coach me right now! - not so much.

I know, coaching is a big buzz word, and a word that is overused and misused. On top of that, when I first came along this site, I wondered if my utopian vision of an 'Otto- the self coaching app' that I wrote before had come to existence... But no, while coachmerightnow.com might offer support to learners to formulate learning goals in a structured way - it doesn't come close to the full meaning of coaching. (Actually, our coaching practice leader recently referred to coaching as "the capacity to create the intellectual and emotional space in which others can broaden their scope to discover solutions".)

What it does

The goal of coachmerightnow.com is to help you clarify, formulate and commit to your goals. The site asks you a number of questions in a wizard-like way, Then it posts the questions and your answers to you in a PDF with the concluding words: "Only one person can take the next step and take action. It is up to YOU!" That's it. There is no further follow up.

How it works

The service is free as long as it is in test mode, and the process works pretty much as I described above: you create an account, and then you create your coaching action plan by answering 7 questions such as "What would you like help with today?" over "How can you start to fix this today?" and "What are the hurdles to overcome". As profound as these questions are to actually support behavioral goals, there are little to no people who can give accurate answers just like that on the spot - the whole coaching process is aimed at exactly that! But I guess if you just had coaching you could use this tool to write down your intentions in a structured way and send it as a reminder to yourself.

Worth stealing

Frankly, there are better goal setting sheets or (work)books on the matter. But like my mother told me that there is good in every person, there sure must be good in every tool, right? So what to remember:

• Never over-promise with the name you give to your service. This one isn't coming close to coaching. 
• Even a rudimentary service to formulate and think about your goals is better than what happens in most training at the end of the session where you invite people "to note down how they will apply" in the three minutes before handing out the evaluation sheet. It would be better to actually send periodic reminders and add learning partners to your journey.
• The wizard style approach to help people reflect can be used more.

This post is part of my series on learning tools.
Earlier: AskMeEvery.com