Covid-19 fertile soil for online coaching to bloom

The coaching industry, which has been in Vietnam for a long time, has received a significant boost because of the pandemic.

“Since the fourth Covid wave in April 2021 until now, my work intensity has increased by 200 percent. Webinar sessions are held weekly, instead of once a month,” said Tran Tien Cong, founder of Vietnam Coaching Institute (VCI).

According to Cong, registrations for online courses have increased because people want to clear their minds and connect with society, partly because if one does not study, what else can be done at home? In addition, the pandemic is an opportunity for people to build up hone their knowledge and skills; as also add to them.

Another factor is that more and more people are enrolling in training courses because they want to earn an income in teaching and/or coaching, which is seen as a flexible freelance online job.

“That’s why my schedule is now busier than ever,” Cong said.

Formerly the head of the training department for a securities company, Thai Thi Ngoan, finance head of the Hanoi Coaching Club (HCC) said, after the social distancing period in the third quarter of last year, the number of students has increased by about 30 percent.

“After the quarantine period, many people will experience difficulties like anxiety, panic, unstable work, financial difficulties and so on. That makes them seek out psychologists, counselors and coaches for support to find a way to balance their lives and have solutions to their problems,” Ngoan said.

Classes are organized online mainly via Zoom, besides applications such as Menti, Kahoot, Quizzi and Jamboard to connect and increase interaction with students.

Cong said a program with 30 to 500 people is taught 100 percent online via Zoom.

“In my opinion, online learning via Zoom is even more effective than in class because people can learn from their homes without having to waste time moving around. The second benefit is that people can connect with each other easily regardless of their location,” he said.

Dale Carnegie Vietnam – a consultancy specializing in capacity development, has also adopted a blended learning solution model for 2020 and 2021, which is mainly focused on live online learning (LOL).

“We have been very successful with our LOL system since September 2021, after 6 months of experimenting, evaluating and perfecting it”, a Dale Carnegie rep said.

Ever since social distancing began, the coaching market in HCMC has actively and quickly transformed with LOL. The class has 70 percent more participants than earlier.

The consultancy has noted that training and capacity development activities for teams and organizations have not been affected much. These just shifted online to ensure the activities can take place as intended while keeping participants safe during the pandemic.

According to consulting firm PwC, there are five emerging labor issues for business leaders, namely: people protection, effective communication, business continuity, labor costs assessment and recovery preparation.

Data company DC Vietnam has observed that in the past two years, the topics of great interest have revolved around effective remote working, collaboration, analysis and decision-making skills. Online sales and customer service courses, as well as training, have also attracted great interest.

Cong said enterprises are keen on providing coaching for leaders – that is, how can leaders help employees proactively and creatively find solutions and be inspired to work well without direct supervision.

He said he believed that the coaching market in Vietnam will keep its growth momentum in terms of quantity in the coming years, and its quality and standards will also increase correspondingly.

“In the past, coaches who only graduated from ICF’s 60-hour certified international program are now aiming to upgrade to PCC (Professional Certified Coach). As the market grows, coaches will want to upgrade and grant themselves greater leverage in terms of expertise and credibility to be able to sustain their profession,” he said.

DC Vietnam expects both in-person and online training to become an even stronger trend in the coming months, given the pandemic situation and the fact that the economy and society will need at least one more year to return to normal.