Virtual Coaching: Running Effective Sessions by Video and Phone

For many coaches and clients, a "session" now means a video call or a phone call rather than two chairs in a room. Remote coaching saves travel, widens the pool of coaches you can choose from, and fits more easily into a busy week. It also changes the conversation in ways that are easy to overlook.

Researchers have started to pin down what remote coaching is. In a 2023 study in Frontiers in Psychology, Sandra Diller and Jonathan Passmore surveyed 260 coaches and proposed defining digital coaching as a live, personal conversation between a human coach and a human client over audio or video, aimed at the client's self-development. That definition separates it from AI coaching tools and from asynchronous support such as email or apps between sessions.

This guide covers what shifts when coaching moves onto a screen or a phone line, and how to protect three things that matter in any format: presence, privacy and ethics.

What Changes When You Leave the Room

The coaches in Diller and Passmore's survey described remote coaching as very similar to in-person coaching in its process. They also named clear trade-offs. On the plus side, they mentioned flexibility, no travel, greater accessibility and clients feeling comfortable at home. On the minus side, the most common complaint was a loss of nonverbal communication, such as fewer cues and no feel for the atmosphere. Many also said it was harder to build a relationship, and some reported technical disruptions and distractions.

One small detail from the same study: the coaches' in-person sessions were longer on average (about 76 minutes) than their digital ones (about 64 minutes). That does not tell you which is better. It is a reminder that format quietly shapes the work, so it is worth choosing it on purpose.

Why Video Can Feel So Tiring

A 2022 paper by researcher René Riedl, published in Electronic Markets, proposed six root causes of what is often called Zoom fatigue:

• Small delays in audio and video that disrupt the natural rhythm of conversation
• Limited body language, since you usually see only a head and shoulders
• Lack of real eye contact, because looking at the camera means not looking at the other person
• Constantly seeing your own face in a self-view window, which raises self-awareness
• Grid views full of faces, which can feel like being stared at
• Multitasking prompted by chat windows and other open programs

Riedl presents these as a theoretical framework with hypotheses to test, not settled findings. Even so, most of them suggest simple fixes for a coaching call: hide self-view once you have checked your framing, use a speaker view rather than a grid, close other apps and notifications, and leave a short break between back-to-back sessions.

Setting Up for Presence

Presence, the sense that the coach is fully with you, takes a little more deliberate effort at a distance. A practical checklist for both coach and client:

• A quiet, private space where no one can overhear
• Headphones, which help with both privacy and sound quality
• A stable connection, with the camera roughly at eye level and light in front of you rather than behind
• An agreed backup: if the video drops, who calls whom, and on what number
• A norm, agreed at the start, that silence is fine, so neither of you assumes the line has frozen

Because nonverbal cues are thinner, coaches can make the invisible visible. Summarize more often. Ask what the client is noticing in themselves. Name what you see ("You paused before answering that") and check whether it fits. Our guide to active listening for coaches goes deeper on these skills.

Phone coaching deserves its own mention. It removes the self-view window and the grid entirely, and some clients find it easier to think out loud without a camera on them. It also asks more of the coach's ears: pace, pauses, tone and what goes unsaid carry more of the meaning. Some coach-client pairs mix formats, using video for early sessions and phone once the relationship is established.

Privacy and Confidentiality Online

The ethical duties are the same online as in person, but there are more places for information to leak. The International Coaching Federation (ICF) Code of Ethics, whose current version took effect April 1, 2025, asks coaches to:

• "Maintain the strictest level of confidentiality with all parties involved"
• have "a clear agreement about what information is exchanged and how it is exchanged among all parties involved"
• maintain, store and dispose of records, "including electronic files and communications," in a way that promotes confidentiality, security and privacy and complies with applicable laws

The code also says these obligations apply "through any technology systems I may utilize," and it names "artificial intelligence" among them. In practice, that means a few habits:

• Use meeting links with a passcode or waiting room, and do not reuse public links.
• Turn on multi-factor authentication for video, email and file-storage accounts. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) calls enabling it on all accounts that offer it "essential for reducing the cybersecurity risks to your business."
• Never record a session, or run an AI note-taker, without the client's explicit agreement, and explain where any recording or transcript will be stored and when it will be deleted.
• Agree how you will use messaging between sessions, since texts and chat logs are records too.
• Remember the client's side of the call. A shared laptop, a family member in the next room or a work device monitored by an employer can all compromise confidentiality.

Ethics and Safety at a Distance

Confidentiality has limits, and the ICF code expects coaches to agree those limits with clients in advance, including situations involving an imminent or likely risk of danger. At a distance, this needs a little extra planning, because you cannot simply walk someone down the hall.

At the start of the engagement, it is reasonable to agree what will happen if a session raises a serious safety concern. Coaching is not therapy, and a coach is not a crisis service. If a client says something that suggests they may be in crisis, the right move is to stay calm, stay with them, and help them connect with support. In the United States, that means calling or texting 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which is free, confidential and available around the clock, or calling 911 if someone is in immediate danger. For ongoing concerns, our guide to coaching versus therapy explains when and how to refer to a licensed professional.

Choosing Between Video, Phone and In Person

There is no single best format. Diller and Passmore point out that a clear understanding of digital coaching helps clients decide whether digital, face-to-face or AI coaching is the better fit, since some expectations may only be met in person. A few questions can guide the choice:

1. Where will the client feel most able to speak freely?
2. How much does this work depend on reading body language, for example in practicing a presentation?
3. Is travel a real barrier to showing up consistently?
4. Does either person have the privacy and connection quality a remote session needs?

Ask the client, try a format, and review it together after a few sessions.

Key takeaways

• Digital coaching is a live conversation between a human coach and client over video or audio, distinct from AI coaching and asynchronous tools.
• Coaches report that remote work is flexible and accessible but loses nonverbal cues and can make rapport slower to build.
• Reduce video fatigue by hiding self-view, avoiding grids, closing other apps and building in breaks.
• Online confidentiality depends on clear agreements, secure accounts with multi-factor authentication, and explicit consent before any recording or AI note-taking.
• Agree a safety plan early; in a US crisis, call or text 988, or call 911 if someone is in immediate danger.

Sources

• Diller and Passmore, Defining digital coaching: a qualitative inductive approach, Frontiers in Psychology (2023)
• Riedl, On the stress potential of videoconferencing: definition and root causes of Zoom fatigue, Electronic Markets (2022)
• International Coaching Federation, ICF Code of Ethics
• National Institute of Standards and Technology, Multi-Factor Authentication
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, Get Help
• National Institute of Mental Health, Help for Mental Illnesses