Here’s a feature you may not know already exists! Coaches (and clients) often ask whether CA’s online coaching platform has a downloadable app (from the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and so on).
The answer is YES! But also no.
To clarify: CoachAccountable is a web-based app, meaning….
» Continue reading “CoachAccountable is a Coaching App! But Also, Not an App.”
CoachAccountable is a web-based app. That means you don’t need to download anything. However, it’s super helpful to have an app tile for it on your home screen, with one-touch access to your coach portal.
» Continue reading “How to Install CoachAccountable on Your Mobile Device”
If you’re a coach in the European Union, you’ve probably already heard of the GDPR.
If you’re not, you’ve probably seen numerous relics of the GDPR over the last few weeks, namely in the form of emails from websites you use announcing a change in their Privacy Policies.
What’s it all about? It’s the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.
It’s a good bit of law, I think! Oh sure, it’s caused it’s share of grousing and griping among businesses for how much work it’s entailed as everyone wades through legalese and policy in order to get compliant (myself included!). But I view it as a step in the right direction for end users to have greater control over their data and privacy.
Basically, it demands of companies that they don’t do terrible things with individual’s data, and that all usage of such data must be documented and above board. Companies must get explicit consent to use someone’s data for a given purpose, and that consent can’t be buried in a huge pile of indecipherable legalese. End users must have some real control over their data, including the ability to delete it.
As individual, this sounds good to me.
As a company, CoachAccountable has never had any business trafficking in user data in unexpected or vaguely nefarious ways. And our in-app “Delete” buttons really do delete data (much to the chagrin of the occasional coach who accidentally deleted an entire client record!). So our compliance is largely a matter of paperwork: basically to document and agree to be legally bound to the very practices we’ve always adhered to.
First off, our privacy policy has been updated, much like the policies of everyone else. I encourage you to check it out: like most privacy policies, it’s largely boring, BUT I’ve been happy to lay out clearly what data we collect and what exactly we use it for (and why). Part of this updated policy is that CoachAccountable is registered and listed with Privacy Shield, which is basically a fancy way of saying “we actually mean everything we say in this policy, AND we’re in legal trouble if we don’t hold true to it”.
Yep, we attest that we really mean what we say in our privacy policy.
In other words, the privacy policy isn’t just flowery language. :)
Second, for our customers who work with anyone in the EU: by setting those clients up within your CoachAccountable account, the GDPR applies to you. Part of that applying to you is that you need to verify that any partner involved in processing your data is ALSO above board when it comes to the GDPR regulations.
In this case, that’s CoachAccountable! You need to verify that CA is handling your EU citizen personal data in accordance with the law, so that your handling of that data [by way of CoachAccountable] is in compliance with the law.
To allow you to do this, we’ve got a Data Processor Agreement (DPA) available. The DPA essentially states that you (as controller of your client data) and CoachAccountable (as processor of that data) mutually agree to handle that data appropriately and in compliance with the GDPR; that we’ve each got our part to play for the lawful handling of data; and that we each take responsibility to do so.
Given the sweeping nature of the GDPR, we’ve updated our Privacy Policy (and Terms of Service) to include the DPA itself.
These terms apply only to the extent that your work is within the scope of the GDPR (i.e. work with any clients in the European Economic Zone). You can find the CoachAccountable Data Processor Addendum here.
And that’s about it: an updated privacy policy and a DPA if you need it.
If you coach anyone in the EU (or ever will) this still applies to you. But if you don’t, then this very well might not mean anything to you. One caveat to that, though: the GDPR mandates certain rights for citizens in the EU, as laid out in the privacy policy. I’m happy to say that when it comes to CoachAccountable, these rights apply to everyone worldwide, and not just EU citizens.
GDPR looks to be a great way to better balance the rights of individuals against the companies they do business with. There’s some work for those of us who handle the data of those individuals in order to reach compliance, but it’s reasonable and worthwhile. We’ve done our best to make it easy as possible for coaches to be compliant in their handling of data with CoachAccountable!
Hey everyone–if you read my introduction just prior y’all know how I feel about Morgan, and how I’m excited for you to get to know her. Now to get you guys more properly acquainted here she is to officially say hello. :)
–John
Hi, I’m Morgan! Nice to meet you, for those whom I haven’t already interacted with in the CoachAccountable coaching management system.
My story: Over a decade ago, one fateful swing dancing evening at Casa Loma Ballroom in St. Louis, Missouri, I met an incredible human on the dance floor.
Morgan and I go way back. We met over 10 years ago at a swing dance at the Casa Loma Ballroom in St. Louis, MO. We clicked well on the dance floor and clicked well off, and swiftly came to refer to one another as our IBFF: Insta-Best Friend Forever.
Morgan and I have roughly the same background and experience with transformational coaching: we both got our chops coaching the same programs and from the same body of distinctions. She’s a keen and cool-headed listener, ridiculously personable and wicked smart. For it she’s been able to give great and difference-making coaching even to know-it-all me over the years.
I reached out to Morgan for a little coaching early in January when I was in a bit of a funk. She texted me right back: “Yeah, I want to save my minutes so how about we talk over some app, like Skype or WhatsApp?”
Um, sure? Who needs to manage their minutes these days, I wondered, but whatever–let’s call it Zoom.
We connected for a video call, me lit poorly by the festive glory of my still-up living room Christmas tree lights, and her in–“Wait, are those palm trees in the background? Where are you?”
“I’m in India! Doing a yoga teacher training here… my boyfriend and I are on world tour!”
Wow, Morgan’s on a world tour!1 It had been over a year since we last talked, so clearly we needed catching up. Turns out since last talking my dear friend had left her position working with a non-profit and went to, of all things, doing customer support for an app company before leaving to go travel some 4 months prior.
“But enough about me, what’s on your mind? What do you need coaching around?” Honestly, I was in a funk about having to let an employee go. Morgan patiently heard the whole brain dump, and when I was finished she masterfully reassembled the bits with clarity, kindness, wisdom and insight:
“Well John, for as long as I’ve known you you’ve been one to create and play at games, right? You find something worth doing, and you make a game out of it, and play. Well, this game you’ve been playing called having an employee, it didn’t work this time! Doesn’t mean you can’t win at that game, it’s just THAT person didn’t work out. So okay, play on! You’ve learned a ton about what worked and what didn’t. You can take that and go forth playing that game.”
Clarity, when reflected back by someone committed to you winning and done with a dose of perspective that an outsider is uniquely privileged with, is so uplifting. Man I love coaching.
The conversation with Morgan was just what I needed to go forth with a clear head. More than that, though, I was delighted to see in my inbox the next day a thoughtful note from Morgan, part of which went thus:
… And secondly, it looks like you’ll be going through a period of change while you sort out moving on and deciding what to take on yourself and what to re-delegate with a potential new employee. Since the writing career is still in its infancy, and since I can rock the shit out of a helpdesk ticket via phone, email, or chat, making customers laugh while solving their problems, I’d be happy to step in and do those couple of hours of customer service as you need them. …
Huh. The chance to work with a dear friend, of similar coaching chops and reverence for the practice, and one who self-professes ability to rock the shit out of a helpdesk ticket?
What a delightful idea.
And the rest is history. Straddling the 10ish hour timezone difference, we started in on training Morgan: on the ways of how CA best works to serve coaching (she was a quick study on that because of her coaching background), how to love on CA customers the way I insist on doing so (she was a quick study on that because of the aforementioned being ridiculously personable), how to do pixel perfect screenshots for updating evergreen blog posts to V3 (she was a quick study on that because she’s got an MFA and really brings her art to whatever she does).
That’s her. Yeah man, I’m a fan.
So, yeah, you get it. She’s super talented.
Morgan wrapped up her world tour and settled back in her house in LA at the end of March, and has since come on full time with CoachAccountable. She continues to impress with creative initiative and I couldn’t ask for a better #2 with whom to co-create CoachAccountable culture, long-term vision, and the projects and initiatives to focus on by which to get there.
I’ve been delighted by her presence and so have many of you during this past month of her rising up as CoachAccountable’s Director of Customer Love and Hand Holding. If you’ve not yet had a chance to interact with her, I’ll just say you’re in for a treat whenever you do have your next support issue–she’s way more charismatic than I. :)
Please help me to welcome her properly to the CoachAccountable community!
Recently, Henk from Business Doctors in South Africa asked about printing from CoachAccountable. While this wasn’t possible in most of CA, John realized that the option to print would be useful for all, especially those with executive coaching clients who potentially have a “higher-up” to report to in a meeting where paper is required.
Now, you have a couple ways to print from the app.
» Continue reading “Printing Right From Your CA Online Coaching Platform”
