Contents:
Background and Overview
It is somewhat common that accounts are setup, or invites are created, that result in the wrong account configuration between organizations and coaches. Sometime the intention is to have an internal coach, but the coach signed up for their own account. Or conversely, a coach is invited to be internal, but instead the desired outcome is for the coach to act as an independent coach.
New tools are being introduced to allow for account administrators and coaches to take action to change the type of account for coaches. The purpose of this document is to detail the new workflows, and the considerations that come with changing accounts for coaches on the platform.
The 2 Different Paths for Coaches
Coaches are either an internal coach for an organization, or they are an independent coach with their own account on coaching.com. There is a difference in what this means at the account level in terms of features, and data ownership.
Internal Coaches
Internal coaches are employees of an organization. They can be managed by administrators within the Employees page and also the Coaches page on the platform. Internal coaches have a limited view of the account that is focused solely on engagements that they are a part of. Internal coaches do not have access to account-level settings, global resources, or access to other coaching engagements in which they are not participating. The organization owns the engagement, the client relationship, and the data.
Independent Coaches
Independent coaches own their own account. Independent coaches can have relationships with different vendors and clients, and the relationships are managed via connections. Administrators of an organization can invite independent coaches to be a part of their network for contracting with clients. When used as a contractor for an organization, the organization owns the client relationship and the data. When an independent coach creates their own client connections, and own engagements, this data is owned by the independent coach, and not any organization that is related through connections.
Changing Account Types
Changing the account type for a coach is a common request. The request generally stems from an error that was made during inviting someone to the platform, or someone making the wrong choice when creating account. In either case, there are new tools to resolve the issues.
Changing from an Internal Coach to an Independent Coach
This workflow details the steps and considerations of moving from an internal coach to an independent coach. The coach's 'account' is actually owned by the organization when dealing with an internal coach. Therefore the workflow to change the coach's account from internal to independent is quite simple in that the administrator can perform the action from within the application without requiring approval from the coach.
The administrator can start from the Coaches page. Internal Coaches will have an option to 'Make Independent' as seen below.
Figure 1 - Administrator Has Option to Make Internal Coach Independent
After clicking "Make Independent", the administrator will receive more information around taking this action via a popup dialog shown below.
Figure 1 - Administrator Receives a Dialog to Confirm
The administrator will need to type "independent" in the text box, as well as click the "MAKE INDEPENDENT" button. Once pressed this will automatically setup the coach with an independent account. The coach will receive an email that informs them of the change and will look like the following.
Figure 3 - Internal Coach Receives Notification of Their New Account
When the coach logs in after this transition, they will see an expanded set of navigation options. The independent coach will not have full access to the settings related to the account, access to marketplace, and see menu options related to client and vendor relationships.
Changing from an Independent Coach to an Internal Coach
This workflow details the steps and considerations of moving from an independent coach account to an internal coach. When moving from an independent coach to an internal coach there are many considerations based on the state of the account and the data. Below are a set of questions that are aimed at helping the coach, as well as the administrator, in deciding if this option is appropriate for them.
Frequently Asked Question for Moving from an Independent Coach Account to an Internal Coach Account
Question | Answer |
As the independent coach, can I maintain my independent coach account, and have a different account to serve as an internal coach? | Yes. You may have two accounts that serve different purposes and serve different sets of clients. The email that you use for your account is the differentiator. An administrator of an organization may have requirements or preferences related to your email. Within the invitation workflow you will be given the option to choose the path of creating multiple accounts if you need to. Please read the rest of the FAQ's below to help in your decision process. |
As the organization that is inviting this coach to become an internal coach, what will happen to engagements that have been created with this coach through the organization's account? | If you have created the engagements with this coach as an independent coach, when the coach becomes internal, you will still own the engagements, the client relationships and the data. The coach will become one of your 'employees'. The coach will still have access to the engagement(s) as the coach. |
As the independent coach, what will happen to engagements that were created independently from within my account? For example, what if I created an engagement with a client, or if I sold a package on Marketplace? | The engagements and the client relationships will NOT be transferred. The engagement will be marked as complete when you accept to transfer your account. Engagements are not transferred due to privacy reasons related to the client-coach relationship, which changes significantly when the coach moves to an internal coach account type. The coach will not be able to communicate with the clients on the platform since the connection will not be maintained. |
As the independent coach, what will happen to engagements that are owned by a different vendor that I am providing coaching for?
| The coach will lose access to the engagement. Within the existing vendor's account., the coach profile will switch to an internal record (Non-active account). The engagement will still exist for the vendor.
Note: The ability to change a coach within an engagement is coming in a future release of the platform. |
As the independent coach, what will happen to my Marketplace Profile, and packages listed on Marketplace? | The coach profile and the packages will no longer appear on Marketplace. The packages will be marked as inactive and the profile will be marked as unpublished. As an internal coach, access to Marketplace Settings will no longer be available. |
As the independent coach, what will happen to my engagement templates? | The engagement templates will not transfer to the account where the coach will become an internal coach. |
As the independent coach, what will happen to my Global Resources, including Forms and the associated data? | The global resources will not transfer to the account where the coach will become an internal coach. |
Due to the considerations above, the workflow for moving from an independent coach to an internal coach is a 2-step process. First the administrator will send a request to join the organization account as an internal coach, as seen below.
Figure 4 - Administrator Has Option to Make Request for the Independent Coach to Join Account as an Internal Coach
The administrator will see a confirmation dialog, as seen below.
Figure 5 - Confirmation Dialog to Confirm Requesting Independent Coach to Become an Internal Coach
A subsequent dialog will be presented to the administrator to confirm that the request was sent.
Figure 6 - Confirmation for Sent Request
At this point, the internal coach will receive an email that will allow for them to approve or deny the request. The coach will be given information of the impact of the decision, including a link back to this article.
Figure 7 - Email Sent to Independent Coach to Join an Account as an Internal Coach
After clicking the button within the email, the internal coach will be presented with the following dialog that provides the ability for the coach to approve the request, deny the request, or make adjustments to maintain the account and become an internal account via a different email.
Clicking on "VIEW MY OPTIONS" will lead the coach to a subsequent dialog where they are presented with different options.
The coach will be able to approve the request or decline it. There is also an alternative option for the coach, if they need to maintain their independent coach account (shown below):
TODO
Once accepted the following actions will happen:
The coach will be made an employee of the inviting organization
The coach's marketplace profile and packages will become unpublished/inactive
Engagements will transfer ownership to the inviting organization
Client and vendor relationships will be connections within the inviting organization
Global resources, including forms and the form data will not transfer
Engagement templates, brand settings, invoice & payment settings will not transfer
Challenges of Maintaining Two Account Types
If the coach decides to maintain two different accounts. They will have one account as an independent coach, and another account as an internal account for an organization.