5 reasons coaches shouldn't use VR (and why they're not)

Over the past couple of years, I've shared about the topic of coaching in virtual reality (VR) several times. After an introduction to the subject, it's important to bring it to life, so a live demo of the technology injects something memorable into the session. And every time I do this, the comments box immediately floods with a range of reactions to what I'm sharing, from the classic positive "Wooooow!" right the way through to the more moderate "I hate everything about this".

I've been capturing those comments boxes over the last few sessions, and have noticed some common concerns coaches have about coaching in VR. I thought the five most common ones here, along with my responses. I'm conscious this is going to end up sounding a bit evangelistic for VR, so before I say anything let me say that the final point is probably the most important for bringing an appropriate balanced view.

1. VR is too expensive

The cost of the most widely-used VR headset is the same as a smartphone, and that's a lot to spend on a gimmicky gadget. To put it more accurately, it's a lot to spend on a gimmicky gadget you're not going to use. But, in its own right, this isn't a real issue, for two reasons.

Firstly, the truth is that an Apple Watch is more expensive, and plenty of people are able to come up with reasons to justify buying that. I'm talking as someone who uses the most basic of watches - I don't like the constant interruptions, and the step count and heart rate monitoring are features that are not filling a need that I have. I won't try to argue with Apple's exquisite marketing techniques - different people buy things for different reasons, and the price tag for a VR headset is currently commensurate with the level of advanced technology being bought. It's not prohibitively expensive for most coaches, but it is an investment.

Secondly, there are VR options that cost almost nothing. A cardboard kit (like this one) and a free download of the vTime XR app on iOS or Android give you a DIY VR headset for the price of one month of Zoom, and then you're set up.

2. VR removes important non-verbal data

In 2019, it was common to hear coaches claim that it was impossible to do good coaching without being in person with a coachee. As lockdowns came into effect, one of the most common questions raised at coaching conferences was how coaches could coach well without the important non-verbal cues we get when we can see a person's whole body.

It turns out that coaching via video is pretty much as effective as coaching in person. I personally do prefer coaching in person, but I haven't had a coachee complain that the coaching outcomes aren't good enough because we're not physically together, so in practice it doesn't appear as valid as I feel it might be, particularly when considering the time, cost, and environment savings.

When meeting a coachee using VR, we don't even have the video - they're replaced by an avatar. There's a bit of body movement that comes through the controllers and headset movement, but it's not the real person's body.

This is personal and only anecdotal, but my conclusion is: Coaching via VR seems to be pretty much as effective as coaching via video, or in person, or over the phone (where we also don't have those visual cues). And it does offer some things that video can't: In VR, we can shake hands, and make eye contact, among other things. That feels nice.

3. VR induces motion sickness

This one's a pretty common comment. The only practical way to share a VR experience with people not wearing a headset themselves is to cast the view of someone wearing a headset to a computer, and then share that screen. This causes a level of jitteriness in the experience that isn't present within the headset itself, and - importantly - every movement of the wearer's head is of course replicated. On the one hand, this powerfully illustrates the sensitivity of the headset, but on the other it induces motion sickness in some people. Because the viewer's head is not moving but the vision is, the brain gets confused and brings on a feeling of nausea to encourage us to take a nice lie down.

Again, this shouldn't really be seen as an issue, because the experience is not shared by the wearer. The movement is smooth because it's not passing through multiple levels before being observed, and it's inherently tied to the movement of the wearer's head. If you suffer from motion sickness when making sudden movements in the real world, it's likely you'll suffer the same in the virtual world, but if you're generally alright the chances are you'll be fine in VR too.

There is one exception. Some VR experiences have movement built into them - flying a plane, riding a rollercoaster, running at speed, or floating around in zero gravity. For the same reason as above, this sort of thing can induce a sense of nausea, but for the average coaching conversation, in which we'll likely be sitting or standing in a stationery position for the most part, it won't be a problem.

4. VR doesn't look real

Some VR solutions are designed to look more lifelike than others. The majority have opted for a simplistic, almost unashamedly cartoony feel, and a couple of people have commented on how they feel these environments will negatively affect their sense of immersion.

The sort of trade-off we're experiencing at the moment in VR is indicative of the maturity of the technology, but it isn't bad at present. A phenomenon called the "uncanny valley" occurs when something looks almost but not entirely real. I remember as a child feeling a much greater sense of immersion in The Nightmare Before Christmas than in any of the James Bond films from the same era. The former is clearly not realistic at all, but everything within it is consistent, while the latter includes a combination of real people having real conversations, and transparent special effects that bring constant reminders that what I'm watching is all pretend.

Because everything within the VR experience responds in the way we expect it to, our minds unconsciously accept it as real extremely quickly - or as real as it needs to be - allowing for a productive coaching conversation.

5. VR just isn't for people like me

Some coaches have said to me that VR just isn't something for them, because of age or personality, and to a certain extent that's fair enough. Five years ago, some coaches were already delivering all of their coaching through a video call, while others refused to engage with a coachee who wouldn't meet face-to-face. That data point by itself doesn't indicate whether or not either of those coaches was better than the other, it's a question of preference.

But I do feel a need to question and challenge that position. For a start, technology is just a thing, it isn't "for me" or "not for me" any more than writing a letter is. Sometimes I just need to do it, like the recent letter I had to send to a particular organisation because they wouldn't accept any other form of communication. It's not about me, and it's not about the technology of letter-writing, it's about the person on the other side.

This is perhaps the most important point I alluded to earlier. Some coachees at some point might insist on meeting using VR, or simply express a preference for it. When a lady from the Middle East suggested to me that she might like to try being coached as an avatar because then she could keep her face hidden, VR might be a solution unlike any other, and who am I to judge? For some coachees, the use of certain technologies will contribute to a more positive or negative sense of rapport and trust, and if we as coaches can be as informed and flexible to use whichever technology is most appropriate to meet them where they are, that feels like only a good thing.