Frequently asked questions
GENERAL
Q: What is HedCoach?
A: HedCoach is an expert in community-based leadership and assessment-based development.
We develop structures for organizations and communities that enable them to:
1. Assess themselves in relation to their context and peer groups.
2. Develop a common rhythm, meaning, and agency.
3. Create impact without hierarchy.
4. Move from resource-based management to impact-based leadership.
Q: Who is HedCoach intended for?
A: Our services are suitable for organizations that want to assess and develop their own
impact in a community-based way.
1. Sports clubs and sports associations
2. Work communities, organizations, and associations
3. Municipalities and regional networks
4. Development projects and foundations
5. Education and training experts
6. Communities planning an AI transition
Q: How can we join the HedCoach community?
A: We believe in partnerships rather than customer relationships. You can join by contacting us and ordering the Setup program (data leadership), participating in training/coaching (HedCoach Pragademies), providing us with information (Innovation), or participating in a pilot program such as Athletic Impression.
Contact can be initiated in the following situations, for example:
– Strategy renewal
– Community fatigue or disintegration
– Need to demonstrate impact
– Integration of artificial intelligence into operations
– Need to strengthen common rhythm or goals.
Q: Who is responsible for implementation?
A: HedCoach acts as an independent facilitator of the assessment process and takes care of technical implementation and data security. The technology is owned by DBI Solutions Oy, but each community has the right to its own data.
ASSESSMENT
Q: What is being evaluated?
A: The evaluation focuses on the structure, relationships, and rhythm of the community. It does not evaluate individuals, but emphasizes the community’s activities in relation to its goals and context. Impact indices and target profiles are created.
Q: What is the assessment model based on?
A: The assessment model is based on three scientific principles:
1. Relative methodology – the community is seen as a network of relationships.
2. Complexity theory – leadership cannot be linear, but must respond to the context.
3. Community-based leadership theory – leadership arises from relationships, not positions.
Q: How is the assessment and its results implemented?
A: The assessment is based on relative self-assessment. It is implemented digitally – without meetings – and is appropriately targeted at roles, units, or management teams. Each participant receives a personal participation link. The results are not individual scores or averages, but relative rankings – in relation to peer groups. Each result shows how a community or unit compares to other similar communities in the same context.
Q: Who exactly carries out the assessment?
A: The community appoints a person responsible for the assessment (e.g., manager, developer, coordinator) who is responsible for communicating with participants.
Q: Who coordinates HC4SPORTS data?
A: The Union for European Sport Clubs (UESC), founded by members of the Sports Club 2.0 platform (a sister project of the HC4SPORTS platform).
Q: Is the evaluation scientifically validated?
A: Yes. The model has been validated in collaboration with the University of Turku and presented in a peer-reviewed international publication (Räikkönen & Hedman, 2024, IJSPP).
INDICES AND TARGET PROFILES
Q: What are impact indices?
A: Indices describe the structural characteristics of a community and its ability to function together. They are derived from data produced by the community. The impact indices are:
– Resilience index: How well does the community support itself?
– Change readiness index: How well can the community reorient its activities?
– Sense of Community index: How well do the units work together?
– Reflectivity index: How deeply is reflection visible in sports or coaching?
In addition, Athletic Impression assesses the impression and relationships athletes have with other actors.
Q: What are target profiles?
A: A target profile describes what the community itself considers important and where it sees potential for development. It consists of two parts:
– Strong goals: the strongest choices made together
– Critical goals: the biggest difference between the goal and the current situation.
The target profile is produced from different perspectives:
1. Strategic (management teams)
2. Operational (units and roles)
3. Sports/coaching (players and coaches)
Q: What are the benefits of assessment?
A: – The community gains a shared mirror and compass
– The results can be utilized in strategy work, coaching, and development
– The evaluation guides the discussion, but does not lock it in
– Artificial intelligence can support the analysis of results, but the interpretation is done within the community
Q: Can the assessment be used in communications or funding applications?
A: Yes. The results demonstrate the community’s impact, strategic thinking, and approach to development. Many partners have used them in funding applications, annual reports, and stakeholder communications.
OTHER
Q: What do the terms “AI coach” and “AI organization” mean?
A: An AI organization is not run by artificial intelligence. Instead, it is an organization that uses artificial intelligence (ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, etc.) to organize and interpret its data. By automating routine administrative tasks and helping to analyze results, AI frees people to focus on community development and speeds up decision-making.
An AI coach is a person who uses AI tools to support community decision-making. The coach collects and prepares assessment data, after which AI structures the data and reveals patterns in it – often revealing insights that the community already possesses but has not noticed. An AI coach does not need to make decisions, but rather helps the community to make them.
Q: Is the assessment certified?
A: Yes. The HedCoach assessment model is officially approved and certified by the Finnish Athletics Federation. The certification refers to its scientific basis, independent implementation, and relative and context-specific structure.
Q: How does this differ from a regular survey?
A: A regular survey collects individual opinions and calculates an average. The HedCoach assessment builds a communal mirror of its functional structure and relates the results to other similar contexts. A survey produces a static report, while HedCoach produces a rhythmic knowledge base that guides the community’s next steps.
Q: Hasn’t the strategic work already been done? Why is this needed?
A: A strategy often exists, but it is not necessarily visible in everyday life. The assessment does not rewrite the strategy, but reveals where the common rhythm is strong and where it breaks down.
Q: Isn’t impact already being measured?
A: If the metrics are based on results, budgets, or follower numbers, they describe the organization’s activities, not the community’s impact. HedCoach measures relationships, rhythm, and goals in relation to context.
HOW DOES RELATIONAL TECHNOLOGY WORK?
The root of our methodology lies in turning complex data into an interpretable form with relative comparisons within the data. We do not believe in traditional statistics when evaluating leadership, but rather in relative methodology. The following framework represents our process and data flow in enabling Data Leadership, as well as HC Academy and Innovation services.
