A four-month long survey conducted on fifty sample companies designed to find out what the main business benefits of coaching are found that the process yields significant and tangible rewards. What’s more, these benefits are easy to identify. Participants were asked to specify the main benefits for their organisation and responses included:
- Increased awareness of problems and opportunities for the coachee around them (63%)
- Improved skills: acquiring a new skill or improving on an existing one (50%)
- Enhanced working relationships within their team (50%)
- Being able to understand other people’s perspectives (47%)
- Increased clarity of work / life balance (43%)
- Increased overall motivation (43%)
- Improving overall performance (43%)
- Increased happiness in the workplace (40%)
- Increased ability to perform more effectively in a new role (40%). This is a specialist area of ours – see our 101 day programme for more details
- Improved approach to dealing with situations that arise at work: able to adapt according to circumstances (37%)
- Agreed goals were obtained; even the stretch goals that were under control of the coached member of staff were more likely to be achieved (45%).
A real return on investment for coaching
Interestingly, 23% of companies also noticed an overall increase in sales and revenue, even when this wasn’t the specific aim of the coaching process.
However, when comparing organisations using coaching and those not using it, only 3% of companies understood the significant financial impact that coaching could have on their business. Therefore, companies need to investigate ways of measuring any financial upturn following coaching as they are currently unable to accurately measure its positive effects.
Resilience, not reliance
It’s important to remember that if not approached properly, coaching can have a negative impact rather than the desired a positive one. For example,15% of companies reported that some of their members of staff had become ‘too reliant’ on the support of a coach, ‘not wanting it to end’. Companies therefore need to be aware of achieving the right balance. You can contact us at The Results Centre to find out more about our ethos that a good coach will empower an individual to make their own career-enhancing choices; being told what to do by a coach simply creates a crutch the individual will not be able to function without when it is removed. Clearly this approach benefits no one and should be avoided at all costs.
Investing in a more profitable future
The cost of coaching was reported as a problem by another company. It is an undeniable fact that good quality coaching costs money and at a time when many budgets are tight, it can be a challenge to obtain buy-in for a process which takes both time and money to start producing results. However, this is a short-sighted view that can harm a company’s staff retention levels and profitability in the future.
Only 3% of companies reported that the member of staff decided to leave and find another career as a result of coaching. Furthermore, 93% of companies found that employees rewarded the value placed in them through coaching by performing better at work, and by staying put.
Interestingly, only 10% of companies offer coaching as part of their standard employment package for senior members of staff. However, many companies can offer coaching as a sweetener to attract new high performing employees.
Setting clear objectives from the start
Coaches are often left in the dark about the reasons they are hired, making it difficult for them to do their jobs. Currently less than 18% of companies give coaches clear cut reasons why they are required and the results expected of them. Companies could greatly enhance the relationship between the coach and member of staff being coached by giving more contextual information and setting clearer objectives. At The Results Centre we begin with our 3Ts process, which identifies the real issues to work on. This page needs finishing before this link works and/or this goes out (see dialogue between Jess and Helen)
93% of companies said that they would hire a coach again and were on the whole ‘delighted’ with the experience which exceeded their expectations. The 7% of companies who saw no positive effects of coaching usually had no management involvement during, or after the process. These companies would do well to review their reporting systems to monitor what their staff and organisation actually got out of coaching.
Currently, less than 10% of companies let the coach and member of staff meet before the sessions. It is highly recommended that this should be done before an individual commits to the relationship because finding the right chemistry between coach and coachee is one of the keys to getting results.
It was also noted that by just coaching a handful of employees, morale was raised across the organisation because the company is seen as investing in the team.
Results-focussed coaching for your company
Email us at info@resultscentre.com to set up an introductory chat and discuss your coaching needs.