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Can Your Business Really Benefit from Coaching?

'Coaching' is the latest buzz-word in the business world and there are some big claims by providers of coaching services about what they can do for your people and for your bottom line. Is this just another fad? How much of the claim is hype and can your business really benefit from coaching? What should you look for if you engage a coach, what does a coach do, how do they do it and what results can you expect from them?

The answers to these questions are both simple and subtly complex.

Firstly, let's look at whether there are any benefits to your business worth considering. Can a coach make a difference to your bottom line?

If a key objective of your business is performance improvement and you require your people to deliver this, the answer to this question is logically and emphatically; Yes! A coach can make a difference.

Why? Firstly, because the role of a skilled coach is to shape, change and enhance the behaviours of your people and to improve their performance. A good Corporate Coach operates in much the same way as the more familiar model of a sporting coach. It's about taking raw talent and working to improve performance - working with both mind and body to unlock potential and unleash performance.

Great managers and leaders know that improvement in individual performance is directly translated into the bottom line.

The other great benefit of coaching is that although en masse everyone makes their own contribution to a business, it is typically very specific or key individuals within an organisation that can, and do, make or break business performance. By working one-on-one with key individuals a skilled coach can facilitate seemingly small yet very specific changes in the way a person thinks (attitude, belief, frame of reference) or feels, reacts, responds or behaves to leverage the greatest return available for the business.

In addition the business benefits by being able to target performance improvement in very specific individuals and in key areas of the business making it a cost effective and efficient strategy.

So what do the bigger businesses say about coaching?

Sears, the American retail giant, cites the following from their study of coaching programs run throughout their stores across the United States.

"Implementing coaching as a manager program through different regions became predictive of staff satisfaction (average 5% increase) and predictive of revenue growth (average 5.5% increase)" The Rainmaker 2002. Xerox has this to say during an internal audit on expenditure 2000.

"Without follow-up coaching, 13% of new skills acquired in training programs are used. With follow-up coaching, this increases to around 80%"
Public Personnel Management Journal reported the following in its September 2001 issue.

"A study of 31 managers showed a productivity increase of 22% in a specific area with training, and an 88% increase with follow-up coaching."

In the following a study on 'Maximising the Impact of Executive Coaching' which followed 100 executives being coached reported:
"Of these, 93% said they would recommend coaching, 75% achieved far greater value than the investment, and the ROI across all people being coached was 5.7 times the original investment."
The Manchester Review Journal (2001).

In summary, we can see that coaching can and does provide significant results and can improve the bottom line of your business.

So what is coaching exactly?

People are unique and generally very complex. A good coach can help make sense of the complexity, draw out personal strengths and help individuals to overcome blocks, issues and resistance that can prevent them operating at their full potential.

Perry Zeus & Suzanne Skiffington provide the following definition in their book 'The Complete Guide to Coaching at Work.'

"Coaching involves learning through various coaching techniques such as listening, reflecting, asking questions and providing information: coachees become self-correcting. Coaching is more about asking the right questions than providing the right answers.

As most of us know, changing old patterns and habits can be difficult, even when we recognise they are disadvantaging or holding us back. A coach observes these habits, opens new possibilities and supports us in the sometimes difficult process of change.

Coaching is about re-inventing oneself - creating new stories, new identities and new futures. It recognises that the self is not a fixed entity, but is fluid and always in a state of becoming. Coaching is a journey where the journey is as important as the destination."*

So how does a coach work with the coachee?

In broad terms a coach works with and develops four very distinct facets of the coachee's personality and behaviour. Two of these facets are private; their thinking (beliefs and values etc) and feeling (emotions). And two are public; their responding (or speech) and their behaviour - what they do and how they impact the world around them.

Although an individual can and do make changes in these areas themselves, it is often over a significant timeline. Often the journey away from the current situation or state or towards the new objective or desired state can be uncertain, lonely and often never realised.
The benefits of support in these areas from a coach are at the very least twofold!

The coachee receives a structured and facilitated support process to achieving their outcome and the business or organisation benefits significantly through the coachee's ability to focus more effectively on their job role whilst at the same time realising their personal and professional performance improvement.
In summary, coaching can benefit your business in many ways - and it can have a measurable effect on the performance of your employees and on your bottom line.
The role of coach is complex; it isn't just about having a conversation and it requires a highly skilled coach to get great results.

To find out more about the TA Fastrack Business Success Coaching Program click here or call the TA Fastrack team on 07 3630 1298.

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