Pride in their achievements
Greater optimism and clarity
Confidence in decision making
Greater joy
What Clients Report
Re-engagement in the workplace
Improved relationships
Resilience
A sense of freedom and aliveness
Increased energy
Greater focus
Less stress
More fun
Benefits of Using a Coach
Professional coaching brings many wonderful benefits: fresh perspectives on personal challenges, enhanced decision-making skills, greater interpersonal effectiveness, and increased confidence. And, the list does not end there. Those who undertake coaching also can expect appreciable improvement in productivity, satisfaction with life and work, and the attainment of relevant goals.
Increased Productivity
Professional coaching maximizes potential and, therefore, unlocks latent sources of productivity.
Positive People
Building the self-confidence of employees to face challenges is critical in meeting organizational demands.
Return on Investment
Coaching generates learning and clarity for forward action with a commitment to measurable outcomes.The vast majority of companies (86%) say they at least made their investment back.
Satisfied Clients
Virtually all companies and individuals who hire a coach are satisfied.
http://coachfederation.org/need/landing.cfm?ItemNumber=747
Coaching ROI
“I’VE WRITTEN BEFORE ABOUT CEO COACHES. I’M A BIG FAN OF THE WORK THEY DO AND HOW THEY CAN HELP ENTREPRENEURS WORK ON THINGS THAT ARE HOLDING THEM BACK FROM BEING THE BEST LEADERS THEY CAN BE. I ENCOURAGE MOST OF THE CEOS I WORK WITH TO GET MENTORS OR COACHES (OR BOTH).”
–FRED WILSON, UNION SQUARE VENTURES (INVESTMENTS INCLUDE TWITTER, FOURSQUARE, ZYNGA)
Coaching helps successful entrepreneurs become more successful by reaching and sustaining peak performance.
Studies in larger organizations show that coaching top executives at large companies yields 5-7x the company’s initial investment. While studies haven’t been done on the value of coaching on smaller companies and startups, it’s reasonable to expect that entrepreneurs are under similar pressures and their actions at least as critical to the success of their organizations so that the value of coaching might be greater.
Entrepreneurs are generally lifelong learners; an executive coach may be the only person in your life who is solely devoted to accelerating and supporting your learning, growth, and self-knowledge. This in turn supports you making the best possible decisions and doing the best possible work for your company.
Wondering if coaching is worth it? Here are some studies about the return on investment for coaching.
Coaching is gaining in popularity, and studies have shown that business coaching for top executives at large companies yields 5-7x the company’s initial investment. There have not yet been studies done on the value of coaching at smaller companies or startups, but executives in these situations are under similar pressure to perform, and their actions are at least as critical to the success of their organizations, if not more so.
- Companies that have used professional coaching for business reasons have seen a median return on their investment of 7 times their initial investment, according to a study commissioned by ICF, and conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Association Resource Centre Inc. (ICF Global Coaching Client Study, 2009)
- A study commissioned by a professional services firm, and performed by MatrixGlobal showed that the ROI on coaching was 8x the initial investment. (The Business Impact of Leadership Coaching at a Professional Services Firm, Merrill C. Anderson, PhD, 2006)
- Three stock portfolios comprised only of companies that spend aggressively on employee development each outperformed the S&P 500 by 17-35% during 2003. (How’s Your Return on People? Harvard Business Review, Laurie Bassi and Daniel McMurrer, 2004)
- Employees at Nortel Networks estimate that their coaching programs earned the company a 2x return on investment and significant intangible benefits to the business, according to calculations prepared by Merrill C. Anderson, a professor of clinical education at Drake University. Including the financial benefits from employee retention boosted the returns to 7.8x the initial investment. (Coaching the Coaches, Psychology Today, 2004, and Case Study on the Return on Investment of Executive Coaching, Merrill C. Anderson, PhD, 2001)
According to a study of senior level executives at Fortune 1000 companies who received developmental coaching, the average return from the programs was nearly 5.7 times the initial investment. (Maximizing the Impact of Executive Coaching, The Manchester Review, Volume 6, Number 1, Joy McGovern, et.al., 2001).
Forbes.com Reports on Huge ROI ‘s For Executive Coaching
In case you missed Matt Symonds recent article on Forbes.com’s about executive coaching, he reported that corporate America is spending more than $1 billion annually on executive coaching. This growth in coaching is due to a heightened focus on developing high potential leaders (rather than a remedial effort to help derailing employees), and the leaders themselves say it is working. According to Symonds, a recent global survey by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the Association Resource Centre found that the mean Return on Investment in coaching was 7 times the initial investment, and over a quarter of coaching clients reported a stunning ROI of 10 to 49 times the cost. (The International Coach Federation’s announcement of the survey is here. According to ICF, individual executive coaching clients, as distinct from corporate clients where the coach is retained by the corporation on behalf of the executive, also reported a strong ROI on their coaching investment, with a median of 3.44).
Symonds provides a brief overview of how some of the world’s top business schools are starting to include “the intense, one-to-one techniques” involved in coaching in their MBA programs, suggesting that academia has recognized the real-world legitimacy of executive coaching, and is looking to get on board. Symonds also hints that academic theory (or emotional intelligence, for its own sake) is a poor substitute for practical, pragmatic coaching focused on improved results. I agree.
Effective executive coaches make no assumptions about what the client needs to function successfully. Instead, they work from the executive’s agenda to help the client accelerate the development of the insight needed to deliver the desired change, whether that’s enhanced communication, time management, building high performance teams, or some other area of focus. Self-reliance, and not dependency, is the goal. What other investments in professional development do you know of that provide an average client-reported ROI of somewhere between 340 to 700%? The reasons for such high returns are clear: leadership matters. A lot.