Imagine going to a dentist who doesn’t see the value of visiting a dentist, personally I would be straight out of the door. Anyone in business who takes their profession seriously will value having a business coach as part of their support team, and then there are those who won’t! That’s bad news for those who don’t have a business coach and great news for those of us who do. And before you ask, yes I do have a coach.
In the 1980’s the “self-help” section of bookstores had only a few classics “How to Win Friends and Influence People” and “Think and Grow Rich.” Nowadays the self-help section has grown into 1000’s of titles and spilled over into the business section. People are looking for something more.
In response to this growth in personal coaching and professional coaching those who used to be called consultants are rapidly changing their business cards from consultant to coaches and are getting more and more creative with their job descriptions and titles as more coaches come into the market. As people see the benefits of coaching, instead of taking a DIY approach and keeping it secret they are openly employing a professional business coach to work with them and telling others about it.
It’s taken a few decades for business coaching to establish itself as a legitimate profession that people are willing to admit to using, what has helped in its legitimization is the extensive research that has gone into evaluating the results after coaching. There are proven returns on investment, time, effort, happiness, wellbeing, success the RO list continues to grow.
While writing my first book “Business Coaching and Mentoring for Dummies” I was researching Chapter 2 – presenting a compelling case for coaching and mentoring and was staggered at just how compelling the evidence was that business coaching is a good thing.
* The 2002 Chartered Management Institute and Campaign for Learning Ccoaching at Wwork study found that 80 Eighty per cent of managers disagreed with the statements ‘Coaching is just another fad’ and ‘Coaching is too time-consuming’, and .
* Eighty per cent of managers believed that they would benefit from coaching (or more coaching) in their place of work.
* Studies show varying returns on investment, ranging from 5.7 to 7 times the initial investment, with some showing figures of 5,000% per cent.!
Benefits Include
A better bottom-line profit
Better communication
Decreased levels of stress, illness and absenteeism
Improved performance
Increased loyalty and staff commitment
Increased productivity
I know coaching is effective; my personal experience is proof positive plus my clients tell me so, as well as their anecdotal testimonials; results (where we can) are measured in order to give a benchmark to demonstrate a return on investment. What gets measured can be and should be used to demonstrate effective coaching.
If you are a coach find ways to measure, if you’re being coached then work out ways to measure where you are and where you find yourself throughout the stages of a program and at the end of it.
If coaching stress management what changes did the programme make to illness and sick leave, to employee attendance and also their happiness, job satisfaction and productivity?
If coaching selling, what are the new sales figures after you have coached attitudes, what was the difference after you have coached aptitude, asking great questions, building quality relationships, dealing with objections, asking for an order?
If coaching customer service, what is the change to customer satisfaction, what happened to repeat business, what improvements are there to customer handling times?
What gets measured can be valued and yet there are still some people in business who don’t yet see the value of coaching, despite the empirical evidence. Why is that?
Business coaching is still in it’s infancy and as yet poorly understood by many, if you need help to do your job what’s wrong with you is still a far too common thought. For many it’s not the business section or self help section, which is needed but the shelf a little higher just out of reach, the one labeled “You’re Beyond Help”.
Many executives still feel threatened if encouraged to employ a coach, believing it to be a judgment on their performance and ability. Business coaching simply means we can all do, be, have and give more and having a business coach as part of your support team is proven to make that journey easier.
The great news for those who already appreciate the value and return on investment having a business coach brings, is that you are ahead of the competition. Evolution isn’t over yet and those who continue to grow will improve with the assistance of a business coach and will be better able to flourish and thrive in all circumstances. Those who insist on staying as they are, will eventually see the world continue to move forwards which means by staying stuck they are going backwards.