This article looks at my path as a business coach and coaching in terms of its measured effectiveness in organisations. Scientific evidence as well my professional experience are included. It explores the findings that coaching improves employee engagement, frees up leadership resources and provides a significant return on investment.
Building on my last article on how measure coaching effectively, this piece looks at how I got into being a business coach, and the effectiveness of coaching. This is demonstrated in multiple case studies and scientific work and in my professional experience as a business coach.
One of the reasons I transitioned from leadership to coaching was that from very early on in my career I found myself in a position where colleagues and team members would come to me with questions like:
- How do I transition from pure engineering to project management?
- How do I resolve this conflict?
- How do I best work with my leadership?
It didn’t seem to matter what area of a business I was in: project management, engineering, production, programme management, people sought me out for guidance and advice. Even after changing companies. At some point I started to look into facilitation and coaching in more detail.
Doing a qualification I discovered how much I enjoyed not only supporting individuals, but also teams. That was it. I had found my passion.
Now I coach, train and facilitate, sometimes mediate, and mix these approaches as suits my customers. Sometimes it’s about revealing what is already there, sometimes it’s about giving impulses, new perspectives. Sometimes it’s about listening and reflecting what I observe.
I have been lucky to work with customers in many different industries, and incredibly lucky to earn their appreciation. A lot of that is also based on the fact that coaching has become a widely accepted tool for organisational and personal development. Getting coaching 20 years ago in Germany may have raised some eyebrows as to what the coachee had done wrong. It is now an accepted measure for further professional and personal development. One of the reasons this is the case is that coaching is widely empirically validated asa worth-while investment in organisational growth.
Coaching effectiveness has been confirmed across different metrics in multiple meta-analyses.
De Haan and Nilsson’s (2023) meta-analysis, for example, showed a moderate to substantial positive impact (g=0,59) on learning, goal attainment and performance. It also demonstrated coaching strongly positively affecting behavioural changes. My professional experience working with start-ups is that coaching is a driver for growth, and keeps fluctuation low. The International Coaching Federation (ICF) reported that 72% of respondents saw a strong correlation between coaching and employee engagement.
In terms of investing in human capital, coaching has a significant impact. Particularly when dealing with stressful situations or conflicts, coaching provides a space for reflection and ‘wiggle room’ in terms of how to handle the situation. Work by FMI revealed 91% of leaders consider coaching essential in new role preparation. Furthermore the ICF reported that 78% of senior level management and 73% of employees appreciated coaching being offered at their organisation.
Looking at the finances?
The return on investment numbers of coaching are worth looking at.
Figures from different case studies show returns between 3:1 and 7:1, showing businesses recover three to seven times they have invested (Metrix Global, 2001; American University). Where do these savings come from:
- recovering time for leaders
- improved engagement
- improved retention,
- improved decision quality.
With all this evidence, coaching is clearly a strong, measurable and effective means for organisational development, change and growth.
Do you want to see if coaching is a good fit for you or your organisation? Get in touch. I look forward to hearing from you.
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