The Media About Coaching
Anne Fisher, Ask Annie, "Executive Coaching—With Returns a CFO Could Love," Fortune, Monday, February 19, 2001
"Asked for a conservative estimate of the monetary payoff from the coaching they got … managers described an average return of more than $100,000, or about six times what the coaching had cost their companies. Almost three in ten (28%) claimed they had learned enough to boost quantifiable job performance—whether in sales, productivity, or profits—by $500,000 to $1 million since they took the training. They also reported better relationships with direct reports (77%), bosses (71%), peers (63%), and clients (37%), and cited a marked increase in job satisfaction (61%) and ‘organizational commitment’ (44%), meaning they are less likely to quit than they were before. " (Quote refers to results of a survey conducted by Manchester.)
Betsy Morris, Fortune, 02-21-2000
"The hottest thing in management is the executive coach. Companies hire them to shore up executives or, in some cases, to ship them out. Division heads hire them as change agents. Workers at all levels of the corporate ladder, fed up with a lack of advice from inside the company, are taking matters into their own hands and enlisting coaches for guidance on how to improve their performance, boost their profits, and make better decisions about everything from personnel to strategy."
Tony Schwartz, "Fast Company," Life/Work, Issue 32, 03-01-2000
"So why not take advantage of good coaching to gain a competitive advantage? Why not use objective outside counsel and support to help you develop the communication, time-management, self-management, and interpersonal skills necessary to perform on today’s corporate playing field—where the pressures have never been higher and the rules are constantly changing?"
Justin Yaros, CIO, 20th Century Fox, InfoWorld, 05-24-1999
"Coaching is probably one of the best career moves that we’ve ever [made] … the level of practical knowledge that is injected into you by having someone at that level work with you [far outweighs] what you could learn on your own. And in these types of positions, you don’t have the time to discover these things on your own."
Betsy Morris, Fortune, 02-21-2000
"Corporate America had better heed the [coaching] phenomenon, even if it falls outside the traditional corporate organizational chart. It’s a reminder that people won’t run on autopilot or by remote e-mail. No matter how much the world has changed, people on the job still need some mentoring, some monitoring, some meaningful interaction. And if workers can’t get that in-house, why, they’re likely to outsource it."
J. Waldroop, T. Butler, "The Executive as Coach," Harvard Business Review, 11-01-1996
"The coach reflects before acting and encourages the individual he is coaching to do the same. Although the ultimate goal of coaching is to improve business performance, the focus is less on the immediate task and more on the long term. In addition to pointing out problems, a wise coach knows when to give positive strokes to provide support and structures a collaborative relationship through regular meetings."
U.S. News & World Report, 11-06-2000, p. 72
"When corporate honchos need to woo investors, soothe stockholders, or kick-start a sluggish staff, they turn to an executive coach.…"
Barry Mabry, corporate finance partner, Ernst & Young, New Orleans
"Why do I need a coach? Perhaps it’s for the same reason that Tiger Woods needs a coach… Tiger Woods would say, ‘I know how to play golf.’ But his coach is probably the most important person in his life."
Deborah DeVoe, freelance writer, InfoWorld, 05-24-1999
"Coaches act as sounding boards for their clients. Through weekly meetings, clients share any obstacles affecting their job performance. Topics range from how to best present a new strategy to how to balance professional and personal lives."
John Kotter, professor of leadership, Harvard Business School, Fortune, 02-21-2000
"We have a lot of people who were trained to be superb managers but now have horrendous leadership challenges thrown at them.… Coaching is aimed at trying to help people develop skills and actions that are different from what they grew up with."
Mary Bradford, sales manager, MetLife, New England region
"People have to take more responsibility for their own growth and development. They can’t depend on human resources. Coaches can help people come to grips with huge changes in the way we do work, in getting through big transitions."
Robert J. Grossman, "Ensuring a Fast Start," HR Magazine, Vol. 44, 07-01-1999
"Forty percent of newly appointed leaders fail in the first 18 months, according to a study. Executive failures can be traced back to a flawed selection process; in other cases, new hires are not given adequate coaching and feedback to help them adapt and succeed."
Jerry Langdon, Small Business Brief, Gannett News Service, 01-25-2001
"Make coaching resources available before there’s a crisis. Too many companies wait until an employee is in serious trouble or on the verge of quitting before they finally take action. Be sure your new employee is ‘coached’ during his transition period."
Additional Research
1998
The professional coaching association, International Coaching Federation (ICF) randomly surveyed 200 coaching clients on the effects of coaching.
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62% of the clients reported they felt smarter at goal setting.
Over 50 % noticed lower stress levels and indicated they had more self-confidence
43% noticed improvement in quality of life
39% enhanced their communication skills
33% improved their relationship with their boss or co-workers
January 2001
The Manchester Study: Maximizing the Impact of Executive Coaching: Behavioral Change, Organizational Outcomes and ROI. This study, conducted by Manchester, career management consulting firm specializing in organizational effectiveness, quantified the business impact of coaching. 100 executives of Fortune 1000 companies were coached. The reported average ROI was 5.7 times the cost of the coaching. Productivity increased 53%, quality – 48%, customer service – 39%, customer complaints reduced by 43%, cost reductions – 23%, improvement in bottom-line profitability – 22%, improved working relationships with direct reports – 77% and with immediate supervisors – 71%.
November 2001
Research conducted at a Fortune 500 firm called Nortel Networks: A Case Study on the ROI of Executive Coaching. Nortel Networks launched an innovative leadership development effort including coaching as a key enabler. They followed 43 and found a 529% ROI excluding the benefits from employee retention.
Nine bottom-line measures were used to evaluate this astonishing result: 60 % said productivity improved, 53% said employee satisfaction improved; personally, as well as for team members; 50% realized annual financial benefits; 53% said customer satisfaction improved; 30% said work output improved; and 30% reported work quality improved, team performance, motivation of others and decision-making.
October 2002
ASTD published one of their In-Action series edited by DJ Mitsch called Coaching for External Results. DJ’s conclusion is that coaching has an effect on the bottom-line because it those who have been coached reported work as more meaningful, they documented higher productivity, the right people are being paced in the right jobs, and people were challenged to do their best.