Comparative group surveys
Surveys to assess employee morale, well-being, and engagement levels are used by 19% of Sherpa respondents to evaluate the effectiveness of coaching. The most sophisticated organizations use control groups to measure performance differentials between employees who have, and have not, been coached. The control groups are then compared on key metrics such as retention levels, promotions, pipeline readiness, revenue gains, etc. Canada’s Rogers Communications, mentioned earlier, compares customer satisfaction levels in corresponding quarters year-over-year as one key measurement of coaching ROI.
Pulse surveys
Many CCOEs use online surveys to take the “pulse” of participants at key points in the coaching. The coach begins the engagement by conducting three conversations: a 1-on-1 rapport meeting with the client; a 1-on-1 meeting with the client’s supervisor or sponsor; and a 3-way conversation in which coach, client, and sponsor all agree on goals. The data is then loaded into a system, and a survey is sent to both coachee and sponsor at the mid-point and end-point of the engagement to gauge progress and assess results.
Perceived value
Still, the simplest and most widely used metric is how the individual client evaluates the coaching experience. The former director of coaching at Humana speaks not of ROI, but of ROC (Return on Coaching). He found that organization-wide, employees consistently attributed “56-58% of the impact they’re having solely to their coaching experience.” While certainly subjective, this metric nonetheless helps the organization compare the perceived value of the coaching experience to its actual cost of delivery.
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Rey Carr
December 27, 2016 at 2:34 pm
With the increasing use of polls and surveys by different coaching groups or independent survey firms, it has become more difficult to integrate the different findings into a coherent picture.
Carol Goldsmith integrates the results from different surveys/interviews brilliantly in this article; and for those with a short attention span, she’s even included the top 10 in an executive summary.
Most of the organizations that conduct coaching surveys do not point out the limitations of their instrument or data collection procedures. However, when such surveys are combined, as they are in this article, the resulting data can be more credible.
Carol Goldsmith
January 2, 2017 at 10:33 pm
Thank you for the kind comment, Rey. Glad you found the article to be useful.
Be your best, Carol
Carol Goldsmith, PCC, NLPT
The Discovery Coach