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Press Release: Right Management
MEDIA RELEASE originally posted on Scoop
Tuesday 17th November 2009
Leadership Coaching still a ‘cottage industry’, white paper argues.
Leadership coaching must be better aligned to business outcomes and more effectively measured if it is to mature beyond a cottage industry, according to a Right Management paper launched today.
The white paper, Aligning Leader Coaching to Business Outcomes, says that while coaching generally receives positive feedback, there is no proven methodology for measuring its ROI or impact on business.
“Moves are underway to establish a true profession of coaching, endorse a set of academic fundamentals and establish accreditation guidelines – but the industry is not there yet,” said Right Management’s Regional General Manager, Ms. Bridget Beattie.
Yet anecdotal evidence is overwhelmingly positive. Ms. Beattie said, “Our own experience in collecting leader feedback, client reviews and evaluations shows that all the stakeholders involved – the individual, their manager and the organisation – believe the value of the coaching program is much greater than the investment.”
In speaking to HR professionals, Right Management found there was limited tracking of effectiveness either before or after coaching. Of those who do track it, the focus is on measuring leader satisfaction and the impact on behaviour; very few measure business outcomes.
“Of course the impact on an individual is important, but to really stack up, coaching needs to translate into business outcomes such as increasing market share, revenues and profits. We need to anchor coaching firmly in this context,” Ms. Beattie said.
Right Management has developed its own methodology for ensuring a coaching assignment meets strategic objectives. This approach retains the one-on-one coaching format but factors other people into the process, while identifying goals in terms of leader competencies, organisation capabilities and business outcomes.
Ms. Beattie points out, however, that coaching is just one of a suite of tools that can be used for leadership development.
“Coaching is not the only way to build high-performance leaders, but it can be particularly useful in executing strategy. For instance, if you find that everyone walks away from a leadership retreat with great intentions, which they promptly forget about, then a coach can help keep their feet to the fire and make sure they follow through,” Ms. Beattie said.
She adds that this goal-based approach is more likely to achieve hard business outcomes.
“Some leadership coaching looks more like ‘feelgood’ life-coaching – and if that’s what you’re after, then it’s fine. But the key is to be clear on the reasons you’re doing it: if it’s to support the business strategy, then coaching must be clearly aligned to that strategy from the outset,” Ms. Beattie said.
Smart companies, according to Right Management, have moved on from using coaching as a remedial tool for ‘problem leaders’, and now focus on fast-tracking high performers.
“In a rapidly evolving business environment, organisations have realised they can’t rely on time and experience to develop leadership talent – instead, they need to move high potential candidates into positions of greater responsibility, with maximum efficiency. Coaching is one of the tools they use to build bench strength at the top,” Ms. Beattie said.
-Ends-
John Agno
November 18, 2009 at 8:41 am
The clear reason for leadership coaching is “personal executive coaching works.”
Has your chief executive officer (CEO) crafted a leadership style that centers on authenticity; that means constantly communicating with employees about the company’s important issues?
Does your CEO try to get across what s/he’s like as a person, what s/he values (like spotless ethics, emotional maturity), and the vision s/he has for the organization?
Rather than avoid the animosities, communication breakdowns, and jealous flare-ups on the CEO’s executive team–as well as his or her own defects–does the CEO confront them head on?
If the answer to all the above questions is “yes,” then your CEO has gotten over the CEO Disease by working with a personal leadership coach to become more self-aware and able to allow his or her leadership perceptions to evolve.
There is an old Yiddish proverb that applies to every organizational leader: “The fish always sinks at the head.” The leader with CEO Disease doesn’t know the smell that he or she is spreading throughout the organization. The personally coached CEO discovers what smell he or she is spreading across the corporate culture and works to make it a productive and positive scent.
Leadership is the tread that flows through all of my executive and business coaching; helping clients learn how to become effective leaders in their business, community and personal lives. Helping clients move from the competitor/warrior stage to the leader/statesman stage is important and rewarding.
forex robot
November 19, 2009 at 7:00 am
great post as usual .. thanks .. you just gave me a few more ideas to play with