Post Pandemic Era
So, as we emerge from the pandemic there is a new normal posing significant challenges and opportunities for us and our businesses. To meet those challenges and to be successful we must make decisions to invest so that we can operate effectively within this new landscape. The most effective investment we can make is in each other. This is essential because the greatest challenge post-pandemic is a human one and requires a nuanced approach. This must recognise the complexity of emotions for us and our people and the wide variation of how we have experienced recent months from those that were barely surviving through to those who may have prospered more so.
There is a need also to create a competitive advantage in the marketplace which is clearly not as buoyant for many businesses. This applies externally to the nature of business competition and customer expectations. It also applies internally due to the vulnerability of our people and the adjustment needed to changed ways of working in hybrid and remote working environments. This is particularly challenging to leaders who have a responsibility to themselves, to their people and to their organisations to be looking at effective personal development and wellbeing for all. This is the time for leaders to make choices with more scarce resources about what investment will give the greatest return on investment to achieve the recovery uplift needed.
The return on investment from coaching – personal and effective
Coaching has huge competitive advantages over other interventions in meeting these challenges and opportunities. Coaching is capable of being nuanced to suit the needs of each individual and organisation. The personal nature of delivering coaching and the relationships that are formed through it also are well suited to the current mood of combining valuable personal development with a focus on personal wellbeing and resilience. This blend guarantees personal and organisational success. Coaching is a non-directive activity designed for you the person being coached and as such can be uniquely positioned to offer optimum valuable development. It can also manage some of the inequalities of opportunity that have become manifest during the pandemic, one of which has been the loss of opportunity for female workers who statistically gave up more time for family care and home schooling. There are many studies that give evidence of the return on investment from coaching that show that now of all times is the right time to invest in coaching so that you can achieve your career or organisational goals post pandemic. The personal touch of a qualified executive or business coach enables a nuanced and highly effective way to create lasting personal development.
As a coach it is important to be accountable for the achievement of goals with your client and as such it is only right that the facts on goal achievement, value for money and return on investment from coaching are laid out so that you can decide. The facts speak for themselves…
US Fortune 500 coaching value assessment using Metrix Global
This study uncovered a number of key findings from the investment of coaching to middle managers but they can be summarised as follows:-
- That overall productivity and employee satisfaction are the highly and positively impacted areas of delivery for clients and organisations
- This results in a direct positive impact on customer satisfaction, employee engagement, quality of service delivered, annual and financial results
- Vastly improved employee retention for those that have been coached and across the organisation as a whole
- The return on investment (ROI) from this study emerged at 529% of coaching cost from direct measures on the results gained
- The (ROI) from Executive Coaching produced rises to 788% when considering matters such as recruitment and training costs saved through better staff retention
US based Manchester Review of coaching
This study surveyed 100 executives from Fortune 1000 companies. Their research showed that a company’s investment in Executive Coaching realised costed and qualitative benefits from coaching.
An average ROI of 545% on the cost of the coaching. (Maximizing the Impact of Executive Coaching, The Manchester Review, Volume 6, Number 1, Joy McGovern, et.al.)
- 86% of coachees were highly satisfied with the results from coaching
- 53% improved executive productivity
- 39% increase in external customer satisfaction
- 32% greater retention of senior executives post coaching
- 67% improvement in teamworking comparing coached team leaders to those without
- 22% increase on average bottom line for each company investing in coaching
- 61% increase in job satisfaction with staff that have been coached
- 52% decrease in conflict amongst staff
Coaching can address the gender inequality gap amongst leaders post pandemic
This is a key issue for any responsible and aspiring organisation to redress the imbalance of opportunity for female leaders exacerbated through the pandemic in the UK. Business coaching can address this and the following studies support this notion. Coaching helps women specifically to improve their performance, satisfaction, and wellbeing within the workplace. This study examined the benefits of coaching delivered within GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and was published in the Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring (International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring).
This case study on women leaders in GSK shows that leadership coaching improves self-awareness, self-confidence, self-leadership, leadership style, as well as the coachees relationship to power, conflict and personal life.
The Harvard Review found that companies that offer training alone experience only a 22.4% increase in productivity, but when combined with coaching that figure rises to 88%.
UK based assessment of coaching – The 6th Ridler report 2016
This report is based on studies across a number of coaching associations within leading UK based businesses. There have been 6 Ridler Reports published on coaching. The key findings of the 6th Ridler report are as follows : –
- Between 2012 and 2015 using a case study at EON tracked the ROI on coaching and reported a 2685% return, so every £1000 invested yielded back £26850
- 73% of organisations surveyed intend to increase investment in coaching
- A score of 8.8 out of 10 was given by coaching clients at EON for achievement of objectives through their coaching intervention
- After coaching of senior leaders EON UK reported a saving of £100 million in fines and costs from the interventions put into place by coached senior leaders post coaching
Conclusion
With such strong evidence business coaching is the obvious choice to kickstart your career or to prepare for career transitions. So, it is clear that the question should not be ‘can we afford to invest in coaching?’ but rather ‘can we afford not to invest in coaching?’. The human interaction and nuanced approach of effective coaching is ideal to recognise the individual needs and post pandemic conditions of those aspiring to improve. Coaching also clearly demonstrates a smart investment compared to other interventions to support our people and to therefore maximise their full potential. Importantly, make sure you find the right coach for you and check this out through interacting with them before you arrange full coaching sessions. A good business or executive coach will facilitate a free initial contact to make sure that your goals are clear and that you are compatible with the coach, this is vital as good coaching requires a good relationship between coach and the client.
Article written by Mark Bates of Applebright Coaching
