Coaching – does it work?

There has been much said and written about the virtues of coaching and whether it adds value to an individual’s performance and, indeed, an organisation’s performance.  As part of re-launching the executive coaching offered by Hafton Consultancy I am giving three clients two sessions for the price of one (£100 including VAT).  This will be on a first come first served basis.

Research carried out by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) showed that, when asked about effectiveness, 67% regard coaching by line managers as ‘effective’ or ‘very effective’ and  91% judge coaching by external practitioners to be ‘effective’ or ‘very effective’ showing that coaching by external coaches is considered to be more effective as a means of learning.   For senior managers and Chief Executives, external coaching may be the answer, particularly where line manager coaching is not really an option.

The research carried out by CIPD went on to ask the participating organisations if they were measuring and assessing the impact of their coaching interventions. Rather than solely relying on participants’ perceptions, the feedback showed that organisations were making considerable efforts to assess the impact of coaching including :-

• feedback from participants’ line managers,
• assessing changes in individual performance or career progress,
• measuring achievement of goals set at the beginning of the coaching and
• assessing changes in the culture of the organisation.

By taking the trouble to look at these measures organisations can at least have some idea of whether coaching is making a difference to their managers’ learning, confidence and performance.

Clients I have coached say they have greatly benefitted from the space to talk and think through a range of conflicting issues, and to clarify how they can plan and make major changes.  This is particularly the case when under a burgeoning workload.  The coaching, they said, gave them the vision and clarity they needed to make the change happen.  Coaching, in my experience, whether I am being coached myself or am coaching others, needs to be outcome focussed.   To that end having some specific actions with measures of what success will look like helps the person being coached to know when they’re headed in the right direction.

So does coaching make a difference?  Why not give it a try?  As I said at the beginning I am offering three clients two sessions for the price of one (£100).  These sessions will be for up to one hour each and can be done via telephone or face-to-face at a London venue.  There is no catch but you will be asked to agree to give feedback at the end.