Business coaching is a growing field. 58% of businesses report that they have more frequently used coaching over the last year.
The United Kingdom, four years ago, just 4 percent of small-scale businesses employed coaches. Today, 20 percent of small-sized businesses use coaching as an element of their growth plan. Another study from around the world found that 79 percent of large and medium companies located in the United Kingdom reported using coaching
The popularity of coaching is rising because it’s a cost efficient method of achieving amazing results for both businesses and teams. Companies are asking themselves, how can we afford to not employ coaches?
There is growing evidence that coaching is among the most effective methods of training people and contributing to the bottom line of business performance. An analysis on Fortune 1000 companies using coaching found that executives with these percentages who reported benefits from their coaching
A rise by 53 percent in the productivity
Improved customer service (by 39 percent)
Seniors are more likely to stay (by 32 percent)
Reduced costs (by 23 percent)
Improved bottom line profitability (by 22 percentage)
The same survey also reported that people who received coaching noticed improvements in:
Relationships with direct subordinates
Relationships with their supervisor
Team-building
Reduced conflict
Business Relations with Clients
The Top 6 Things to Take into Account When Choosing Your Life Coach or Executive Coaching
Certain leaders seek to cut costs by cutting back on training since they do not believe that training produces immediate benefits for their bottom line. Coaching can however turn training investment into significant positive results. Two studies back this claim:
It was found that the Xerox Corporation found that the effect of coaching follow-up following formal training resulted in an increase of 87% on the efficiency of learning contrasted with training on its own.
The International Personal Management Association supported this study. Their study showed that training helped improve the efficiency of their teams by 22 percent. If coaching was added to the training program, improvements in day-to-day performance was increased by 88%..
The Industrial Society asked companies what are the top three advantages of coaching employees. The companies provided direct results from coaching within the following areas of performance (similar results were reported in 2005 in the 2005 State of the Coaching Industry Report):
Productivity
Quality
Organizational Strength
Customer service
Eliminating complaints from customers
Retaining executives
Cost reductions
Bottom-line profits
Coaching is becoming more popular due to:
Small businesses can result in isolated managers who welcome support and challenge from someone outside their immediate work environment–especially if coaching and leadership development is not available in-house.
The commitment to attend whole-day, or multi-day leadership training classes can be difficult within a hectic schedule. It can also will require substantial travel costs. Business coaches’ sessions usually conducted over the telephone, can be scheduled to fit in with other obligations.
When organizations are operating with the “lean” staff, a lack of time and pressure to deliver is never absent. coaching offers “just on time” help and personal coaching and learning.
Coaching can be a one-on-one “thought companion” to assist the manager or executive take important decisions in an a more efficient manner.
The investment in business coaching may be a great investment, increasing your bottom linewhile helping you be more productive and achieving more at the same time by doing more efficiently, and also reclaiming your time by incorporating an extra balance between work and life. What’s the next step in engaging with a professional coach, or bring coaching into your company?
