“strong consideration needs to be given to using external coaching programs to enhance internal results.”

“The study also indicates that using internal coaches to coach managers or executives is not correlated with coaching success. It appears that using external coaches for those groups is more effective and perhaps confirms that the higher cost of using an external coach may be well worth it.”

New Global Study Tackles What Really Works When It Comes to Coaching Employees

Article Source: American Management Association

American Management Association and the Institute for Corporate Productivity Provide In-depth Look at Successful Coaching Practices

June 17, 2008

At one point, having a coach carried a stigma because it was more frequently directed at problem employees. Today, it’s more likely to be a sign that the employee is on the fast track and that the organization is serious about raising performance levels and developing talent. That’s according to an extensive global study commissioned by American Management Association (AMA) and conducted by the Institute for Corporate Productivity.

Coaching: A Global Study of Successful Practices is based on a survey that included responses from 1,030 managers and executives across a wide range of functional areas. The survey was conducted using AMA’s global network, including Canadian Management Centre in Toronto, Management Centre Europe in Brussels, and AMA’s partners and affiliates in Mexico City, Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, and Istanbul and in many other cities around the world.

When asked about the groups that their organizations coach, 60% of respondents said the coaching involved high potential employees to a high or very high extent, and 42% said the same about executives. By contrast, 37% said they coach problem employees to such a high extent.

The study defined coaching as “a short- to medium-term relationship between a manager or senior leader and a consultant (internal or external) with the purpose of improving work performance” (Douglas & McCauley, 1999). And this study showed that coaching is indeed linked to improved performance, both at the individual and organizational levels.

“Executive coaching has become one of the tools to achieve effective leadership in today’s vastly changing corporate culture. As we increasingly learn how to measure executive coaching, we will find that we manage its role in leadership development better,” said Edward T. Reilly, president and CEO of American Management Association. “In going forward, what we have learned from this study will pave the way to a clearer understanding of the possibilities of executive coaching and practice. Change will need to come quickly given the vacancies in top management that are likely to occur due to retirement of the baby boomer generation,” Reilly said.

Respondents from organizations that use coaching more now than in the past are more likely to report two kinds of advantages. First, they are more likely to state that their organizations have higher levels of success in the area of coaching. Second, they are more likely to say that their organizations are performing well in the market, as determined by self-reports in the combined areas of revenue growth, market share, profitability, and customer satisfaction.

“There’s been skepticism about executive coaching in recent years. In some cases, it’s been warranted. Coaching for coaching’s sake is probably worthless. But this study suggests that—when it’s done right—coaching can raise both individual and organizational performance,” said Jay Jamrog, senior vice president of research of the Institute for Corporate Productivity.

The study found that raising individual levels of performance is the number one reason for using coaching and that using coaching for this purpose is highly correlated with the success of coaching programs.

But there are many ways of designing and implementing coaching programs and not all are equally effective, the study found. For one, sending potential coaches to external development programs was more strongly correlated with overall coaching success than more internally focused methods. Yet, those external programs were less commonly used, suggesting that strong consideration needs to be given to using external coaching programs to enhance internal results.

The study also found that clarity of purpose counts. The more a company has a clear reason for using a coach, the more likely that its coaching process will be viewed as successful. Add measurement into the mix and you have a winning formula. The research indicates that the more frequently respondents reported using a measurement method to gauge coaching effectiveness, the more likely they were to report success in their coaching programs. The measurement methods that were most strongly linked to success are individual increases in productivity, impact on engagement, satisfaction with the program, and bottom-line results on the business.

Survey participants were asked to what extent their organizations used certain criteria to match coaches with coachees. By far, the most frequent basis for matching was the area of the coach’s expertise. Almost three-quarters of respondents (74%) said matching decisions were—either frequently or a great deal—based on finding a coach with the right expertise to address specific issues.

Matching the right expertise with the right client is associated with higher success rates.

The study also shows that it pays to interview coaches. Surprisingly, when asked about the criteria they used to select coaches, only 54% say they interview potential coaches frequently or a great deal. Yet, this basic step is more correlated with reported success of coaching than any other selection strategy. Both time and money are wasted when organizations fail to invest time up front matching clients with coaches.

Another coaching best practice is to know when to use an internal versus external coach. The research indicates that external coaches are hired most often to work with executives. External coaches are significantly less likely to work with managers or supervisors. On the other hand, internal coaches are almost equally likely to work with managers as they are supervisors. Internal coaches are significantly less likely to work with executives. Additionally, while internal coaches were assumed to coach employees at all levels of the organization (43%), very few respondents (5%) said that external coaches coach employees at all levels to any great extent.

The study also indicates that using internal coaches to coach managers or executives is not correlated with coaching success. It appears that using external coaches for those groups is more effective and perhaps confirms that the higher cost of using an external coach may be well worth it.

The study found that providing coaching to expatriates is associated with success and improved market performance. Yet, few companies report that they offer coaching to this segment of their employees, suggesting that there’s an opportunity for competitive advantage here.

The study also found that there’s room for improvement in various areas related to coaching. For example, only about a third of respondents (32%) considered peer coaching (in which each participant acts as both coach and coachee to a partner within the organization to improve growth and development) to be very effective or extremely effective. That finding indicates that most organizations have yet to determine how to reap maximum benefit from their peer-coaching programs.

In general, the researchers believe that coaching remains an untapped opportunity for many organizations. Only about half of responding North American companies said they have coaching programs in place, and the same was true for just 55% of respondents in the international sample. This suggests that there’s considerable room for coaching to expand and mature, becoming a critical variable in developing and retaining scarce talent in the future. Companies that learn to leverage coaching and build their programs on what works will have a significant competitive advantage in the global marketplace.

The complete report, Coaching: A Global Study of Successful Practices, is available at www.amanet.org/research

About AMA

American Management Association is a world leader in talent development, advancing the skills of individuals to drive business success. AMA’s approach to improving performance combines experiential learning—learning through doing—with opportunities for ongoing professional growth at every step of one’s career journey. AMA supports the goals of individuals and organizations through a complete range of products and services, including seminars, Webcasts and podcasts, conferences, corporate and government solutions, business books and research. Organizations worldwide, including the majority of the Fortune 500, turn to AMA as their trusted partner in professional development and draw upon its experience to enhance skills, abilities and knowledge with noticeable results from day one.

The following question was posted on linkedin.com: “Work-Life Balance…Any suggestion on how to find symmetry?”  Below is my public answer.

Hi, these are very important questions.  As a professional coach, both for business, sales and life, I find that these areas area critical for success.  I started a linkedin.com group that is fully dedicated to “Balance & Fulfillment for Business Leaders” that you might want to join.  We are sharing and helping each other with these exact types of questions.

First, it may be helpful to look at balance from a new perspective.  What is Balance?  Balance is not about having equal weight on each part of life.  That simply is not possible.  IE- equal parts family, work, recreation, and friends.  That is not the goal.  It is a constant flow and it is never resting or idle.  The way we balance, is by being aware of the CHOICES we can make, and we can then move toward more alignment with the balance that we decide we want to have.

Jeremy J. Ulmer, Professional Coach, Sales Coach, Business Coach, Life Coach, Executive Coach

The question of whether a high level of empathy for a sales professional was an advantage or a disadvantage was asked on linkedin.com.  Below is my public answer to this question.

This is a great and interesting question! It looks like most people so far are saying that empathy is essential for sales people, and I agree!  I will expand on the concept and how to develop it a little further as it may be of help for those who want to enhance it.

Empathy is defined by Wikipedia as: “the capacity to recognize or understand another’s state of mind or emotion. It is often characterized as the ability to “put oneself into another’s shoes” or in some way experience the outlook or emotions of another being within oneself.  Empathy does not necessarily imply compassion, or empathic concern because this capacity can be present in context of compassionate or cruel behavior.”

From this perspective on what empathy means, it is clear that it is critical for a sales person to have or to develop a high level of empathy to have great success.  Some people, as you mention, will naturally be more empathetic than others, yet luckily, this is something that can be developed for those who lack a high degree of empathy.

Daniel Goleman, one of the experts on emotional competencies/emotional intelligence, breaks down emotional intelligence into 4 key areas.  One of those areas is Social awareness — the ability to sense, understand, and react to others’ emotions while comprehending social networks.  I’d say empathy would significant part of this.

So, how does this apply to sales? Simple, put yourself in the client’s shoes. Put yourself into their perspective and view their business, your business, their goals, and the world from their perspective for a moment.  Think about how your approach is coming off now? Should you change it? What really is important to them? Maybe you think something is so important, and you are explaining on and on about it to them, but if you pause, use empathy, get curious, and place yourself into their perspective for a moment, and then brainstorm ideas or ask questions from that place, breakthroughs are possible. 

I find that if you use empathy, and from that place, ask great questions, you can really find out what is most important for your prospective clients or current clients. The great thing about emotional competencies such as empathy is that they can be developed and enhanced. 

For those who want to learn to be more empathetic, the first step is becoming more aware of what it is to be empathetic, and then to consciously choose to translate the awareness into actual actions and changes in behavior.  There is much more to it than this, but I wanted to give a tip for starters that can help people immediately.

Jeremy J. Ulmer, Professional Coach, Sales Coach, Executive Coach, Sales Mentor, Life Coach, Business Coach

Jacksonville, Fla.–(Business Wire)–Jan. 4, 2001–Manchester Inc., a supplier of customized executive coaching programs, has released the results of a study that quantifies the business impact of executive coaching. The study includes data on executive behavior change, organizational improvements achieved, and the return on investment (ROI) from customized, comprehensive executive coaching programs.

The study included 100 executives, mostly from Fortune 1000 companies, who received coaching.

Participating companies realized improvements in productivity, quality, organizational strength, customer service, and shareholder value. They received fewer customer complaints, and were more likely to retain executives who had been coached.

In addition, a company’s investment in providing coaching to its executives realized an average return on investment (ROI) of almost six times the cost of the coaching.

Half of the executives in the study held positions of vice president or higher (including division president, general manager, chief executive officer, chief financial officer, chief information officer, partner, principal, and practice leader). Almost six out of 10 (57%) executives who received coaching were ages 40 to 49, and one-third earned $200,000 or more per year.

The coaching programs that executives participated in were a mix of both change-oriented coaching — which is aimed at changing certain behaviors or skills — and growth-oriented coaching — which is aimed at sharpening performance. The coaching programs typically lasted from six months to one year.

Among the results of the study:

The coaching programs delivered an average return on investment of 5.7 times the initial investment in a typical executive coaching assignment — or a return of more than $100,000 — according to executives who estimated the monetary value of the results achieved through coaching. 

Productivity (reported by 53% of executives)  

Quality (48%)  

Organizational strength (48%)  

Customer service (39%)  

Reducing customer complaints (34%)  

Retaining executives who received coaching (32%)  

Cost reductions (23%)  

Bottom-line profitability (22%)  

Other benefits to executives who received coaching were improved:

Working relationships with direct reports (reported by 77% of executives)  

Working relationships with immediate supervisors (71%)  

Teamwork (67%)  

Working relationships with peers (63%)  

Job satisfaction (61%)  

Conflict reduction (52%)  

Organizational commitment (44%)  

Working relationships with clients (37%)

Executive coaching programs focus on helping executives adjust to new organizational realities and not just survive, but thrive.

I appear as a guest on the Cultural Fusion Experience Radio Show to discuss changing your perspective and staying positively focused during challenging times. Music will play until ’4:50′ when the interview begins. (You can fast forward)

Research by the Chartered Management Institute and Campaign for Learning – “Coaching at Work”. Results issued in a press release dated 16th May 2002:

Top 4 words associated with Coaching (from a given list) were:

Supportive (98%), Empowering (82%), Holistic (80%), Inspirational (77%)

Top 3 words associated with Training (from the same given list) were:

Prescriptive (71%), Rigid (70%), Intimidating (50%)

80% of executives say they think they would benefit from coaching at work and dismiss the suggestion that coaching is just another fad

Virtually all managers (96%) think coaching should be available to every employee, regardless of seniority

85% of managers say the main value of coaching is in enhancing team morale

80% of managers value coaching for generating responsibility on the part of the learner Research by The Lifecoaching Company – “Coaching Today Survey”. Research took place at the HRD Show in London in April 2002, respondents all HR professionals.

86% held very positive views on coaching

86% of respondents’ organizations have offered coaching at one time or another and coaching is CURRENTLY taking place in over one third (36%) of organizations

Respondents feel that coaching achieves the following desired outcomes:

• A positive impact on other aspects of participants’ lives, both at work and outside the workplace (96%)
• A feeling amongst participants of ownership of the issues and the outcomes (85%)
• Evidence of learning being put into practice (71%)
• Readily-quantifiable and positive results, often demonstrated on the company’s “bottom-line” over the long term (62%)