What are the Benefits of Coaching?

What are the Benefits of Coaching?

In my previous blog about Let’s Talk Coaching, the first in a series on coaching, we started with the basics – what is coaching. I know this may have seemed rudimentary but it wasn’t. About 60% of the clients that I work with don’t truly understand coaching and how it fits into workplace training and development until we start working together. This is because the term is often used incorrectly to describe a consulting or a mentoring relationship, but that’s a whole other blog article! Now that you know what coaching is, let’s talk about the benefits of Coaching for the individual and the organization. These lists are by no means complete but they do a good job at communicating the power of coaching.

Personal Benefits of Coaching1

  • Able to establish and take action towards achieving goals: The key phrase here is “take action.” Your leaders are often establishing goals for themselves and their teams, but are they taking action towards those goals? Are they achieving them? If not, what’s getting in their way?
  • Become more self-reliant: This is always a skill we’re looking for in our leadership team, but in today’s fast paced, ever changing environment, leaders and their staff are being asked to do more with less resources – sometimes much less. This skill is more necessary than ever.
  • Gain more job and life satisfaction: With the great recession and the great sansdemic upon us, creating an environment where your employees can find both job and life satisfaction is a must.
  • Contribute more effectively to the team and the organization: To be competitive today, you need all your employees to be engaged and productive. We also know the impact people-leaders can have on the morale of their team and the organization.
  • Take greater responsibility and accountability for actions and commitments: Accountability is taught in our Foundational Leadership Series for a reason, it’s hugely important. The failure of one people leader or team member in a small to mid-size business to take responsibility and accept accountability for their actions can create a whole culture of employees who fail to do so.
  • Work more easily and productively with others (boss, direct reports, peers): No matter how small or large your organization is, your people leaders and team members need to get along and work with their fellow employees. inability to get along leads to decreased productivity, poor communication, low morale, increased turnover, etc.
  • Communicate more effectively: According to this SHRM Survey, Over one-third of American workers believe their direct manager could benefit from additional training in communication skills. And, based on the conversations I have with our Members, I would say equally as many managers believe their employees need help in this area.

The Organizational Benefits of Coaching2

  • Empowers individuals and encourages them to take responsibility: I already commented on why this is so important, but let’s take a moment here to imagine an organization where everyone took responsibility! Ah what a wonderful place that would be!
  • Increases employee and staff engagement: According to Gallup’s 2021 US Engagement Survey, only 36% of US employees are engaged at work.  What’s going on with the other 64% and how might it move the needle for you if you could re-engage even a small percentage of these employees?  
  • Improves individual performance: According to SHRM, 6 in 10 American workers believe managers in the workplace could benefit from training on how to be better people managers.
  • Helps identify and develop high potential employees: This is so important, especially now. Employers can’t afford to lose their best talent because they fail to let them know how to important they are to the organization.
  • Helps to motivate and empower individuals to excel: An organization where everyone takes responsibility is a good thing. However, an organization, where your employees are taking responsibility and are motivated to excel, is a competitive advantage – not to mention, a wonderful place to work.
  • Demonstrates organizational commitment to human resource development: Developing your hi-pos is critical but creating a culture where all employees feel their development needs are important is becoming just as critical as more and more employees are choosing to join an organization or leave an organization based on this.

Coaching can Benefit Company ROI3

Obviously, there needs to be an investment of some sort by an organization to see these types of benefits so the next logical question is, how much do I invest? What’s my ROI?

Here are some stats on the ROI of Executive Coaching. This kind of coaching has been researched the most; however, I expect this will change soon as more organizations see the benefits of making coaching available to more than just their Executives.

  • According to MetrixGlobal LLC, “companies receive an average return of $7.90 for every $1 devoted to executive coaching.”
  • MetrixGlobal also “reported a 529% ROI and numerous intangible benefits to the business after studying executive coaching in a Fortune 500 firm.”
  • According to a Manchester Inc. Study, “executive coaching provides an average ROI of nearly 6 times the coaching cost.”
  • The Manchester Inc. Study “on executive coaching’s effect revealed an average ROI of 5.7 times the initial investment or a return of over $100,000.”
  • According to a Personnel Management Association Report, “coaching combined with training boosts productivity by an average of 86% compared to 22% with training alone.”

If anything I have written above resonates with you, please contact me at muhrich@meainfo.org to discuss it further. If you’ve never experienced coaching and want to see what it’s it all about, use this link to schedule a 30-minute complimentary session with me.

Other Sources:

  1. Ken Blanchard Companies
  2. Institute of Coaching
  3. Coaching Works: The Impressive ROI of Executive Coaching & Leadership Development

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