Coaching
There has been a lot of discussion about the ROI of professional coaching. The attention to ROI of coaching tackles this issue from a number of angles:
And, lest you imagine this discussion only happens in the corporate context of coaching, let me assure you that it is not the case!
The questions “Does coaching work?” And specifically, “Will it work for me?” are ubiquitous among all people thinking about supporting themselves and the achievement of their goals with coaching.
My own take on this is naturally that coaching works a great deal better than anything other process, to achieve targeted personal AND professional growth.
Coaches can certainly all agree that coaching is effective – or we wouldn’t be coaches. Right?
However, the question of the ROI is not really for coaches. Others must see coaching as valuable in order to invest in it! Coaching is expensive – and it should be. It is a very intensive 1:1 process which requires a great deal of training, experience and commitment on the part of the coach. Much research has been done to help organizations make decisions about their resource allocation in staff development. It turns out that their research applies to professional coaching that is used for personal ends just as well. Andrew Neitlich (Head, Center for Executive Coaching) has compiled some good data on the return on investment in coaching (CLICK here for the article).
Here are some interesting statistics:
Since many of you readers are not organizational or executive coaches specifically, I want to point out how these same results apply outside of the organization:
Executive coaching receives much attention, hence its ROI is studied. However, just like the internet was initially invented to improve communication and data resource management for the military, but now is widely used for by more than 50% of the world’s population – research on executive coaching ROI applies for personal coaching as well. Further research data shows:
My perspective is that the personal growth that allows a leader in an organization to achieve the results above is the same that would allow an individual to live his and her life with much greater joy, satisfaction and peace.
These are worthy aspirations for a meaningful life.
To your continued thriving!
Lisa
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Lisa E. Hale, Ph.D., PCC
President ICF-CO, and Focused Leadership Consulting