ROI of Coaching

Several studies administered by ROI-Guru Jack Phillips demonstrate extremely high return on investment of professional coaching programs delivered by an external professional coach. Nortel networks recently presented a return on investment of 788% at the ASTD conference in June 2002. Most other publications using the Jack Phillips methodology show similar or higher returns on investment for one-on-one coaching with an external coach.

Benefits of Coaching

A 2002 survey conducted by The Chartered Management Institute in the UK shows:

• 85% of managers identify the main value of Coaching as enhancing team moral;
• 80% say it is good at generating responsibility on the part of the learner;
• Managers say coaching can be used to support an individual through restructuring and change in the organization, or as part of a programme to motivate and retain staff;
• 59% of managers cite personal coaching, involving face-to-face meetings as the main type ... in their organizations;
• The increasing number of managers who have experienced coaching are clear about its value as an important element of workplace training and development;
• 55% use coaching as a one-on-one process intended to maximize management and leadership potential and to retain talent;
• 54% use coaching one-on-one to change behaviour;
• 36% use coaching for personal/psychological counselling;
• 80% of executives say they think they would benefit from coaching at work and dismiss the suggestions that coaching is just a fad; and,
• 96% of managers think that coaching should be available to all employees, regardless of seniority.

How does Coaching pay off in real dollars?

FORTUNE magazine (May 2002) reports on the return on investment (ROI) of Metropolitan Life Financial Services' intensive coaching program with part of its retail sales force. Metropolitan's experience found that productivity among those salespeople coached increased by an average of 35%, while 50% identified new markets to develop.

Perhaps, most importantly, Metropolitan has retained all of the salespeople who had the coaching - a big deal, since industry statistics show that each representative who leaves a company with three years' experience costs $140,000 to replace. In all, the coaching program, which cost about $620,000, delivered $3.2 million in measurable gains.

"What has emerged for me now with such CLARITY, as I near the end of my 3-month session, the reasons I sought out Lynne, and challenges I thought were blocking me, were really me creating my own obstacles because I didn't know how or where to begin. Before my success coaching began, I was spinning my wheels, getting nowhere, feeling overwhelmed and frustrated, with no focus. Not only am I achieving BALANCE in my life for the first time, I have FOCUS on my goals with an ACTION plan in place. This was the first time I ever invested in myself, and I am so thankful I took that big step! I feel so proud of what I have accomplished, and I'm excited to watch my dreams come true!" Lisa Kingston, Ontario -- May 16th, 2005

More benefits of coaching

The International Coaching Federation surveyed 11,000 people who had been coached. These are the results:

• most asked for help with time management, their careers, their businesses and their business relationships
• 50% said they now have a more balanced life
• 50%+ experienced greater self-awareness, higher self-confidence and improved goal-setting and results against business targets
• 40% asked for help with goal-setting - financial goal-setting in particular
• 40% felt it had enhanced their communication skills (communication is much talked about inside organizations yet it is a key area that lets most organizations down)
• 33% said they had more fun as a result of coaching (whilst people are having fun in the workplace they're also producing to much higher levels - tasks become much more enjoyable and much more sustainable)
• 78% said that they wanted a motivator - someone they knew they could call who would be independent and talk to them about the goals they said they would achieve and what they actually had achieved
• 85% said they wanted a sounding board (leaders of organizations find it difficult to talk to their team of directors and they can't talk to their shareholders. Therefore, a Coach is the ideal person to take them through any blocks or issues they have surrounding their jobs.)
• 57% said they wanted an independent friend
• 25% said they felt that coaching had increased their income
• most said they used their coach as a Task Master and as a Spiritual Guide
• 98.5% said that their investment, whatever it was, was well worth it!