Coaching Benefits

Benefits of Working with a Life Coach

Clients who work with an experienced, professional Life or Business Coach report many benefits. A study conducted by the International Coach Federation reported what some of the benefits were:

The outcomes that clients most often attribute to their coaching are a higher level of self-awareness and self-confidence, a more balanced life, smarter goal-setting and lower stress levels.

Clients reported experiencing the following outcomes as a result of working with a coach:

Self-awareness: 67.6%
Setting better goals: 62.4%
More balanced life: 60.5%
Lower stress levels: 57.1%
Self-discovery: 52.9%
Self-confidence: 52.4%
Improvement in quality of life: 43.3%
Enhanced communication skills: 39.5%
Project completion: 35.7%
Health or fitness improvement: 33.8%
Better relationship w/ boss, co-workers: 33.3%
Better family relationship(s): 33.3%
Increased energy: 31.9%
More fun: 31.9%
More income: 25.7%
Stopped a bad habit: 25.7%
Change in career: 24.3%
More free time: 22.9%
Increased profitability of business: 17.1%
Other: 15.3%
Started new business: 12.9%
Empowered employees: 11.0%
Business turn around: 09.0%
Change in residential location: 05.7%

In general, the results of coaching most often cited in research studies include:
o Improved performance (both individual and team)
o Enhanced bottom line, including profit, quality, productivity, innovation, and other measures
o Improved customer service and enhanced public perception
o Professional development, including
§ Enhanced goal setting and attainment
§ Increased confidence and empowerment
§ Skills development, especially when coaching and training are combined
§ Leadership development
§ Preparedness for advancement
o Enhanced balance and morale
o Enhanced relationships
o Improved retention of quality employees

Value of The Coaching Investment

A recent study cited in the prestigious Public Personnel Management Journal found a typical management training program increased the manager’s productivity by 22%, but when combined with 8-weeks of intensive Coaching, the manager’s productivity exploded to more than 85%.

A landslide of 98.5% of coaching clients said their investment in a coach was well worth the money.

70% of clients said their investment in a coach was very valuable.
28.5% said their investment was valuable.
1.5% said their investment in a coach had not been valuable.

In 2008, Morgan Executive Development Institute paired with Colorado State University to find, among other things, the Return On Investment (ROI) of coaching.  They found health care executives who had experienced executive coaching reported a ROI of 1031%. (Hutton D. (2010) Impact of executive coaching on ROI. Presented to the Catholic Health Conference, Clearwater, FL.)

In a Metrix Global LLC study for a Fortune 500 firm and Pyramid Resource Group found that “Coaching produced a 529% Return On Investment (ROI) and significant intangible benefits to business.  Including financial benefits from employee retention boosted the overall ROI to 788%.” (Coaching and coach training in the workplace. Industrial and Commercial Training, 36, 2/3, 2004.)

When asked for a conservative estimate of monetary payoff from the coaching they got…managers described an average return of more than $100,000, or about six times what the coaching had cost their companies. (Fortune, February 9, 2001)

Impact On Business

Olivero, Bane, and Kopelman found that management training alone increased productivity by 22%.  When executive coaching was used to supplement the training, productivity increased by 88%. (Executive coaching as a transfer of training tool:  Effects on productivity in a public agency.  Public Personnel Management, Winter, 126, 4, 1997, 461-469)

McGovern, Lindemann, Vergara, Murphy, Baker, and Warrenfeltz found that one hundred execs from Fortune 1000 companies who had received executive coaching reported improvements in the following:

Working relationships with direct reports (reported by 77%)

Working relationships with immediate supervisors (71%)

Teamwork (67%)

Working relationships with peers (63%)

Retention of execs who received coaching (23%)

Cost reductions (23%)

Bottom-line profitability (22%)

(Maximizing the impact of executive coaching: Behavioral change, organizational outcomes, and return on investment.  The Manchester Review, 6.1, 2001)

The objectivity that a coach brings to a developmental opportunity is helpful to mangers seeking to make difficult changes in attitudes, work habits, perspectives and interpersonal relationships (McCauley & Hugh-James; Young & Dixon, 1996.)

According to Personal Decisions International, a Minneapolis-based human resources consulting firm, 70% of the top 1,000 firms worldwide use some form of executive coaching (Source: HR.com, author Ann Vincola, President of a quality of life issues consulting firm, 2000)

“The goal of coaching is the goal of good management: that is – to make the most of an organization’s valuable resources.” — Harvard Business Review