Companies are investing in coaching in an effort to develop a new generation of leaders to replace retiring Baby Boomers. The ones that use it most effectively develop specific performance goals, financial measurements or other tools to determine what they want the end result of their coaching program to be.
These findings are reported in a major study of business coaching published in June by the American Management Association (AMA) in conjunction with the Institute for Corporate Productivity, an HR industry researcher.
For the study, the AMA and i4CP surveyed CEOs, HR managers and other corporate executives at 1,030 U.S. and international companies across multiple industries. Approximately 41 percent of the participants had 1,000 or more employees, and about 42 percent reported annual revenue of $500 million or more.
Among the major findings:
Business coaching is more popular than ever, boosted by companies struggling to develop a new generation of leaders to replace retiring Baby Boomers, and due to a proliferation of business coaches and coaching training programs. Of U.S. companies surveyed, 52 percent said they had business coaching programs in place, and another 37 percent said they would be implementing coaching programs in the future.
Companies use coaches to work with executives, high-potential employees, problem managers and expatriates headed to overseas assignments.
Companies that use formal metrics to measure performance of coaching programs are most likely to report that those endeavors are successful.
Once the results were in, the extent to which companies are using business coaches surprised even Ed Reilly, AMA’s president and CEO. According to Reilly, AMA’s executive management decided the time was right for a formal survey of coaching after noticing a surge in interest in books and seminar registrations on the subject.
Reilly says that prior to the survey, he didn’t realize how the coaching field had evolved over the past five to seven years to become an investment in star performers. "When you stop and reflect on it, it makes sense," he says.
The impending talent shortage is also driving more companies to use coaches, Reilly says. "For competitive purposes, everybody inside your company needs to be honed and capable," he says.
Source: The Boon in Business Coaching, Workforce Management, www.workforce.com