Articles

"The goal of coaching is the goal of good management: to make the most of an organization's valuable resources."
- Harvard Business Review

Co-Active Coaching in the Corporate Environment

Coaching skills training is the single most powerful way to train managers and leaders in the fundamental competencies proven in research to impact high performance. The Coaches Training Institute (CTI) has provided Co-Active Coaching training to business leaders in a host of companies including IBM, Marriott International, Herman Miller, Boeing, The Walt Disney Company and the EPA.

The Difference Between Coaching, Managing, Consulting & Training
Coaching, managing, consulting and training - all related, sometimes overlapping - and at their foundation, distinct in their focus of attention.

A professional coach's primary attention is to tap into the client's own vision, wisdom and directed action in service of the client's self-identified agenda. The client applies himself/herself to his/her whole life usually including their professional endeavors.

A manager's primary attention is to achieve specific organizational results through their direct reports. To that end, they may direct and/or develop those direct reports through performance feedback and may use coaching skills.

A consultant's primary attention is to achieving organizational results (often large systems change) through the application of specific expertise. They may or may not also be charged with transferring knowledge or a skillset to their client.

A training and development professional's primary attention is the successful transfer of specific information or skills to their clients. Again, a trainer may well use a co-active approach and coaching skills.

"People mix up coaching, mentoring and consulting... The differences?... a mentor has the same business experience as the client. A consultant tells clients how to be more effective. And a coach works with the client to reveal and build on his or her strengths, improve performance and enhance quality of life... Coaches look at the business side and, at the same time, look to see whether [clients] are working too many hours, examine their time-management effectiveness, their fitness and their life relationships."
- CIO Magazine

Role of Emotional Competencies

Daniel Goleman, the pioneering author of Emotional Intelligence, researched competency models from 181 different positions drawn from 121 companies and discovered that 67 percent of the competencies deemed essential for effective performance were "emotional" competencies. In a later study by Hay Group, emotional competencies were once again found to be twice as important in contributing to excellence as pure intellect and expertise. As a result of these and other pioneering research Goleman extracted 25 key emotional intelligence competencies that are proven in research to be most important to job performance.

Emotional competencies are best impacted and honed through experiential training. They are by definition not "analytical" and therefore can not be taught through traditional didactic instruction methods. Rigorous experiential training to develop emotional intelligence competencies in the context of coach training was pioneered by CTI 10 years ago. Its Co-Active Coaching model is particularly suited for use by managers and leaders in organizations interested in empowering employee initiative and creativity. Of the 25 Emotional Intelligence Competencies identified by Daniel Goleman, fully 19 are either highly or moderately impacted by CTI's in-depth experiential coach training.

The table on page 13 illustrates the impact of CTI's coach training on the key emotional intelligence competencies proven to be fundamental to management and leadership effectiveness. A 360 degree feedback instrument on these competencies developed by Goleman is available through Hay Group to be administered before and after employee participation in CTI's workshops.

"Across corporate America, coaching sessions at many companies have become as routine for executives as budget forecasts and quota meetings."
- Investor's Business Daily

Coach Training Impact on the Organization

Coach training impacts not only the person being trained, but also the employees in the company receiving coaching from that individual. While no study has measured the impact of internal coaching, the impact of external executive coaching would provide some directional evidence. Research from Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management shows that the impact of coaching-like training can last seven years. Manchester Inc. recently released the results of a study that quantifies the business impact of external executive coaching. The study included 100 executives, mostly from Fortune 1000 companies. Companies that provided coaching to their executives realized improvements in productivity, quality, organizational strength, customer service, and shareholder value. They received fewer customer complaints, and were more likely to retain executives who had been coached.

In addition, a company's investment in providing coaching to its executives realized an average return on investment (ROI) of almost six times the cost of the coaching.

Among the benefits to companies that provided coaching to executives were improvements in:

• Productivity (reported by 53% of executives)
• Quality (48%)
• Organizational strength (48%)
• Customer service (39%)
• Reducing customer complaints (34%)
• Retaining executives who received coaching (32%)
• Cost reductions (23%)
• Bottom-line profitability (22%)

Among the benefits to executives who received coaching were improved:

• Working relationships with direct reports (reported by 77% of executives)
• Working relationships with immediate supervisors (71%)
• Teamwork (67%)
• Working relationships with peers (63%)
• Job satisfaction (61%)
• Conflict reduction (52%)
• Organizational commitment (44%)
• Working relationships with clients (37%)