Coaching: does it pay off or not?
Jitka Holt, Holt Communications Inc.International Coaches Meeting in Prague
February 3 – 4, 2011
“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”
-- Albert Einstein
Agenda
• What kind of coaching brings results?• It’s all in the process• To measure or not to measure?• What results do we verify?• How do we verify results?• Designing your process
What kind of coaching?
Source: MetrixGlobal LLC
What am I made of?
What do I need to do?
Who do I want to be?
What do I want to create?
The bigger the agenda, the bigger the impact
Source: MetrixGlobal LLC
The bigger the agenda, the bigger the impact
Source: MetrixGlobal LLC
But how do we measure it?
Or do we?
It’s all in the process
Same old, same old... It’s all in the process: set it right
Verify impact
Same old: ask the right questions
•Build alliances
•Decide: measure or not to measure
•Ask the right questions
Verify impact
To measure or not to measure?
Ask the right questions
For example:• What measurement will be possible? • Who are the measurement data for?• What sort and quality of data can be obtained? • What effects will attempting to measure have on
the coaching work?• What measurement will suffice given
organisational limitations and demands?
Source: Exceptional Executive Coaching, Dagley, 2009
Verification make senseHaving a quantifiable measure of the return on
investment (ROI) from coaching is:
48%
Verification makes sense
12%24%
Important Not now Not
Source: Association for Coaching, 2004
What do you think?
In your experience, how important is it to verify the coaching results?
Same old: start with the end in mind
•Build alliances
•Decide: measure or not to measure
•Ask the right questions
•Engage a sponsor
•Find a good fit between coach and coachee
•Agree on measuring methods and metrics
Verify impact
Overview of quantifiable benefits* (example)
Source: Association for Coaching, 2004
* According to purchasers
Confidence in quantitative measures (in %)
Per
cent
of
clie
nts
Source: Association for Coaching, 2004
Percent confidence
Qualitative benefits (example)*
* According to purchasers
Source: Association for Coaching, 2004
Same old? Make sure you’re on track: measure as you go
•Build alliances
•Decide: measure or not to measure
•Ask the right questions
•Conduct periodic check-ups
•Debrief
Verify impact
•Engage a sponsor
•Find a good fit between coach and coachee
•Agree on measuring methods and metrics
Challenge (individuals):
Source: MetrixGlobal LLC
The impact is in the values, but it’s the behaviours that we measure: authenticity counts.
Challenge (organizations):
Mission
Vision
Values
Organizational goals
BehavioursThe impact is in
the values, but it’s the behaviours that we measure: authenticity counts.
Challenge: how do you know it’s working?What gets measured, gets done, so...
. . .watch out for the Hawthorne effect.
Same old? Measure a bit more
•Build alliances
•Decide: measure or not to measure
•Ask the right questions
•Conduct periodic check-ups
•Debrief
•Interview•Conduct feedback
•Informal•Structured•360•…
Verify impact
•Engage a sponsor
•Find a good fit between coach and coachee
•Agree on measuring methods and metrics
Some verification methods
Percent
Source: Exceptional Executive Coaching, Dagley, 2009
Verifications methods overviewContext(Individual/or-ganizations)
Qualitative/ quantitative outcome
Reliabi-lity
Impact on coaching (Low/Medium/High)
Ease of admini-stration
Feedback Client Individuals/Organizations
Qualitative H H Easy
Peer-to-peer
Organizations Qualitative H HHH Medium
360 Organizations Qualitative/Quantitative
H H Complex
Interview Organizations Qualitative Medium M Easy
Survey Organizations Quantitative M/H L Complex
Formal debrief
Organizations Qualitative M/H May impede Medium
Performan-ce review
Organizations Qualitative/Quantitative
H May impede Medium
ESTIMATE
What do you think? What has been your
experience with using some of the verification methods? (+, Δ, comments)
Return on investment: what is it?
What it is• One way of showing
business value• Feedback about how to
increase value• Important for us to do as
business people
What it is not• A way of replacing intangible
value• A “final grade” about
performance• A defence of last resort to
justify our programs
Source: MetrixGlobal LLC
Return on investment is a way to quantify that you are getting your value for money
ROI: where is it at for individuals?
ROI344%
on avrg
Initial investment
• Just over two thirds indicate they had at least made their money back
• On average: 344%
Source: ICF Global Coaching Client Study, 2009
Initial investment
ROI700%
on avrg
ROI: where is it at for companies?
• The vast majority* had at least made their investment back.
• On average: 700%
* Of those about to provide company ROI
Source: ICF Global Coaching Client Study, 2009
ROI: where is it at for companies?• 19% indicated
an ROI of at least 50 (5000%) times the initial investment
• 28% saw an ROI of 10 to 49 times the investment
Source: ICF Global Coaching Client Study, 2009
ROI is a versatile toolROI level When Data
Estimation Done before program is fully developed or deployed
Previous studies of similar programs
Forecast Done during the pilot phase of the program
Estimation by pilot participants
Post-program Done after the program has completed and learners had a chance to apply what they learned
Estimations, pre-/post metrics, control groups
Source: MetrixGlobal LLC
Isolating the effects of coaching
• Personal interview with each respondent• Causal connection established:
Coaching -> behaviour change -> impact
• Effects of coaching were isolated– Estimate of change due to coaching– Estimate of confidence (error)
Source: MetrixGlobal LLC
Example: personal productivityCaptured in terms of hours saved per week. Respondents noted
how coaching led to behaviour changes and then estimated the hours saved per week from these behaviour changes.
Respondent: “Focused on business priorities... Get more done in shorter time.... Leading more effective meetings.”
Estimated at 3 – 5 hours/week3hrs @ $75/hour x 48 weeks = $10,800$10,000 x 80% (coaching) x 75% (confidence)Net benefit = $6,480
Source: MetrixGlobal LLC
Comic relief
Example: business impact and monetary benefits
Individual conversations revealed that 77% (23 of 30) cited coaching as having significant impact on at least one business area. Sixty percent (18) were able to quantify this impact in monetary terms.
Business impact area
% total citing significant impact
% total identifying $ benefits
$ benefits (discount-ed by estimators
Work output
30 20 $947, 208
Productivi-ty
60 50 277,526
Cost control
3 3 67,200
Employee retention
27 13 660,000
Sales volume
10 10 311,200
Total benefit
$2,263,134
Source: MetrixGlobal LLC
Nortel Networks ROI calculation
The total cost for 43 participants was $255,000, which included all costs for administration, vendor, advisory council and time for clients to be coached.
ROI = [(Payback - Investment)/Investment)] x 100
$2,263K - $255K $255K
x 100% = 788%
Source: MetrixGlobal LLC
Quite new: keep on going
•Build alliances
•Decide: measure or not to measure
•Ask the right questions
•Engage a sponsor
•Find a good fit between coach and coachee
•Agree on measuring methods and metrics
•Conduct periodic check-ups
•Debrief
•Interview•Conduct feedback
•Informal•Structured•360•…
•Agree on ongoing feedback process with client
Verify impact
Ongoing feedback, a way to continue coaching• “... it’s not about the
coach, it’s about the people, a good leader is the least visible – for feedback/effectiveness, ask around!”
Source: Ask, Learn, Marshall Goldsmith, 1997
How to build your case: unsolicited advice
How to build your case: unsolicited advice• Before you start, agree on a verification process unique
to each engagement• In organizations,
• Engage the sponsoring leader• Set responsibilities for reporting• Offer clients the ability to select their coaches
• Manage the entire coaching process on an ongoing basis to ensure consistency and quality
• Trust is a two-way street: allow each coaching relationship to follow its own path
• Open up dialogue to learn from the coaching experience
What do you think? • How will you build
your case for your next engagement?
• What process will you propose to verify the results?
For more information contact Jitka Holt at:• E-mail: [email protected]
• Web: www.holtcommunications.ca• Skype: jitkainvancouver
• Tel: +1.604.724.4597