Coaching is a worthwhile investment!

Fortune magazine has a great article on the value and importance of investing in your professionals in order to optimize their performance and effectiveness.  Turnover is expensive...investing in your staff for continuous growth and improvement  is the way to go!

The article focuses on the value of coaching and includes some tips on hiring a coach for success.  This article mentions that some companies find it hard  to measure the effectiveness of coaching. This is important. 

An approach I use that provides for a clear and formal document that includes all of the components of "strategic planning" such as: mission, goals, action steps, timelines, measurements, outcomes and resources needed.  Follow-through to this individual coaching plan is critical for the coaching experience to be effective and sustained over time.

Many changes are such that you see the positive impact fairly quickly. To be effective there needs to be a commitment by those that are working with the individual in coaching, especially their superior who is evaluating their performance.

Fortune magazine highlighted: "Four Ways to Make Your Coaching Experience a Success".
 

Find the right match - a good coach is someone you can relate to, someone that has the practical experience to truly assist you through your challenges; carefully assess the professional background of any coach to be sure they are well prepared to guide others through challenges because of their experience and proven record. 

 

Be aware of your company's expectations - as a coach, I  ensure we have this information at the very early stages of the engagement.  All need to be on the same page.  So, all supervisory personnel should share their expectations and outcomes to help the professional keep focused;

 

Make sure you get what you pay for-  be sure you get the practical application skills you need to address your challenges; "knowing" about yourself through an assessment isn't good enough, a coach needs to help you with skills to develop that are practical and consistent with your personality overall;

 

The Coach needs to see you in action (or by other means, fully understand how others perceive you) - depending on the areas to be working through, there may be times when the Coach should attend meetings with you or some how in some other way "see you in action".  When your co workers see that you are working toward professional development, they tend to respect you that much more;  Co workers tend to view coaching as the company investing in the employee because they are valuable and promotable.  It impresses others to know you are working to be at the"top of your game".  

 

In the past when I was called to "Coach" a professional, it typically was due to performance problems and such coaching was the "last chance" for the person to hold on to their employment.  NOW....most of my Coaching tends to be for  continuous improvement for those highly valued professionals.

Many of the skills that are worked on with clients relate to interpersonal skills, "soft skills", communication style, organization/time management, approaches to managing people, performance management, conducting effective collaborative meetings and conflict resolution.  As a Coach, I take a practical approach with my clients.  While formal assessments have value, I find an approach that is practical and application based produces the results and changes that are sustainable over time.

"Hiring a Coach is an investment in people who we see as very solid performers" as stated by Judy Wade, executive talent director, Wellpoint