Impact on Business

A special report, based on the 2011 Sherpa Executive Coaching Survey

Is coaching worth what people pay for it? HR professionals see the value of coaching as high, but they usually don’t measure value in a formal way. In our annual Sherpa Executive Coaching Survey, we have asked about return on investment for six years, and keep getting the same answer. People don’t know how to calculate it, or they simply don’t care to do so.

The number of people who say ‘we have no formal process for measuring the value of coaching’ is at an all time high. Only twenty percent of finance and operations people said they had a process. Surprisingly, among HR and training professionals, coaching clients and purchasers of coaching services,  less than ten percent cite a formal process for calculating ROI. Larger companies don’t measure ROI any more often than small firms.

Rather than ROI, Sherpa Coaching is driving a trend to measure coaching for its IOB (Impact on Business).   Divide professional activity into two realms: Skills and behavior.

Skills include professional and technical ability, experience and knowledge.

Behavior includes communication, motivation and leadership.

A leader needs both to get great results. No matter how competent a leader may be, bad behavior on their part cancels any respect they may earn for their technical ability.

A charming and persuasive leader with no real knowledge in their field will find it impossible to make good decisions and get things done.

Positive skills along with positive behavior produce a positive impact on business (IOB)®. 

Coaching produces positive changes in behavior, which can be measured. Positive changes in behavior always improve an individual’s impact on business. That’s why anecdotal evidence is the most widely used way to see what benefits coaching produces.

When people understand what coaching is meant to do, and how that goal aligns perfectly with all their other goals, executive coaching is more welcomed and encouraged.