The Benefits of Coaching Within Organisations

Coaching within organisations of individuals or teams is usually conducted by internal coaches (typically HR professionals), Executive Coaches (external to the organisation) and increasingly by line managers as part of their daily routine (Leadership Coaching). A recent survey by the International Coach Federation (ICF, 2014) reported that line managers are now spending (on average in the surveyed sample) up to 20% of their time coaching their direct reports.

In the past, coaching has been viewed as a remediation activity – to correct poor performance, get the employee back on track, or start the dismissal process. The HR professional is certainly the right person to perform these functions. However as the purpose for coaching changes to achieve one or both of these outcomes: (i) coach individuals and teams to peak performance, and (ii) retain talented staff in the succession pipeline, coaching is better conducted by line managers who are intimately aware of how employees are performing, how team members are interacting, and whether people are satisfied and motivated in their positions – more so than by HR professional whose skills cover the entire organisation in various functions.

Let’s face it. The end game is to have staff who want to come to work every day, happy and satisfied that they are doing a good job, and whose manager is happy with their and the team’s performance. The team is achieving its targets on time, on budget, and the “boss” is not giving their manager a hard time! Everyone is productive and contributing meaningfully to the organisation’s goals.

From the organisation’s perspective, they have high performing teams and retain talent into the future. The ICF survey reports that organisations which embrace a coaching culture have had on average a 20% increase in revenue growth above their counterparts in the previous year. That figure cannot be ignored.

Why are organisations offering coaching across the board to all level of employee (and increasingly at the entry level)? Here’s what the survey found:

• Leadership development strategy
• Improve communication skills
• Improve teamwork
• Improve decision-making
• Increase productivity
• Increase employee engagement

Apart from the intangible benefits of coaching, the AIPC has developed a tool to help you discover just how beneficial coaching can be to your organisation, in tangible dollars terms. Contact us if you would like to find out more.