COACHING
Karen Smalls
MBA, MAL, Doctoral Candidate of Psychology HuMax Consulting Group Ltd, LLC Organization Leadership Development/Strategic Management, Executive Consultant
Over many years, Bernard has helped numerous executive leaders on varied levels develop their full potential. In the average organization the question is often where can the executive go for advancement and development? Bernard uses his skill with precision to focus his attention on the individual, bringing out the very best in people. His ability to assess the need and proceed with wisdom to develop a strategy to meet the objective is amazing. He brings out the hidden jewels within individuals.
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-Karen Smalls
Bernard Smalls BA.Th
Situational Leadership trainer, Corporate trainer and consulting affiliate with the Ken Blanchard Companies. Certified DiSC personality trainer, Predictive Index Analyst and an AVA (Activity Vector Analysis) Personality Analyst.
“Good executive coaching is very effective because it is personal, behavior-oriented and targeted to the individual.”
– Bernard Smalls
Why Executive Coaching?
The top three motivators cited for obtaining executive coaching are:
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Self-confidence
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Work/life balance
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Career opportunities
Some questions you might have are. What might I learn from a Coach? How can having an Executive Coach help me navigate through the maze of business and people quicker, faster, smarter?
What is Executive Coaching? Is Coaching a waste of money?
Executive Coaching is…
…not a waste of money if the coachee is willing to change.
It’s all about change. It will require you to modify some of your approaches, behaviors, etc. It will require you to read and think from different vantage points between sessions. It’s about action because simply put: Knowledge isn’t power; applied knowledge is power.
…about increasing your own personal power (in the right way) to solve deep-seated business issues and challenges that are under your influence.
…not the same as therapy. Taking deep dives into your past to understand why you are who you are isn’t the focus. The focus is to create a Leadership Path of Progress for yourself that will allow you to achieve your future goals sooner vs. later
…providing yourself an enriching opportunity to learn and grow in areas that affect overall business performance (decision-making, innovation, team performance, negotiation, leading change, setting standards, strategic focus, and clarity, etc.).
In short, Executive Coaching is about bottom-line business results.
COST
Even though coaching can be a costly investment, it is a good value compared to other leadership development options. “Coaching is an ongoing relationship,” as opposed to a two-week class where participants are supposed to emerge magically transformed. Coaching is most effective for executives who are preparing for a promotion, who is moving into a new role, or who have hit a wall in their development.
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You’ve probably asked, “What if we invest a bunch of money into training our people and they leave?” and the response that follows is, “What if we don’t, and they stay?” It can pay a company rich dividends to have an Executive Coach on their sidelines.
Your company sets prices for products and services, and there’s a lot of thought about what goes into your pricing formula(s). Why should an Executive Coach be any different? If you get the logic about working with a Coach, then you will recognize that “A Coach just costs too much” is nothing but an excuse. Considering the ROI for effective coaching is a must.
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If you believe the old adage ‘Time is money, then time costs you and your company money. Therefore, maximizing that time and using it in the right way matters. Most executives don’t need to work on their literal area of business expertise (although continuous learning is important), but what many fail to recognize is that leadership, too, is a skill. The minute you became a leader, everything shifted. At that moment, you didn’t just have to do the tasks you’ve always done; now you had to also lead people to do what they do best, every single day. If you believe that ‘time is money,’ then leadership should be taken seriously...
Executive Coaching Reflective Questions:
Coaching is also about helping you uncover your blind spots and helping you move past them as avenues for increasing your effectiveness. It’s about the truth around direct observations; it’s about keen insights and alternative perspectives.
Do you need coaching? Here are some questions to help you come to a conclusion.
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How might Executive Coaching help me be more efficient? (And the higher-level leadership question here is, how might it help me be more effective?)
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What might a stronger sense of discipline teach me, and what difference might that make relative to desired outcomes for the company?
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If I could control my calendar vs. it controlling me, what difference might that make to me and to those around me?
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How might I focus my words, my thoughts, and my facilitation of meetings?
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Might I be ‘successful’ in my own mind because I’m setting the bar too low?
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What am I afraid of finding out if I work with an Executive Coach?
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In what ways must I test myself?
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What questions do I need to ask myself that I’m not asking?
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What’s the truth about my leadership influence?
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What is my leadership teaching the people around me?
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When might I be pointing my finger at something or someone else, vs. myself
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What formal attention have I ever given to developing the skill of leadership?
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Have I ever really tested my own leadership effectiveness?
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These questions and more are answered in our executive coaching sessions.
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The ROI of executive coaching
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A Fortune 500 company wanted to study the ROI of Executive Coaching. They found that 77% of respondents indicated that coaching had a significant impact on at least one of nine business measures. In addition, they uncovered that overall productivity and employee satisfaction were the most positively impacted areas (which in turn has an impact on customer satisfaction, employee engagement, quality, annualized financial results, and more). In all, their study concluded that Executive Coaching produced a 788% ROI. The study noted that excluding the benefits from employee retention, a 529% ROI was produced. (Executive Briefing: Case Study on the ROI of Executive Coaching, Merrill C. Anderson, Ph.D., MetrixGlobal, LLC)
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Manchester, Inc. surveyed 100 executives, most of which were from Fortune 1000 companies. Their research showed that a company’s investment in Executive Coaching realized an average ROI of almost six times the cost of the coaching. (Maximizing the Impact of Executive Coaching, The Manchester Review, 2001, Volume 6, Number 1, Joy McGovern, et.al.)
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According to the International Coaching Federation (ICF), 86% of organizations saw an ROI on their Coaching engagements, and 96% of those who had an Executive Coach said they would repeat the process again. Behind these results were tangible as well as intangible factors. Tangible factors were areas such as increased productivity, higher levels of overall employee performance, reduced costs, growth in revenue and sales, higher employee retention, and higher engagement of employees. Intangible factors were increased confidence of those being coached, improved communication, stronger employee, and peer-to-peer, and key stakeholder relationships.
Other studies indicate positive ROIs as well:
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Improved executive productivity (reported by 53% of executives)
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Enhanced direct report/supervisor relationships (70%)
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Improved teamwork (67%)
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Improved peer-to-peer working relationships (63%)
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Great job satisfaction (52%)
Of course, the ROI of Executive Coaching depends on the expressed desired outcomes for each engagement, the Coachee’s willingness to receive information s/he may not want to hear, and the Coachee’s own desire to put in the hard work to consider thinking (and then leading) differently.
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A few other improvements include:
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Improvements in organizational strengths
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Gains in customer service
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Increased retention of executives
As an Executive Coach, I’ve had the opportunity to see Coaching as a powerful way to expedite a leader’s ability to impact business results. It is impactful because of the awareness it creates on the part of the Coachee, the alignment in thinking it opens for the Coachee, and its bias for action (results orientation).
More Benefits of Coaching
Coaching is often for the edification of a particular leader yet it results in:
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increased sales
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new accounts
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decreased absenteeism
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improved productivity
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reduced workplace drama
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better work/life balance
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improved employee engagement