What does executive coaching cost? Why coach? What's the return for investing valuable time in coaching? Every organization has its own approach to performance management and coaching. But all models view coaching as interactive. When you coach, you listen actively, ask questions, share views, and negotiate solutions. You give and receive feedback. Coaching helps individuals grow as professionals and contribute fully to the success of an organization. Done well, it can turn performance management into a collaborative process that benefits everyone. Coaching focuses on what needs improvement and what's going well. The overall goal is to help people become more effective. You coach individuals to help them overcome personal obstacles, maximize individual strengths, and reach their full potential. In today's environment of changing technology and evolving organizations, coaching can have a strategic impact. It provides continuous learning and develops people to meet current and future needs. Coaching is an investment that you make in developing your key resource people for the long-term benefit of your organization. Due to the need for leadership development, increased management productivity and succession planning, companies are focusing more closely on building the capability of managers and executives through coaching and mentoring programs. About 6 out of 10 (59%) organizations currently offer coaching or other developmental counseling to their managers and executives, according to a nationwide survey of more than 300 companies by Manchester, a human capital consulting firm. Another 20% of organizations said they plan to offer such coaching within the next year. Here's why: Most organizations need to improve productivity to fuel growth and profitability. Productivity doesn't happen when people are only focusing on the financial or technical issues. They also must build the capability of managers to help their employees with the intangible elements of human interaction---because the work gets done through personal relationships. The key to ROI is developing and sustaining individual and group behaviors through personal relationships to achieve the desired business results. Executive coaching builds the organizational capability to get this done. Since it's becoming harder to train and keep effective employees, it is clear that companies are interested in providing executive coaching to managers who are able to improve productivity by energizing, exciting and coaching their direct reports. What does executive coaching really cost? Typical executive coaching programs are a mix of both change-oriented coaching (changing certain behaviors or skills) and growth-oriented coaching (focused on sharpening performance). Executive coaching programs typically last from 6 months to one year. The cost of a year of executive coaching generally costs a company between $6,000 and $30,000 which usually includes one or more personal assessments and weekly telephone or office visit coaching sessions. Some executives decide to personally contract with a coach to achieve their professional or personal goals. Signature, Inc. offers individual executive coaching programs targeted to the client's needs within budget limitations. Click here for more information on coaching fees or email us to communicate what interests you in a coaching relationship. Receive our Free Podcast: http://coachingtip.blogs.com/coaching_tip/rss.xml or get Free Monthly Coaching Tips! by entering your name and email address below: Enter Your Name: Enter Your Email: Search our website by keyword(s). For typical coaching plans and terms of service, click here. How do you know you need a coach? Coaching Return on Investment Survey A survey of 100 executives, mostly from Fortune 1000 companies, by Manchester, Inc. concludes that a company's investment in providing coaching to its executives realized an average return on investment (ROI) of almost six times the cost of the coaching. Corporate benefits received: - delivered an average ROI of 5.7 times the initial investment (a return of more than $100,000) -executive productivity improvements (reported by 53% of executives) -organizational strength (48%) -quality (48%) -customer service (39%) -retaining executives who received coaching (32%) Personal benefits to the coached executive: -direct report and supervisor relationship improvements (greater than 70%) -teamwork (67%) -working relationships with peers (63%) -job satisfaction (52%) Finding a Coach As people seek better lives for themselves, either personally or professionally, or both, they're more likely to find outside help to get them there: a professional coach. With coaching all around, we wouldn't blame you for wondering, Is it time for me to get a coach? Here are some FAQs with answers before you jump into a coaching relationship: 1. Who are these people? There are an estimated 20,000 coaches around the globe. You can check out some personal and business coaching websites at the Coach to Coach Network at www.Coach2Coach.info. Although coaching certificates are good things to look for, the most important credential a coach needs is your trust to help you get to that place of self-awareness. 2. What kind of coach is right for me? Executive coaches, who typically work with executives in large firms and business owners in small companies, are brought in as (mostly) agenda-free surrogate mentors. That's become especially important in this mobile age when it's rare to find a lifelong veteran available to offer support and guidance. Life coaches, on the other hand, are brought in to help people reorder their life to get to where they want to be. Making hard choices about what's important and paying attention to your intentions requires being listened to by a supportive, brainstorming and independent viewpoint. 3. Who needs a coach? People seek out coaches for an infinite variety of reasons, but there are two typical coachees: people navigating some significant transition in their life or career and those who have some inkling that their leadership style or personality is holding them back. FORTUNE magazine reported that one reader said, "I went into the coaching experience kicking and screaming, at the insistence of my then-boss. And what an eye-opener it turned out to be. I won't even go into the grim details of bad management habits I had unthinkingly developed in my 14-year career up to that point--but I will say that since I was 'cured' by 12 weeks of pretty intense coaching, I've been promoted three times." 4. What does coaching cost? Executive coaching engagements typically cost upward of $10,000 per person over a set period of time and include a few face-to-face meetings followed by email and telephone discussions. To help develop executives internally, rather than look for outsiders, companies are often more happy to foot the bill to fix dysfunctional leaders. For the return on investment (ROI) of executive coaching, click here. Some enterprising fast-trackers can and do shell out for their own advancement. As the price slides downward, though, the buyer should beware. 5. What should you expect? Coaching is not a substitute for therapy and it's not business strategy. The clients do the heavy lifting. The coach guides the person being coached by asking the right questions. The client has to figure out what behavior needs to change and how best to change it. 6. Does coaching work? People seeking coaching are self-selecting, so the answer is yes. However, it is best to maintain a guarded edge during the coach selection process to make a good match between what you want out of the coaching experience and the person who can guide you throughout the coaching process. For why many small business owners resist being coached, click here. Source: Are You Being Coached? FAST COMPANY, February 2005 Receive our Podcast: http://coachingtip.blogs.com/coaching_tip/rss.xml or get Free Monthly Coaching Tips! by entering your name and email address below: Enter Your Name: Enter Your Email: Where do you want to be? What's the biggest challenge you have? Are you doing today what you do best? Check out what executive coaching plan would work best for you--click here for coaching cost and plan options. Are you ready to strategically use your signature talents to succeed in only doing powerful and interesting work...while living a fulfilling personal life? If so, a coaching experience can help you learn proven methods that have worked well for our executive clients. These successful executives have used the same techniques to rapidly build six figure plus salaries by breaking through the glass ceiling---on their own terms. If you are committed to what you want to do, let's have a conversation about getting there. If your company does not provide executive coaching, consider contracting with an executive coach yourself. We would be pleased to provide you a quotation based upon an understanding of what you seek in a coaching relationship....after a free half-hour telephone consultation. Just email us to schedule a convenient time to talk. Learn more about John Agno, certified executive & business coach. Call now 734.426.2000 (US Eastern Time Zone) or email johnagno@signatureseries.com to arrange for a free consultation to discuss where you are heading.   back to home page