In case you have doubts about how effective coaching is, research by Bersin & Associates found that organizations with a coaching culture fare better than those without. Those with good support for coaching saw employee results that were 17.6 per cent higher than organizations with weak or no support; and organizations with excellent support for coaching had results that were 18.5 per cent higher than those with good support (and 39.3 per cent better than those with no or weak support).
Stacia Garr, a senior analyst with Bersin, writes on the company blog that there are three key elements to create a coaching culture:
Senior leaders: They must be engaged in coaching themselves, and create accountability about coaching so that it’s widespread in the company. “Organizations with senior leaders who ‘very frequently’ coach have 21 per cent better business results than those that do not. Yet, only 11 per cent of leaders very frequently coach their employees,” she reports.
Managers: It’s not enough simply to have senior level support. Managers must understand how to coach. They must prepare themselves for coaching, engage in coaching behaviours themselves, and support coaching on an ongoing basis.
Human resources: This department must create an environment that supports coaching, teaches coaching to managers, and measures coaching effectiveness.
She concludes: Organizations must move from thinking about coaching to actually doing it.
