Why Coaching?

Executive coaching emerged from the 1980’s as the best path to excellence in executive leadership. Time magazine pointed out a lack of leadership in American business and Esquire magazine illustrated the need for people to pursue a mastery of their discipline. Psychologists who focused on how to come to terms with the past, were abandoned for executive coaches who focused on how to reach the best possible future.

Coaching of course is not new; it was Aaron who coached his brother Moses on effective leadership strategies; Sun Tzu in The Art of War who spoke of the cornerstones of mastery and leadership and coached his retainers on the effective application of such; Marcus Aurelius opened his Meditations by describing all that he had learned from others; and the list goes on. In modern times, the top one percent of all achievers, such as professional athletes, movie stars, corporate executives, CEOs, presidents and prime ministers, elite military operatives, network marketers, and small-medium enterprise owners had additional personal coaching to get to where they are today and maintain coaches for future successes.

Coaching is important because:

• The need for innovation is endless.
• The environment is in a state of constant flux, and leaders have to adapt to and initiate change in order to hit a constantly moving target.
• New leaders are adept managers but are now working in a new environment. What worked then won’t help now.
• Experienced leaders have developed a way that works for them, but often find themselves in a new environment that requires adaptation or they will fail.  The problem with experience is that without new thinking, we just repeat the actions we’ve already taken, which will lead to the same outcomes.
• High turnover is a symptom of bad leadership. Organizations tend to seek out high performers instead of growing them from within. Dissatisfied workers are low performing workers and need strong leadership for individual, project, division, or organizational success.
• Problem with government, education or large bureaucracies is that people are not freshly meeting each moment but have been dulled by repetition. Also there is no incentive to step out of the job description and only potential punishment for showing initiative. Employees need competent leadership.

The return on the investment into coaching has been quantified by the Right Consulting Group as approximately 5-6 times the initial investment, based on an average investment of $15,000 for a professional coach. Those who were coached themselves have reported an average of 25% improvement in their personal skill sets. They went on to say that the amount of improvement in the below categories were as follows:

• Productivity 53%
• Quality 48%
• Organizational Strength 48%
• Customer Service 39%
• Reduced Complaints 34%
• Own Retention 32%
• Cost Reductions 23%
• Bottom-Line Profitability 22%
• Top-Line Revenue 14%
• Reduced Turnover 12%
• Other Business 7%
• Improved Relationship: Reports 77%
• Improved Relationship: Stakeholder 71%
• Improved Teamwork 67%
• Improved Relationship: Peers 63%
• Improved Job Satisfaction 61%
• Reduced Conflict 52%
• Increased Organizational Commitment 44%
• Improved Relationship: Clients 37%
• Other Intangibles 31%

Coaching not only has a calculable ROI and adds value; it takes those being coached to the next level and beyond. It is, and has always been what is needed to become a one-percenter.

Leadership Coaching-personal development, interpersonal communication mastery, negotiations & conflict resolution, executive presence, data analysis, strategy & execution.

Transition Coaching-locating & landing a new job.

Political Coaching-campaign craft, the build-up, policy analysis & strategy.

Entrepreneurial Coaching- asset protection, strategy development, change management, process improvement, turnaround strategies, & niche market development.

Leadership Coaching-personal development, interpersonal communication mastery, negotiations & conflict resolution, executive presence, data analysis, strategy & execution.

Transition Coaching-locating & landing a new job.

Political Coaching-campaign craft, the build-up, policy analysis & strategy.

Entrepreneurial Coaching- asset protection, strategy development, change management, process improvement, turnaround strategies, & niche market development.