Return on investment

Are you spending your learning and development dollar wisely? At Leadership Evolution we know that Executive Coaching has the same duty to show a return on investment as any other services you buy, so we recommend a valid and reliable ROI process be built in to any significant coaching project we undertake.

Research that demonstrates coaching is a strong model for learning and development is mounting. For example:

“Training produced a 22% increase in productivity. When training was combined with coaching, productivity increased by 88%” - International Personnel Management Association LAAABS Study 2000.

“Executive coaching yielded a return on investment of almost six times its costs” - Study of 100 executives, mostly from Fortune 1000 companies, conducted by Manchester Inc, Florida, USA 2000.

Correctly targeted, executive coaching services directly address development and leadership potential in your organisation. Other alternatives such as group training will always be ‘hit and miss’ to some degree, whether you run a class in-house or send people to attend off-site. Because of its focus and immediate benefits, not to mention the sustainable changes that take place, executive coaching can be an extraordinarily effective use of your training budget.

Leadership Evolution will tailor a valid and reliable measure of return on investment for any executive coaching project we undertake. We identify the benefits of coaching through a range of before and after measures, such as 360 degree feedback, questionnaires and other assessments. You will get the hard evidence that we have seen with our clients over and over again – that executive coaching WORKS!

ROI = Benefits – costs x 100
costs


  
Opportunities to maximise return on investment for executive coaching services include:

  • Triangulation between the coach, coachee, and their manager, to establish the objectives and outcomes for the coaching program.
  • Setting up the context with immediate line and functional managers so that coachees can also receive internal support and encouragement in their endeavours.
  • Regular review points with objective and subjective measures of progress.
  • End-to-end management of the coaching process for quality and consistency.

However, don’t just take our word for it! More and more hard evidence is being produced on how superior return on investment can be achieved through executive coaching, and how data can be objectively collected to make the ROI calculation.

For example, a coaching scorecard methodology allows data to be collected scientifically and objectively (Leedham 2005). This research shows that, based on factual data gathered in practice in business corporations, scorecards like this can not only prove that executive coaching services deliver results, but also that it can be further used to improve future coaching sessions as well. That means we can continually improve the coaching practice in response to data and feedback.

There is also good evidence to show how ROI can be determined by assessing before and after coaching how the participants manage their mental, emotional and work capabilities (Laske 2004). This kind of repeatable, effective coaching process (as explained in the evidence based coaching section) is shown to produce not one, but two returns – both at a behavioural and at a developmental level. ROI is shown to be positive and consequent.

You can find out more about the specific return on investment for your organisation by contacting Leadership Evolution on 0400 340 171 and discussing how an ROI process can be integrated to your coaching projects. As a psychologist, Alison Jardie is well versed in a range of data and metrics to ensure a robust assessment of the value of coaching to you.

References cited above:

  • Laske, O 2004, Can Evidence Based Coaching Increase ROI?, International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring Vol 2 No 2. Available from: <http://www.business.brookes.ac.uk/research/areas/coaching&mentoring/volume/vol-2-2-laske.pdf > [27 Feb 2009]
  • Leedham, M 2005, The Coaching Scorecard: a holistic approach to evaluating the benefits of business coaching, International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring Vol 3 No 2. Available from: <http://www.business.brookes.ac.uk/research/areas/coaching&mentoring/volume/vol-3-2-leedham.pdf > [27 Feb 2009]