Many studies have been conducted in the short history of the coaching profession. I have picked out a few from which I hope coaching's effectiveness and benefits will become apparent.

Benefits of Coaching

The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) found in a survey conducted in 2004 that:

• 79% of respondents now use coaching in their organisations
• 77% have increased their use of coaching in the last few years

This adds credence to the International Coach Federation’s survey of 4,000 companies found that the benefits of coaching included:

• Improved individual performance
• Improved profit
• Improved client service and competitiveness
• Development of people for next level
• Improved management / staff relationships and
• Improved retention

Those organisations surveyed by CIPD in 2004 found that those organizations that use coaching experience the following benefits:

% Respondents who Agreed

Coaching can deliver tangible benefits to both individuals and organisations 99%
Coaching is an effective way to promote learning in organisations 96%
oaching and mentoring are key mechanisms for transferring learning from training back into the workplace 93%
When coaching is managed effectively it can have a positive impact on the organisation’s bottom line 93%

Drivers of coaching’s rising popularity

These include such factors as:The rapidly evolving business environment and the need to accelerate changeCoaching supports learning and development activities Senior managers are demanding targeted, individualised, just-in-time development routes The high cost of poor performance at senior management and executive levelA requirement for improved decision-making at a senior levelThe need to retain key senior people in an environment of rapid mobilityThe need to create a culture of high performance The constant drive for improved results.

Coaching’s return on investment

Manchester Consulting Inc has conducted a major research project to quantify the business impact of executive coaching. In a study of 100 executives who had completed a coaching programme between 1996 and 2000, they found that the estimated return on investment was 5.7 times the initial outlay.

The Model we use

Research in the private and public sectors in both the United Kingdom and the United States respectively has shown (and your experience probably bears this out) that, at best, training on its own, has a 22,4% impact on performance and productivity and that this typically soon tails back to previous levels of performance. However, when personal coaching is provided over a period of time (say 3 to 6 months), that improvement can go as high as 88% and is self-sustaining. The reason for this is that the coaching process inculcates a style of thinking that raises the quality of problem solving and decision-making, and enables participants to start "self-coaching". Consequently, in virtually all aspects of our work, we use a model that is a marriage of group action learning (focusing on skill building) and coaching, which focuses on implementation and achievement of goals specific to the individual.

Coaching is the “kicker”

Why we are so different

• We do not merely apply one of our ‘boxed’ products in order to attempt to solve our clients’ challenges. Rather, we treat each client’s challenge on its merits and provide our clients with a solution that best serves their needs
• We help our clients make it happen – we do not merely facilitate with the creation of the solution or plan for our clients; we also assist, through coaching, with the effective implementation of the solution or plan.

We make use of a unique, highly effective model

Let us measure the return on your investment

We help our clients measure their return on investments. It is imperative that you should have clear understanding of what you are getting for your investment. Our proposals therefore normally contain a suggestion as to how your return will be measured in termsof:

• satisfaction
• learning
• behaviour change
• performance
• and results