Coaching ROI: Approach is Everything
Coaching, like leadership, is one of the most highly ‘Googled’ terms today. It wasn’t long ago that coaching was perceived as something poor performers received as a last ditch effort to improve before they were shown the door. Nowadays everybody wants a coach. I could have told you this day would come, but I have to admit that reading this recent Forbes article alerted me to the fact that the day is here!
It’s not surprising that the status of those being coached is rising. As this article points out, companies are attaching a return on their coaching investment. What concerns me is a clear lack of approach to coaching. Most organizations don’t know what to look for in a coach or in an approach. To get a true ROI for your coaching investment, the coach must use an approach based on the science of behavior. This type of coaching focuses on the critical things that people must do to be successful and therefore a true ROI can be established.
Behavioral coaching builds fluency in analyzing performance issues and therefore equips the person being coached with the tools they need to objectively define and evaluate their expectations, provide timely feedback, and use positive reinforcement to shape the behaviors needed from others. For organizations investing in coaching, it is to their benefit to take a behavioral approach. A science-based coaching approach is ideal for organizations that are looking to:
- motivate their workforce
- retain their best performers
- improve teamwork and employee engagement
- reduce variability in how work is done
- clarify performance expectations
- increase performance standards
The result will be employees spending more time doing what it takes to achieve and sustain your business goals.
