Don’t Have an Executive Coach Working with Your Organization? You Should, Because Your Competition Does

Executive coaches are more in demand than ever before. In a recent blog post from the International Coach Federation, the following numbers were cited:

“According to the 2013 Executive Coaching Survey . . . 34 percent of CEOs and 51 percent of senior executives receive coaching. Meanwhile, according to Building a Coaching Culture, ICF and the Human Capital Institute’s (HCI) 2014 study of coaching in organizations, 43 percent of respondents reported that their organizations employed internal coaches and 60 percent said coaching was available to their high-potential employees.”

There are major implications for the prevalence of coaching in the private sector.  Corporations are increasingly discovering that investing in executive coaching pays out major dividends in the long term. An investment in an executive coach is an investment in your organization’s human capital. Helping employees feel empowered and fulfilled in their careers doesn’t just make for a better work environment—it can also improve your bottom line by reducing the costs of employee turnover and increasing productivity.

But despite the increasing appreciation of the benefits that coaching can bring to the corporate world, there are still vastly underdeveloped areas. Hiring a coach to consult with your organization is a bit like putting a band-aid on a wound; it helps in the short term, but the root problem is still there. In order to making coaching work for you, it’s crucial to work with a coach long term in order to develop an internal coaching culture within your organization.

So what does that mean? Cultivating a coaching culture requires identifying individuals with leadership potential who then train with an executive coach to develop their own set of coaching skills. These individuals then function as internal coaches that facilitate improvements in organizational culture, such as developing clearer communication, more efficient and productive teamwork, and better decision-making skills.

I’ve written extensively on the importance of fostering strong social skills and employee engagement within organizations. Coaching is an excellent way not just to improve the social skills of individuals, but also to create a better social environment overall. Happy, stimulated employees are more likely to remain loyal to your company rather than seeking out other opportunities.

If you or your organization is interested in learning more about what an executive coach can do for you, please reach out to me. You can contact me via my website, and you can also find me on Twitter and on LinkedIn. I look forward to hearing from you!