Business Coaching

 

 Business Coaching

"Brimming with knowledge and talent, Sarah has the ability to hold back and allow you to explore all avenues. She brings out your creativity." Adrian, Cheshire.

  "there are no bad troops, only bad leaders".

“Leadership is the priceless gift that you earn from the people who work for you. I have to earn the right to that gift and have to continuously re-earn that right.”

Sir John Harvey-Jones

I think that Sir John Harvey Jones was right but possibly a bit harsh in his judgement of people doing their best under pressure. If you’re a Leader in today’s world the responsibility and rewards are high and the stresses are equally so. Whether you’re in the first 90 days or have more experience, the path of Leadership is laden with traps that can catch you unawares and in ways that you hadn’t expected.

The people you lead are full of expectation and look to you for more than strategy and targets. You set the pace and culture in the organisation – whether it’s through your day to day communication, your values and beliefs and your behaviour. So if you’re not on top form or you’re giving mixed signals, what’s happening in the business? What’s happening to the people in your business and your customers?

Business coaching is a professional and confidential one-to-one relationship that offers you the time and space to think through what’s going on in your business and re-focus with clarity and vision to get the results you want.

If you’re a Director of your own company, a Chief Executive or Manager – you’re also a Leader and your leadership skills and style will have an impact on the morale and performance of your team, and ultimately your profits.

Solid! offers a range of coaching programmes to support you and your business to boost team performance and raise profits.

Coaching Programmes

• Executive Coaching
• Leadership Coaching
• Coaching to resolve Personnel Issues
• Full Day Business Focus

Coaching sessions can be anything from 1-2 hours over a few weeks, a full day to focus or an on-going process to ensure your performance remains high. Call to discuss your needs or email for more information.

 

Solid! Coaching for Business ensures that the process is results orientated and includes:

• A Coaching Contract to identify cost, purpose, objectives and duration of coaching.
• Confidentiality, good rapport and mutual respect.
• Adhere to coaching ethics and codes of practice.
• Pre-coaching audit of skills and performance.
• Define your business values and ethics, vision and strategy.
• Identifying the key issues, challenges and outcomes to focus on.
• Set a clear development plan.
• Analysing the barriers and blocks to success
• Refocusing on key actions for greatest impact.
• Monitoring of progress during the coaching process.
• Evaluation of performance in the workplace and outcomes for the business as a result of coaching.

The value of coaching for managers

• A chance to take an objective view of their people management style and create ways to enhance business relationships and impact.
• Increased clarity about business goals and options.
• More confidence and competence in their 'people management' skills
• More influence over team members, colleagues and business partners
• More flexibility in adapting to the needs of individuals
• More effective collaboration with colleagues and clients
• Better working relationships

The value to your company

• More commercially effective and creative work
• Improved morale and working relationships among managers and team members
• Better communication and collaboration between teams
• Better communication and collaboration with clients and business partners
• Developing your talent pool - increasing the 'creative capital' of the business
• Reduced interpersonal conflict and absenteeism
• Increase Sales

Research into the Effectiveness of Coaching
According to the results of the 2004 CIPD training and development survey, two-thirds of respondents reported that they felt their coaching activities had been effective in meeting objectives. Almost all (99%) felt that that coaching had brought tangible benefits to both individuals and organisations.

Research has shown that long term coaching programmes tended to have massive impact in the first 60 days of coaching and then the speed of performance improvement or behavioural change reduced over the next few months. Then another acceleration in results occurred in the last 30 days as the programme finished.

It also asked what organisations who employed the coaches wanted to see as a result:

• 69% wanted increased performance or profit
• 21% to develop their leadership capacity, self awareness, empower staff or improve communications within the organisation
• 10% a mixture of balance, support, confidence and being happy in the workplace

Manchester Inc. recently released a study of 100 executives that quantifies the business impact of external executive coaching. Companies that provided coaching to their executives showed improvements in productivity, quality, organisational strength, customer service, and shareholder value. They received fewer customer complaints and were more likely to retain executives who had been coached.

In addition, a company's investment in providing coaching to its executives showed an average return on investment (ROI) of almost six times the cost of the coaching.
Among the benefits to companies that provided executive coaching were improvements in:

• Productivity (reported by 53% of executives)
• Quality (48%)
• Organisational strength (48%)
• Customer service (39%)
• Reducing customer complaints (34%)
• Retaining executives who received coaching (32%)
• Cost reductions (23%)
• Bottom-line profitability (22%)

Among the benefits to executives who received coaching were improved:

• Cost reductions (23%)
• Working relationships with direct reports (reported by 77% of executives)
• Working relationships with immediate supervisors (71%)
• Teamwork (67%)
• Working relationships with peers (63%)
• Job satisfaction (61%)
• Conflict reduction (52%)
• Organisational commitment (44%)
• Working relationships with clients (37%)

In January 2001, research by the International Personnel Management Association (IPMA) concluded "ordinary training typically increased productivity by 22%, while training combined with coaching increased productivity by 88%".

Research by Vision Quest Consulting in 2001 found that of all clients interviewed:

• All increased their ability to deal with business challenges by 75% or more
• 88% improved their job satisfaction by 75% or more
• 80% improved their ability to stay focused under pressure
• 78% increased their productivity at work by at least 50%

In May 2002 the Chartered Management Institute and Campaign for Learning published the results of their "Coaching at Work", an in-depth analysis of the benefits of coaching. Results showed:

• Four out of five executives believe they would benefit from coaching at work and dismiss the suggestion that coaching is just another fad
• Virtually all managers (96%) think coaching should be available to every employee, regardless of seniority
• 85% of managers say the main value of coaching is in enhancing team morale
• 80% of managers value coaching for generating responsibility on the part of the learner

Research by the International Coach Federation showed:

• 70% of clients said their investment in a coach was VERY valuable
• 81.9% of coaching clients said it was important to them that their coach has special training in coaching
• The outcomes that clients most often attribute to their coaching are:
• Higher self-awareness (68%)
• A better balanced life (61%)
• Smarter goal-setting (62%)
• Lower stress levels (57%)
• Greater self-confidence (52%)