Coaching IS essential to business

This week I read a report that coaching is at last being acknowledged by business, with companies seeing it as an essential part of their training and Talent Management Programmes.

Companies are seeing actual commercial benefits and according to a recent survey by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, the annual worldwide revenue produced by coaching was a staggering $1.5 billion!

This all made positive reading for me and the work that we are promoting through A Brave New World, but how disapointing it was to have to read the following sentence and even more worrying as it was a quote taken from an individual that works for a leading coaching organisation:

"Leadership is an acquired skill and coaching can provide the key to nurturing the next generation of leaders. But inspiration alone isn't enough. For talented people, the support of a great coach will significantly accelerate their growth into leadership."

Leadership and talent have 2 very different meanings and surely it is about time that people stop labelling the 2 together. Managing talent is not about creating just 'leaders' it is all about HOW to retain key skills within the business in line with the organisations future growth and operation needs. 'Talent' includes individuals from all areas and stages within an organisation. 'Leadership' is about employing individuals who can lead from the front, who are motivated and driven by being a 'leader' as well as possessing the required skills to motivate others, combined with strong and natural communicaton skills.

Having recently completed a career coaching programme for a number of individuals on a 'Talent Management' programme within a large organisation going through major corporate change, it was interesting to see that only 3 individuals out of a total of 10 wished to be considered as 'future leaders'. They were happy where they were presently in their careers and wished to continue utilising and developing their technical and functional skills, which they acknowledged as more important to them than the skill of leadership.

Coaching is an excellent opportunity for individuals to speak freely with someone outside of their company about issues they may not feel comfortable raising internally. It provides an avenue for them to become more self-aware and how to intelligently plan their future career.

So what really are some of the commercial benefits to companies employing a coach to support their training and 'talent' programmes?

Increased retention of 'key talent' - saving money on re-recruitment and training.
Their employees are taught how to search for opportunities internally - focussing on their key career drivers and key skills, as well as those they have identified as being crucial towards their future career needs.
Mobility within the organisation - a key benefit for knowledge sharing and succession planning.
Motivation and productivity levels are significantly increased, promoting a successful and positive working culture.
Employees can learn how to align their career drivers, values, beliefs, skills and communication styles with the organisations vision.
Employees learn how to take control and plan their own career.
Improved networking and communication.
Senior Management can simultaneously gather data on how to best manage, utilise and develop the company's talent pool if they employ the 'Intelligent Career' model.

Coaching should be viewed as an essential if organisations want to retain and develop their 'talent'. It doesn't have to be expensive - for some levels of employees it works well to run a group workshop rather than employ a one to one programme. But what ever you decide, you will see a real return on your investment.