These days business owners and corporate organizations have had enough of trainers and other specialists that claim to do this and that for their business but cannot properly prove the return on investment (ROI) of their services. In fact, the harsh competition has forced business managers and entrepreneurs to make sure every penny they invest in their training or coaching programs return to the business and positively impacts the bottom line.
In this regard, more HR, Learning and OD leaders request proven processes to determine ROI. Why? Because the early years of coaching created a curricula and approach that followed the idea “one size fits all”, ignoring the individual complexities with little to no objective quantifiable results.
It’s a matter of fact that the actual effects provided by traditional coaching were either insignificant or unquantifiable, hence there’s no chance in measuring the ROI of these costly programs. And this is still an issue today for many businesses.
Here’s the good news. As the business environment changes and the business owners’ expectations become more demanding, certified professional coaches have evolved and refined the coaching process so that it can answer actual needs and bring measurable positive results. Studies have shown that coaching top executives at large companies yields 5-7x the company’s initial investment. To be more specific, a survey commissioned by ICF and conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers showed that companies that have used professional coaching for business reasons have seen a median return on their investment of 7 times their initial investment, which is mind-blowing.
According to another study measuring the ROI of developmental coaching for senior level executives at Fortune 1000 companies, the average return was nearly 5.7 times the initial investment (Maximizing the Impact of Executive Coaching, The Manchester Review, Volume 6, Number 1, Joy McGovern, et.al., 2001). A Fortune 500 company hired Metrix Global, LLC to measure the ROI for a leadership coaching program. The results showed the coaching produced a 529% ROI and also brought other unmeasurable benefits to the business, such as employee retention.
It’s needless to say why executives and entrepreneurs all around the world put great trust in coaching because of the ROI it brings to the company. As for the main reasons why business owners hire certified professional coaches, according to an article published in the Harvard Business Review 2009 issue, 48% of entrepreneurs hire coaches for the development of high potentials or to facilitate transition.
Since hiring a certified professional coach comes with a median ROI of 500-700%, it’s safe to say that the demand for business coaches will increase. Coaches will help business entrepreneurs grow as leaders in order to successfully lead their company through the highly competitive business environment.