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2008 Executive Coaching Survey Results

HDA is a Human capital consultancy that has worked in the area of coaching for nearly 10 years, developing a reputation for a highly successful, outcomes-focused approach to achieving objectives.  As part of our sustained commitment to refining and developing our coaching capability we recently undertook a detailed survey, incorporating views from across a broad sector base, to measure opinions surrounding executive coaching. 

This brief report outlines the findings of the 2008 HDA Executive Coaching Survey, providing further insight into current and future trends in the area, thoughts on best practice approaches and the benefits of coaching, both for the business and the individual.

Headlines and major trends…

• The majority of respondents (82%) believe that executive coaching impacts positively on business performance.

• Individual and/or team performance improvement is the main business benefit observed from executive coaching.

• Under half of the organisations surveyed (46%) offer coaching to employees at all levels, with 35% offering to Senior Level employees or managers only.

• 46% of organisations offer executive coaching on a reactive basis.

• Organisations (100%) are looking for value for money and experienced coaches in their coaching provider.

• Virtually all respondents (94%) state that executive coaching provides value for money.

• A growing number of Line Managers are acting as coaches within organisations

Key Demographics:

Industries:

Responding organisations came from various industries, including nearly a quarter from Financial Services, over 18% from the IT sector, and 12% from Construction.   

Organisation Size:

Responding organisations range in size from <100 employees to over 50,000 employees.  The largest number of responses came from those organisations with either <100 employees or those with between 1001-5000 employees.

Locations:

Over half of the organisations that responded have Global or International offices – with countries such as UAE, Trinidad, and Croatia listed.  The remaining organisations were equally represented (12%) across the EU, Northern England, Southern England and the US.

Who receives coaching?

82% of responding organisations offer coaching to their employees.  Where coaching is offered, 41% of organisations offer to employees at all levels, while a considerable number (35%) offer coaching to Senior Executives or managers only.  In certain organisations it appears that coaching comprises part of a career development package for those ‘high performing, high potential’ individuals.  Elsewhere, coaching is viewed as a performance management tool, offered to those employees needing additional support to achieve specific business/role related objectives.

Line Managers operate as coaches in over 59% of organisations surveyed.  However, only a third of these organisations have a formal coaching structure in place for these Line Managers to operate within.

Why is coaching offered?

It would appear that there is a trend towards offering coaching on a reactive basis – for e.g. where a skills gap exists or where there is a specific skills requirement – with over 46% of those organisations offering coaching, doing so on this basis.  24% of organisations offer coaching on a proactive basis – for e.g. as part of a talent management strategy or to embed learning from a course.  It is expected that the number of organisations offering coaching on a proactive basis will increase considerably in coming years as organisations continue to recognise the tangible business benefits coaching can bring. 

For a significant proportion of organisations the reason for offering coaching differs depending on the specific situation and for many there tends to be a mixture of both proactive and reactive, or even directive or innovative reasons driving the need for coaching.

What are the Benefits?

“What business benefits has coaching delivered?”

The results of this survey reaffirm that coaching delivers significant business benefits to the organisation, while also providing value for money (94%). 

In fact in terms of broad business benefits, over 80% of organisations surveyed believe that executive coaching impacts positively on business performance and enhances the ease with which any changes are accepted and implemented.  It also appears (82% of respondents) that offering executive coaching to employees is an important component of building a successful employer brand.  This supports research that suggests that senior executives are attracted to an organisation where coaching is offered as part of their benefits package.

When asked about more specific benefits that are realised through coaching, over 58% of the organisations believe that individual and/or team performance can be improved as a result of coaching. 

In addition, over 12% of organisations are of the view that coaching is a useful means of supporting those managers that are technically skilled but do not possess the softer skills required to be an effective manager/leader.

12% of organisations also believe that there is not one outstanding benefit that coaching delivers but in fact a host of benefits such as – greater ROI than training; increased retention; reduced levels of stress and absenteeism; the ensured success of newly appointment managers; and sharpened leadership skills of high performance individuals. 

“What has the coachee gained through coaching?”

As expected, the individual being coached has the opportunity to gain considerably through the experience.  Almost a quarter of respondents believe that the greatest benefit to individuals is their ability to create greater impact within the organisation, for example through enhanced communication skills. 

Gaining a sense of achievement, broadening horizons for thinking and receiving access to a trusted sounding board are all beneficial outcomes observed by responding organisations.

Many organisations (12%) believe that there is not one outstanding benefit but in fact a whole host of individual benefits that can be realised through coaching depending on factors such as, the reason for coaching or individual needs.

Choosing a coaching provider…

When asked what factors would influence their decision in choosing a coaching provider, all respondents stated that the experience of the coaches and value for money were important.  In addition, virtually all respondents (94%) stated that excellent client feedback and testimonials would be an important factor that they would consider when choosing a coaching provider.  Less important factors were the provision of online services to support face to face coaching session and specific knowledge of the industry.

It is evident that the use of executive coaching is becoming increasingly common in today’s business world, with 82% of responding organisations now offering coaching to employees.  Albeit that a significant proportion of this figure continue to offer coaching only on a reactive basis and only to senior executives/managers.   It is expected that the prevalence of executive coaching will continue to grow as organisations increasingly recognise the value of coaching, particularly in today’s competitive labour market, where executive coaching can play a key role in attracting, engaging and retaining key talent.

 

For further information: call 08452 60 95 40 or email info@hda.co.uk

To discuss potential HDA contributions, please contact us at email: info@hda.co.uk