Articles

Measuring the Impact of Executive Coaching – Research Report
 
Prepared by Caroline Gladstone, July 20, 2004.

Executive Summary 
     Summary of the impact of coaching
Key findings& Supporting Anecdotal Evidence 
     Leadership 
     Teamwork 
     Staff Morale
     Satisfaction of Senior Management 
     Staff Satisfaction 
     Image of Organisation 
     Staff Turnover
Skills Gained through Coaching 
Other results of Executive Coaching  
Negatives 
Method 

Executive Summary
  
IMPROVED LEADERSHIP ability has emerged as the most important benefit gained from Executive Coaching, a new survey has found.
  
It also found that this improved leadership by senior executives led to more effective teamwork and higher morale among their staff.
 
The research, which looked at the impact of Executive Coaching on senior managers in both the private and public sectors, was conducted on behalf of Pacific Consulting, a Sydney-based management consulting company.
The executives were either undergoing coaching at the time of the study or had been coached within the past two years.
 
While Executive Coaching is not new and is used widely in Australian organisations, very little research has been carried out on its impact on the executive, his/her team and the organisation, or its effectiveness in bringing about positive change in the workplace.
 
As one of the first of its kind in Australia, this survey looked at the coaching’s impact on the senior manager’s leadership, job performance and productivity and found improvement in more than 71 % of cases in all three areas.
 
It also found that teamwork and staff morale, within the executive’s business unit, had improved in more than 57 % of cases in both areas. 
 
Another benefit was increased satisfaction of the executive’s senior management with 67 % of coachees saying this had improved; while 38 % of executives said the image of their organisation had improved as a result of coaching.
 
On average coachees said their leadership ability had improved by 27.6 %: their staff teamwork improved by 13 %; staff morale improved by 8.3 % and senior management was 7 % more satisfied (See Table below).
 
Confidence and self-awareness were considered two of the important skills that executives gained through Executive Coaching and these contributed to improvements in leadership, teamwork, staff morale and productivity. They also enabled 28.5 % of executives to apply for promotions, change jobs or enrol in business courses.
 
Executive Coaching was found to have benefits outside the workplace were the empathetic skills acquired in the process were used to create better work/life balances, reduce stress, improve health and build better inter-personal relationships both at work and at home. Almost 24 % of coachees said executive coaching had helped them in this area and improved their relationships with family and colleagues.
 
While Executive Coaching may still be viewed by some as a little “touchy feely”, this study found that 100 % of coachees had become more proficient at their job and 71 % were more personally productive. And 76 % said coaching worked to improve the service or product their organisation delivered; 66 % said coaching helped to save them time and 33 % said coaching helped, indirectly, to reduce costs.
 
One organisation was impressed enough with the results of the coaching to sign on for another round.
 
Interestingly 85 % of coachees said coaching fast-tracked their learning and taught them skills they’d never had before: half of this number said it would have taken six months to two years to gain these new proficiencies without coaching, while the other half said they would never have gained them without coaching.
 
Summary of the impact of coaching -

Business characteristic	Average Improvement  (after executive coaching)
Leadership	27.6 %
Teamwork	13.0 %
Staff Morale	8.3 %
Satisfaction of senior management	7.0 %
Staff Satisfaction	5.5 %
Image of Organisation	3.5 %
Staff Turnover	0.5 %

The survey also revealed improvements in product/service quality; time-management and (indirectly) cost reduction. The results were

• 76 % said their service/product quality had increased.
• 66 % said coaching helped them save time.
• 33 % said coaching had indirectly reduced costs.

The survey found that Executive Coaching enabled 28.5% of executives to apply for promotions, change jobs or enrol in business courses. 
 
The survey found that that 23.8% noticed real changes in their personal lives: they were more relaxed, felt healthier, worked less hours, were more empathetic at home and at work and generally found a better work/life balance through coaching. 
 
While the study revealed that most coachees benefited from the experience and could quantify changes in the workplace, there were areas where coaching was less effective. These included:

• 67% said coaching had no effect on cost reduction
• 28.5% said coaching did not improve their personal productivity. 

 

Key findings & Supporting Anecdotal Evidence

LEADERSHIP
 
90.5% of coachees said their Leadership improved by between 5 – 30 %.
 
Average improvement 27.6 %.
 
What they said:

• “I am performing at a higher level across the whole dimension of leadership and management.”

• “ I can now cut through a problem and make a clear decision. Coaching boosted my confidence to do this.”

• “ I have better leadership behaviours, greater self-awareness. I learnt more about handling other people’s performance issues and learnt techniques to get people to work better together and collaborate more.”

• “In terms of meetings, I am more direct and quicker at making decisions, which links back to confidence. I cut back meetings from two hours to half-an-hour and I am not compromising on this new half-hour rule. I now control meetings. The extra time can be spent more productively.”

• “Coaching has made me a better mentor and more conscious of things I can share with my team and improve their performance.”

TEAMWORK 
  
76% of coachees said Teamwork had improved by between 10 – 50 %.
 
Average improvement 13 %
 
What they said:

• “The team is more effective because they know what’s expected of them.”

• “I now understand how they (the team) approach issues and how I approach issues and how we can get a win/win rather than hit our heads together.”

• “I am chairing meetings more effectively, so the team is now providing more constructive comment.”

• “My relationship with the team is stronger. Coaching has opened my eyes to dealing with people. I need to understand them as people and to know that everyone has different skills sets.”

• “I talked to my team about certain aspects of the coaching. It has empowered them to talk about things more readily.”

• “I increased the weekly meetings to daily and the team responds better now as they all know what’s expected of them.”

STAFF MORALE
  
57% of coachees said Staff Morale improved by between 10 – 35 %.
 
Average improvement 8.3 % 
 
What they said: 

• “There is definitely a better vibe across the organisation and the executive team. It’s more collegiate and cohesive. We work more as colleagues; there’s less competition between department managements.”

• “I am much more attentive to listening and validating the other person’s agenda. There are a lot more people saying they need my leadership. Before coaching the staff were not quite sure I was interested in people. The feed back (then) was ‘she is looking after herself’ and they weren’t sure they were being developed. Now they feel they are being listened to.”

• “All the senior executives underwent coaching. It has improved the common understanding and worked across the organisation generally. A number of people gained insights – that improved leadership behaviours in the organisation. They understood each other’s strengths and weaknesses a bit better.

• “The team is more motivated. The leaders in the team are more confident to come to me and I am more confident and comfortable when dealing with their issues.

• “I shared some of the thoughts and suggestions from the coaching with my senior team members and we have joked about the fact that I am being more aware of people’s ‘intuitive/feminine side’.”

• “Coaching made me look at my interpersonal work relationships and now I’m making more time to spend with my staff.”

• “Because I learnt strategies for leading and talking to my team, I now have a better relationship with the team, and they with me.”

SATISFACTION OF SENIOR MANAGEMENT
  
66.7% of coachees said Satisfaction of Senior Management had improved by between 5 – 20 %.
 
Average improvement 7 %
 
What they said:

• “My CEO commented that I was a much more confident person after the coaching.”

• “We have an annual lunch with the CEO and he said that all the feedback he gets is that we are leading the way. My staff were slapping each other on the back.”

• “Every now and then we get a pat on the back for something we’ve done. In this job you don’t expect people to do that. However, someone did take the time: the CEO phoned to say thank you. I think that had a lot to do with my team, who are now more focussed on the job.”

• “The organisation was sufficiently encouraged by all the feedback from executives to invest again in another round of coaching this year.”

• “My supervisor values what I do and wants to keep me in the organisation.”

• “I received positive feedback from my supervisor.”

• “One of my cost-saving ideas was accepted by my senior manager and will become part of policy. My ability to present my ideas and negotiate more confidently has improved.”

STAFF SATISFACTION
  
43% of coachees said staff was more satisfied with their jobs since coaching. Satisfaction ranged from 5 – 30 %.
 
Average improvement 5.5 %
 
What they said:

• “The team is doing much higher quality work and is involved in solving important strategic problems for the organisation. For example, we are doing an international marketing campaign because our team put its hand up and said we are a ‘can do’ team. It’s exciting stuff.”

• “Everyone in the team has his or her heart in the organisation and most come to work with passion. But the coaching has given them a new focus.”

IMAGE OF ORGANISATION
 
38% of coachees said the Image of their Organisation improved by between 3 – 20 %.
 
Average improvement 3.5 %
 
What they said:

• “We are more proficient than we were. We have always been successful but we are now learning to work better and smarter. We are now leading the change in the industry.”

• “Discussions at the Corporate Leadership Team table (which consists of 15 people) were positive about the individual benefits of coaching and those for the organisation. The fact that we are continuing the coaching is the best evidence it worked.”

• “Coaching has made me more conscious of the stakeholders I deal with and where they are coming from and their requirements and my responses to them. I can give them better solutions, now that I know their perspective.”

STAFF TURNOVER
 
Coaching made minimal if any effect on staff turnover, with one exception.
One coachee (4.7%) said coaching had improved staff turnover by 40 %.
One coachee (4.7%) said there was always high turnover in his organisation and consequently scored it at –30 % (minus 30%).
 
Average improvement 0.5 %
 
What they said:

• “There was a lot of staff turnover in our organisation before coaching and that has settled down. However I can’t be sure if the new situation is due to coaching.”

• “The turnover here is always very high.”

 

Skills Gained through Coaching

Coaching improved leadership, personal productivity, proficiency, team effectiveness and staff morale because coachees gained new skills. The survey revealed over and again that the most important skills gained were:

• Awareness of behaviour – strengths & weaknesses

• Ability to focus on management, rather than day-to-day tasks

• Ability to prioritise tasks, time-manage and delegate responsibilities

• Confidence to do a better job, take risks, take on more responsibility – and in some cases – apply for promotion.

• Sharper thinking

• Ability to take control of meetings and streamline office procedures

• New ability to listen, empathise and build relationships with staff

• Confidence to tackle and resolve conflicts and negotiate better outcomes

• Ability to motivate team

 

Other results of Executive Coaching

1. The survey also revealed improvements in product/service quality; time-management and (indirectly) cost reduction. The results were

• 76 % said their service/product quality had increased.

• 66 % said coaching helped them save time.

• 33 % said coaching had indirectly reduced costs.
   

2. The survey found that Executive Coaching enabled 28.5% of executives to apply for promotions, change jobs or enrol in business courses. Comments supporting this benefit included:

• “I am in a more senior role that I was when I started coaching and believe it was a significant contributor to my promotion. I moved from managerial role to that of executive director. Before coaching I felt entrenched.”

• “It gave me more confidence to function at a senior executive level. It built self-confidence and faith in my performance and the ability to apply for a more senior position.”
   

3. The survey found that that 23.8% noticed real changes in their personal lives: they were more relaxed, felt healthier, worked less hours, were more empathetic at home and at work and generally found a better work/life balance through coaching. Comments supporting this benefit included:

• “It made me more relaxed and taught me to let things go. I didn’t personalise the situation.”

• “I have a better balance between work and family. My work stress levels have gone down and I’m healthier. I’m working fewer hours and feeling more productive and effective.”

• “My general attitude towards life improved. I set goals for my life outside work. Family issues were resolved and my health improved.”

 

Negatives

While the study revealed that most coachees benefited from the experience and could quantify changes in the workplace, there were areas where coaching was less effective. These included:

• 67% said coaching had no effect on cost reduction

• 28.5% said coaching did not improve their personal productivity.+ 

Some comments to support these views included:

• “Coaching did not increase my personal productivity. I am already a very productive person.”

• “Coaching did not help to save time. I am a very efficient person.”

• “Coaching did not save me time – it made me expand my responsibilities, but I’m more efficient.”

• “Coaching made me a better manager and my team fundamentally increased its service to our organisation. But it would be a very brave person who would suggest that these increases were directly related to coaching.”

• “The improvements in staff morale and team work in the office were due to organisational change, not just coaching.”

+ NB: Conversely 100 % of coachees agreed coaching made them more proficient in their work.

 

Method
 
46 executives were surveyed from 7 organisations from both the private and public sectors.

The executives, each interviewed individually over a half-hour period, were asked to described what impact Executive Coaching had on their work proficiency and performance, and to describe the benefits coaching had on personal productivity, team effectiveness, cost reduction, increased service or product, time-saving and increased sales (where applicable).
 
The salary packages of the coachees ranged from $79,500 to $210,000 with the average being $133,000.
 
They were also asked to consider what effect coaching had on staff morale, leadership, teamwork, staff satisfaction, satisfaction of senior management, image of organisation and staff turnover, and to rate those categories before and after the coaching experience by giving a score out of 10. Percentage (%) improvements were then worked out for these seven categories. 
 
When scores were averaged for each category, leadership emerged as the quality that improved most across the board, followed by teamwork, staff morale and satisfaction of senior management. (See Table in Executive Summary)
 
Throughout this report the senior managers who were coached will be called either the “coachee” or “executive”.