Horizon Point Consulting

Author: Mary Ila Ward

I’m Spending a Lot of Money on This: Getting and Measuring Bang for Your Buck Through Leadership Coaching

We’ve spent the last few months here at The Point blog talking about Leadership Coaching. Posts have included a run down on what to look for in a coach, should you hire a coach, our coaching process, how to seek feedback, how to practice feedforward and how to address the most common coaching issues.

Does coaching work?

According to scholarly research in an examination of coaching effectiveness on 370 coaching participants, coaching produced results equivalent from moving someone from the 50^th percentile to the 93^rd percentile and which equates to being at least three times more effective than leadership training impact on performance.

Coaching is effective.

But it isn’t cheap.

So is it efficient? In short, yes. The same scholarly article sites strong Return on Investment (ROI) in a different study that indicated the coaching to be worth 5.7 times the initial investment. This shows, spending money (on coaching) made the company 5.7 more money than what they spent on the coaching. You’ve got to spend money to make money, or so they say.

Coaching provides bang for the buck.

But will it work for you and give you bang for your buck?

Just because leadership or executive coaching has been cited to be both effective and efficient for certain organizations, how do you know if coaching will pay off for your organization or if it has if you’ve already engaged a leadership coach?

First, you hire a coach that measures the performance of their endeavors.

If you want a complete run down on how to evaluate coaching we suggest reading:

A Practical Guide to Evaluating Coaching: Translating State-of-the Art Techniques to the Real World(Peterson & Kraiger, 2004)

But, for the sake of your time here’s what we do and suggest (and many of these ideas come from the above reading):

1. Make sure your purpose is defined at the beginning so you can measure performance against that purpose.

2. To measure did it work? Gather individual data (we use a 360° feedback tool) at the beginning of the engagement and then issue the same data gathering process at the end of the coaching engagement to see if improvements are present. Sometimes this can be too cumbersome or time consuming to administer the 360 again. If that is the case, pinpoint key areas cited for improvement and simply gauge these areas for improvement through a shorter survey.

3. To measure did it work? Measure success against goal attainment. Were the goals or learning objectives in the coaching achieved? This is simply a yes or no thing, and of course begs the question of goals needing to be set at the beginning of the process.

4. To measure did it work? Get the leaders of the leaders being coached to evaluate change in performance level before and after the coaching. Has desired performance level been achieved?

5. To measure did it work? Get the participants to provide feedback on the effectiveness of coaching by issuing a questionnaire to them. The article cited above has a good one that could be utilized.

6. To measure did I get bang for my buck?: Look at individual results achieved during the coaching time period compared to the cost of the coaching (this is measuring ROI).

For example, at the individual level was the purpose of the coaching engagement to help someone improve their time management skills? If so, how much more efficient are they with their time and how much is their time worth? If they make $100,000 a year (considering a 40 hour work week which we know is probably on the short end of the time most leaders work each week), each hour of their time is worth almost $50.00. If they improved efficient use of their time by an estimated 10%, then this efficiency gain equates to a value of $10,400 a year. Did the coaching cost more or less than this? Let’s just say the coaching cost $5000.00. Well you just go a 100% return on your investment.

7. To measure did I get bang for my buck? Look at results at the organizational level during and after the coaching engagement. Obviously, every organizational gain isn’t a direct result of coaching, other factors come into play, but this needs to be measured. For example, did sales, quality, production efficiency, etc. increase as a direct or indirect result of people who have been involved in the coaching?

Anything worth doing, which coaching should be worth doing, is worth doing right. And the only way to know if it is done right is to evaluate effectiveness and efficiency.

Are you measure the results of your organizational initiatives such as leadership coaching? If so, how?

May 19, 2014
I May Have Adult ADD But I Wouldn’t Trade It For Anything: Refusing to Choose Between Work and Life
At an HR conference this week with a focus on wellness, the topic of work-life balance is bound to come up. It is and continues to be a buzz phrase in the field. How do we as individuals balance work and “life” and how do companies and HR professionals help employees find and gain balance in order to promote wellness and avoid stress and burnout which ultimately hurts company performance?

As I sit here writing this at the conference, my eight week old is with me. So is my mom who is here to help and also hear some key sessions at the conference she is interested in. I am going to sessions, volunteering for the conference, checking email and responding to clients, eating dinner with friends and aunts I haven’t seen in a while, feeding my little girl and changing her, talking to her and enjoying her precious grins that have just begun to make an appearance across her sweet face.

I think I may have adult ADD (attention deficit disorder) with the constant change in focus, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Because I enjoy each component of these activities and roles, the lines between my “work” and my “play” or “life” are so blurred that I’m sometimes not sure which box I’m in, and in my opinion that is the way it should be.

You don’t have to choose between work and life.

The people I know who love their work don’t talk a lot about work/life balance. They do work, they do life and oftentimes they aren’t sure which one they are doing at the moment. It’s just all life.

So how do we get to the point of not needing to seek out work/life balance?
1. Choose work you love. Finding the unique balance between your talents, your passions and your values will enable you the opportunity to choose work you love and allow you to make it an integral part of your life. It also allows you to clear the clutter and say “no” to things that really do not need to be a part of your life and your work.
2. Surround yourself with people who support you in your work and life. I realize that this may be more of a challenge for some than others because to a certain extent it may be out of your control. I am fortunate that my mom was able to come with me to this conference because she too had a business needs to hear some of the speakers. My husband is at home with our other child manning that front, and he is glad to do it. But it goes beyond just having the support of family being close by or having the flexibility to help. It extends to doing business- working with and for- those who share the same mindset of work-life balance.
For example, I’m working with a marketing firm to develop a marketing plan and strategy to take the company to the next level. The timing of brainstorming sessions needed for this came about two weeks after I had the now eight week old. We didn’t postpone it. They came to my house to do it. Not one session, but two. They held the baby, I held the baby and, because my husband was still off on leave because of the birth, we were able to get his ideas too, which is highly valuable to me. In my opinion, we came up with, among other things, some pretty awesome tag lines for the three unique lines of services/products we will be offering soon. (If you want to turn on your creative side, go grab a baby while you brainstorm). Picture proof of this session here.
1. Refuse to think either/or: I could have postponed the brainstorming sessions and I could have skipped this conference and some people probably think I should have skipped both. Aren’t most maternity leaves 12 weeks? But I’d rather do both from a different perspective- having my child with me, who obviously needs me almost constantly as an infant and who will so soon not be giving me those sweet grins that I don’t want to miss out on, and doing work that I love and I hope meets needs for others too can be done together.
I don’t have to separate my work from my life or choose between the two and you don’t either.

What are your best methods for doing life instead of having to balance work and life?
May 16, 2014
4 Steps for Handling and Diffusing Conflict
Last week, I had to share some information with someone that was unpleasant. I was nervous about how to deliver the message, but I went back to the steps I recommend to leadership coaching clients when they have to deliver and discuss issues that involve conflict. This is a very common issue that leaders have to navigate, and the best method to handle or diffuse conflict is to address it. The worst thing that can be done is to ignore.

If you’re struggling with how to handle a situation head on, use these steps to make it easier:

1. Get your facts before proceeding. There are two sides to every story and a he said/she said issue is not ready to approach until you’ve gathered your facts. Make sure you know the ins and outs of the issue before discussing and address it.

2. Seek counsel of the wise. Before I went into my “unpleasant” discussion last week, I sought the counsel of three people that I trust. There was consensus on how to handle the issue from the three individuals (who had no idea what the other people recommended), so I felt confident that the approach was the best method. Make sure you have 2-3 trusted advisors as a leader. This is why hiring a coach may beneficial.

3. Plan and practice your approach. Write it out if you need to. This will help you feel confident in your delivery and anticipate questions or concerns that may arise from the party(ies) you are addressing.

4. Address it. Like I said, the worst thing you can do when conflict arises is to ignore it. To address the situation effectively:
- Frame the issue with the facts
- State your concern as well as why you are concerned making sure that potential effects on company and individual performance are addressed
- Ask open-ended questions of the parties
- Provide time for comment from all involved
- Develop an approach or plan of action to resolve the issue. Ensure that everyone involved is clear on his or her responsibilities.
How do you address difficult issues and/or resolve conflict in the workplace?

Want more? You may like this post:

2 Tips for Resolving Conflict Wisely
May 13, 2014
Everyone Gets a Trophy and The Skills Gap
At a lunch meeting yesterday, one topic of discussion was the “everyone gets a trophy” generation. The millennial generation – of which I am barely a part of based on my date of birth, but rarely admit to being – seems to have a problem with feeling entitled. And the negative outcomes this creates in schools and int he workplace is a hot topic.

A couple of issues cited in this discussion were:
- Lack of respect for consequences of one’s actions. For example, a star pitcher not getting to pitch in a game when scouts were there because he missed a practice and was also in trouble at school for skipping class. His parents raised holy terror because he didn’t get to play. Who is to blame? The parents or the student?
- Lack of respect for other people and their time. For example, a teenager not showing up for work to teach swimming lessons because she had play practice and no one called to let the family know the child would not have lessons because the teacher couldn’t make it. Is the paid work or the play practice more important to attend? The director of the play told her she couldn’t miss practice. Does getting a paycheck for something also communicate you can’t miss?
Compare these to examples to key findings cited in the Alabama Skills Gap Study conducted by the Alabama Department of Labor:

Employers were more likely to identify gaps in soft skills (41%) than in technical skills (38%).

Of the employers who have identified gaps in soft skills, 65% stated that Attendance was a problem. Following Directions and Time Management were the next most often identified soft skill gaps (39% and 36% respectively).

We could blame these skills gap issues on just one generation, but the numbers show employers must be facing it with the majority of their workforce, which can’t possibly be all made of just the trophy winners.

So what should we do? First, we should focus on soft skills development just as much as we do technical skills development in our schools and in our homes. A good resource for soft skills curriculum can be found here: http://www.dol.gov/odep/topics/youth/softskills/

Next, we need to turn the mirror on ourselves, whether as a parent or as a teacher or even as a student. The question becomes, am I guilty of what I’m complaining about and how do I model the behavior I want to see?

I say this as I sit here, letting my three year old skip swimming lessons. He’s asleep next to me after having tried to wake him up from his short-lived nap to go to the lesson. You haven’t seen holy terror until you’ve tried to wake a three year old up who doesn’t want to be woken up. Yep, that person complaining about the teenager teaching swimming lessons was me and now here we are not going to a scheduled lesson. Am I teaching my son something I don’t want to be teaching him? Sure am. But at least I called to let them know we wouldn’t be there… (I know don’t tell me, because I know, we still should have gone).

As I beat myself up about not doing what I know I should, I figured I’d at least share the lesson. Soft skills are important. They are learned. Teach them by modeling the behavior you want to see.

Want more on the soft skills employer want? Check out these posts:

What do employers want? The 4 Cs

What do employers want? Creativity

What is your smart phone teaching you about communication?

Want to get a job? Foster collaboration
May 8, 2014
Drop Lots of FYIs to Communicate Effectively

I was mad. Really mad. I had an appointment with a client. He asked to reschedule because he said he would be out of the office all day the day we had scheduled to meet. I showed up at the company the day we were scheduled to meet in order to meet with one of his colleagues and out he walks. He’s there. I felt lied to and intentionally blown off.

He said nothing. I said nothing. I expected an apology or at least an explanation e-mail or phone call to come from him. I got nothing.

In inquiring about his presence at the office when he said he was going to be gone, I found out he was waiting on another person to leave for the day. He hadn’t lied, but he hadn’t clarified anything with me. I’m glad I did some inquiring before I blew off the handle at him, and I was embarrassed that I got so worked up about the situation. But it all could have been diffused if he had just informed me about what was going on, instead of leaving me assuming.

I often find that with business communication, we assume a lot. We assume people know certain things are happening, or we assume they have the information they need to complete a task, or we assume people think the best of us. More often than not, our withholding information by assuming leaves people, well mad. Like I was.

Taking on the mindset of informing others helps to steer communication in a way that does not leave unanswered questions.

Are you informing people enough? Consider this list from the coaching tool, For Your Improvement(maybe it’s not a coincidence that the book is referred to as FYI). If you find yourself thinking one or more of these statements describe you, then you’d be well served dropping a few more FYIs every now and then.

Unskilled Informer:

-Not a consistent communicator

-Tells too little or too much

-Tells too late; timing is off

-May be unclear; may inform some better than others

-May not think through who needs to know by when

-Doesn’t seek or listen to the data needs of others

-May inform but lack follow-through

-May either hoard information or not see informing as important

-May only have one mode- written or oral or e-mail

For more on improving communication:

Saying too much is like saying nothing at all

How to combine communication with teamwork

Team communication: It’s not what you say but how you say it

May 5, 2014