The world of Executive Coaching continues to evolve. Two big recent developments are worthy of note: firstly, the emergence of smaller professional service firms focused on coaching and secondly, organisations pulling together their own ‘benches’ of coaches. There is a third movement - not large enough to merit the term ‘trend’ - in which organisations are effectively outsourcing the provision of all their coaching needs; there is an emerging market here.
To round off the picture of changes, coaching organisations such as EMCC (European Mentoring and Coaching Council) and APECS (the Association of Professional executive Coaches and Supervisors) are having some impact on standards and consistency. This impact is not yet strong enough: there is still a lot of very poor practice, where coaching gives no discernible benefit to the client organisation.
While there have been a few coaching firms operating long-term, some for as many as twenty years, there are now many more coaching businesses. The difficulties of operating a ‘one person band’ are driving individual coaches to team up and form businesses where effort and resources are shared and a more credible front can be presented to clients and prospects. While the benefits of this change are evident for the coaches, there are also clear benefits to client organisations.
I have always held that it is insufficient simply to be a good coach. The coach must be a ‘good enough’ consultant as well. By this I mean that the coach has to be able to identify how the coaching intervention will benefit the client organisation and any organisational or systemic issues that may reduce the impact. There are other elements to the consulting aspect but these are the principle ones. If you then add in the need to provide efficient and prompt service and on-going supervision and training of the coach it becomes clear that a small professional service firm is well placed to handle the needs of a client organisation.
The benefits to the client organisations of such a business-to-business relationship are numerous. These range from efficiency (managing one relationship – e.g. one invoice) through to getting access to the collective learning about the client organisation that the coaching firm will amass.
From the client’s perspective the criteria that apply to choosing such an organisation might include the following:
§ Competence. It should go without saying but the truth is that there is a lot of poor coaching going on. So are the firm’s coaches actually trained? And by whom? Is the training organisation accredited? Is supervision provided? How are quality and standards maintained? How will they feedback the collective learning and observations of the coaching team to the client organisation?
§ Pragmatism. Does the offering meet the need or is it simply a standard programme?
§ Relevant experience. Do the coaching team have experience of working with the level of people who will be receiving the coaching? How long have they been coaching? Although industry experience is of some importance it is less relevant than the two points above – most coaching topics are not directly industry related. That said, experience of a similar culture is valuable.
§ Value. As the tendency to commoditise coaching gains pace fees have become a decisive factor in selection. And this is as it should be. However, fees need to be viewed in the context of the value that the specific coaching intervention will generate. Poor coaching is a waste of time and money.
§ Reputation. The reputation of the provider will tell you something but do not stop there. Insist on specific references and follow these up. In following up try to get a sense of the value generated by the intervention to the individual who received the coaching and to the client organisation.
§ Values and Principles. Finally, and particularly important if you are considering a longer-term relationship, understanding the Values and Principles through which the Providing Firm is led – and seeking evidence that they abide by them – will give a strong indication as to the suitability of the coaching firm.
The rigour of clients organisations in assessing coaching providers, whether individuals or boutique consultancies, can make a major contribution to the quality of executive coaching in this corner of Europe.
Myles Downey is the Founder and Managing Director of The School of Coaching, and the author of Effective Coaching.
