By: Barbara Bowes
Date: November 21, 2009

Everyone is familiar with sports coaching -- from Olympic athletes to parent coaches for five-year-old hockey players and infant swimming programs. Yet it has taken quite some time for coaching to enter the business world as a recognized and accepted strategy for leadership development.

With succession planning and leadership becoming two of the top issues of concern for organizations, executive coaching is continuing to gain popularity.

According to a recent study by the American Management Association, leadership development is the main reason for hiring an executive coach. This includes transitioning to a new job, especially if the job role consists of a promotion to a more senior level. Coaching is used when a leaders' performance is off track and he or she is considered "at risk." Executive coaches are also used for career development through which high-potential leaders are given guidance on personal skill development as well as their career path within the organization.

At the same time, executive coaching is increasingly moving away from the stigma of being perceived only as a solution to a problem; rather, it is more frequently utilized and seen as a means of improving the engagement of employees.

Coaching in this case is provided to boost performance based on positive skills rather than focusing on fixing areas of challenge.

Coaching has also proven successful in bringing candidates up to speed more quickly, an important factor in today's fast-paced world. In addition, more and more companies are using the availability of an executive coach as a recruitment tool. In this case, personal coaching is seen as an executive perk that is valued and appreciated by potential candidates.

Executive coaching typically consists of short- to medium-term assignments when a leader meets either an external or internal professional and is engaged in personal, one-to-one coaching services. The goal is frequently to boost individual performance and/or to orient a person to a new job. In many cases this coaching and guidance is focused on a particular skill such as improving organizational or interpersonal communication skills.

On the other hand, I have certainly been engaged in coaching assignments where the leader examines his or her entire leadership style and develops strategies for developing various areas of performance. As well, more and more corporations are using coaching services as "just in time training" to orient new managers and/or CEOs to their job roles and to help them set their action plan and specific goals. Coaching sessions are held privately and can last from just a few sessions to five or six months.

Executive coaching is not without its own challenges and barriers. In some cases, individuals are reluctant and resistant to working with a coach or there may be a mismatch between the individual and the coaching style.

On the other hand, time management is always a challenge with respect to implementing coaching assignments. There is no way around it, coaching takes time. A leader must be willing and able to set time aside to work with a coach while senior management must continue their support through the entire process.

Guaranteed, problems will also arise if clear expectations regarding time frames are not set or if sufficient financial support is not forthcoming. Finally, let's face it: Some individuals are simply not able to change. In this case, they need to be counselled out of their current role and into another position in which they can excel.

Another challenge facing organizations wishing to use an executive coach as well as for those executive coaches attempting to sell the value of their services, is the issue of return on investment, ROI. Some of the ways in which executive coaching is measured includes the following:

• The application of pre-coaching assessments to focus the goal setting process and a post-coaching assessment to demonstrate results.

• Measurements against specific behavioural improvement in identified skill areas including the consistency and time span of the improvements.

• Measurement of the bottom line results of a leader's area of responsibility.

• Estimates of financial benefits and measurement against these figures.

• Measurement of "feel good" elements, which lead to increased self-confidence and self-esteem and therefore a higher level of productivity.

Another challenge is the credibility and professional qualifications of a so-called executive coach. Since executive coaching is still a fairly new industry, our experience is that academic credentials and accreditation are not at the top of the criteria list for selecting the right coach. What is more important is having the right experience. Yet at the same time, the number of professional coach training programs is increasing significantly and so we can expect in a few years that the importance of academic credentials will increase.

While executive coaching might be growing as a profession and is being used more frequently as a recruitment tool for corporations, organizations really need to have a well-defined purpose for using a coaching strategy. In consideration of the rapid changes we experience in the working world, organizations need to continue their focus on getting the right leaders in the right job with the right skills and at the right time and then to continually help these leaders improve.

The recent executive coaching study carried out by the American Management Association demonstrated that these two elements alone demonstrated a significant correlation to corporate improvements and competitiveness in the marketplace.

With this in mind, it is evident that organizations need to broaden their concept of executive coaching, moving away from a focus on underperforming individuals and instead applying a coaching strategy to train and groom talented, high performing front line and middle managers as well as fast track junior professionals in addition to those at the executive level. After all, it is these front-line and middle managers who will be moving forward and taking the organization to the next level.

Executive and management coaching has come a long way over the past 10 years. In my view, it will continue to mature as a profession and will continue to become an important tool for leadership development as well as the attraction and retention of high performing leaders.

Source: Coaching, A global Study of Successful Practices: Current Trends and future Possibilities, 2008-2018; American Management Association, 2008.

Barbara J. Bowes is President of Legacy Bowes Group, a leading HR firm. She is also host of a radio show, BowesKnows and author of several books. She can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .