The measurement that takes place at the end of the engagement process is more around the progress that has been made on the goals that were identified to be worked on.
6. The people who are primarily involved in the measurement of coaching effectiveness are the Line Managers and the HR folks. The Coachee and the Coach are both engaged in the process of review. In a few organizations the Learning and Development people are involved in the management of the Coaching process and hence also involved in the measurement of coaching effectiveness.
7. The review and measurement focus has created an opportunity for the organization (especially the leaders who champion the Coaching intervention) to become familiar with what ails and what enables the process success.
The insights that are emerging are :
- The role of the sponsor is of paramount importance. The sponsor has to be involved both at the beginning of the engagement as well as through the process to ensure that the required support is being accorded to the Coachee to make the necessary changes and sustain the momentum.
- The setting of appropriate expectations is crucial to the identification of the Coaching goals. Though the goals are set by the Coachee, the transparent sharing of the feedback and expectations by the stakeholders (esp. sponsor) is key to the Coachee getting a full picture of the success factors which in return will help him / her to identify and prioritise the goals in perfect alignment to realities.
- The chemistry or the fit between the Coach and Coachee is extremely important. In the absence of mutual trust and respect between the two key players the Coaching engagement is bound to fail.
- Apart from the sponsor the other stakeholders (Peers, Direct reportees, other senior colleagues, HR partners) play an important enabling role for the Coachee to change and make improvements in his / her style and approach. Therefore their cooperation needs to sought for enabling the transformation to be sustained.
- The duration of the engagement becomes important to provide adequate time for the Coachee to become aware of the key issues, identify the underlying causes, draw up an action plan and sustainably implement the same . At the same time it should not be too long such that the dependency on the Coach starts to grow beyond acceptable levels.
- The quality of Coaches and the standard of Coaching process is also not always to acceptable standards. This is often not apparent to the organization at the outset.
8. There are some clear indications that the measurement of Coaching Effectiveness is here to stay. Organisations are becoming more and more serious about getting value for the investment they are making to support their executives by offering the Coaching support.
Based on the insights and benchmarking of practices across different organizations there are number of emerging practices which are likely to enhance the effectiveness of Coaching . A number of organisations are contemplating adopting these new practices. Some who are already have these are bound to pursue them with a lot more seriousness.
The emerging practices which are likely to make a positive difference are :
3 Way Alignment Meeting :
Having a start off meeting wherein the Coach, Coachee and the Sponsor discuss the current reality and the future expectations. This helps the Coachee to discuss further with the Coach his / her aspirations and how it maps with the Sponsors inputs and then decide how to identify the goals to work on.
Organisations are also indicating the use of the 3 way alignment review once at the mid course stage and later at the end of the engagement. This way they see a greater alignment with the organizational realities.
Focus on some tangible goals :
Organisations are clearly wanting the Coaching engagement to be around some tangible goals. This then makes it easier to assess if there is indeed an effect of the Coaching support in helping the Coachee make real progress towards there aspirations.
Use of 360 Degree feedback :
In order to have some way of measuring the progress the use of 360 (either with an instrument or through interviews)is seen to be much more realiable. This does definitely add to the cost of the process but it certainly provides the much sought after realiable measure. The issue however is to ensure that the engagement is for a reasonably long period to ensure that the change is visible and measurable.
Integrated with other Development review processes :
The sustainable approach seems to be to integrate the Coaching effectiveness measurement with the existing development review processes like PDP (Performance Development Proces), IDP (individual Development Plans), People Survey Scores etc.
Conclusion
The scenario of Executive Coaching is definitely more hard-nosed and focused on ensuring value for all concerned. This may put off some of the pristine evangelists of Coaching who fear the intrusion by people other than the Coachee and the Coach in the process.
The Ethics of Coaching and the calibre of Coaches will have to be the core ingredients which ensure that the need for effectiveness measure is not allowed to stream-roll and destroy the spirit of Coaching. While addressing the genuine need to measure effectiveness the Champions of Coaching should deftly balance the need with the essential principles and this is certainly doable.
Acknowledgements
My grateful thanks to the following people and organizations have responded to my questionnaire sharing information and views on the practice of Executive Coaching as they have experienced it and as they see it evolving in the coming months.
Aditya Birla Group
- Mahindras
- Sapient
- Unilever
Mr. Anupam Sirbhaiya
Mr. Jayant Damle
Mr. Kartikeyan .V
Mr. Kenny Toh
Mr. Manohar Arcot
Mr. Pramod Gothi
Questionaire – Research on Measuring Coaching Effectiveness
- Which levels in the organization hierarchy is the Coaching Initiative targeted ?
- What are the typical kinds of development needs sought to be addressed by the Coaching Initiative ?
- Does the Organisation have any need for review of Effectiveness of the Coaching intervention ? If yes, what are they ?
- What are the different practices of measuring the effectiveness of the Coaching engagement adopted by the organization ?
- Is there any kind of mid-term tracking of the Coaching Effectiveness ?
- Who are the people involved in the tracking / review process ? Who is expected to provide the inputs / feedback and to whom ?
- What are the different aspects / elements that are tracked / reviewed ?
- What are the insights that are emerging from these Effectiveness review ?
- What is the plan to do going forward with respect to measurement of Coaching Effectiveness ?
- Do you wish to share any other information on this subject ?