Higher Profits through Corporate, Executive and Life Coaching

Coaching is the greatest gift for the world of business today!

A recent publication by McKinsey & Company consultants, published by the Harvard Business School, based upon five years of in-depth research and analysis, including case studies from 27 leading companies and surveys from 3,000 executives, concludes that, “the vehicle for propelling a talented person to greater heights and greater performance, in much less time, is coaching – which enables people to stretch and grow in ways that hold them to the company.”

As we face an every competitive and demanding future the questions of how to be effective and efficient while enjoying work-life balance haunts both employers and employees at all levels of business, relationships and life.

In the world of business today where staying ahead of the competition is everything, coaching almost seems like manna from heaven.

Before we exploring what coaching can do for your business, relationships and life, let’s examine what coaching is not.

Coaching is not…

Coaching is not training where a lot of information is provided, but doesn’t necessarily promote effectiveness within the organization. Coaching is also distinct from consulting which is great with findings, reports and suggestions most of which unfortunately are never actioned. Coaching is also different from counselling and therapy, which faces great resistance due to its negative and “something is wrong here” connotations in the corporate world. Coaching is also not mentoring which is based on sharing of expertise often without a clear focus on delivering immediate success. So now that we know what coaching is not, what is coaching?

To put it simply, a trainer tells you what you should be doing, a consultant fact finds and shares expertise with you, counsellors explore why you feel that way, while mentors advice you.

So what is Coaching?

Coaching is about assisting people to realize their potential, transform their lives and live out a powerful destiny. It is about assisting people to immediately learn and perform at ever-incremental rates through developing lifetime competencies.

To put it simply, a coach will assist you to perform at a higher level so you can get things done faster and better for your and your environments benefit.

With such a powerful value proposition can you start to imagine the implications of coaching on the world? To add further clout to its ever-increasing reputation, coaching has delivered spectacular success where other development initiatives have failed.

So how can your business, relationships and life profit from coaching?

First let us appreciate the three basic types of coaching…

1) Corporate Coaching

Corporate Coaching is an organization wide imperative most often employed when specific strategies need to be integrated with the need to accelerate the competencies, efficiency and effectiveness at all levels of the organization.

Typically a Corporate Coach is invited to have a dialogue with senior management to get informed on the present reality of the organization and where the organization needs to be in a stipulated period of time. Once all people related issues are made known to the Corporate Coach, the Corporate Coach does a gap analysis, make the necessary recommendations and goes to work to increase people’s knowledge, action and competency levels with a clear focus on increasing individual and team performance such that needed, wanted and desired results are delivered by them, before or on time.

The best way for an organization to engage a Corporate Coach is on a mid to long-term retainer with a focus on specific deliverables that will impact the top and bottom line. Often a Corporate Coach in an effort to deliver on set objectives will need to get involved with some level of Executive and Life Coaching as well.

According to an article in Asia News, Alistair Robertson, a partner at Accenture, a global management consultancy said, “employers are shocked at how high their ROI numbers are for coaching”. He recalls a large employer in the hospitality industry saved between $30 million and $60 million by coaching its top 200 executives.

Why? Because the benefits of mass coaching across organizations are clear. Employees become aware of their potential, are able to communicate more effectively, work and live on purpose resulting in higher productivity levels, reduced stress and greater energy to channel towards corporate profitability.

2) Executive Coaching

Executive Coaching is a specifically targeted, fully customised methodology for leadership development and optimization. It is a collaboration between the Executive Coach and Senior Executive / MD / GM / CXO to specify, clarify, explore and achieve the organizations strategic objectives and mandates ranging from translating the organization’s vision, mission, values, competitive advantages, directions and initiatives into tangible, measurable profitable results. In Executive Coaching, the Executive Coach is engaged by the senior executives of the organization to assist them to perform at their best.

The role of the Executive Coach is far-reaching, confidential and occasionally inclusive of researching and supporting critical decision-making. It is based on firm agreements, time frames and specifically identified desired end results. The Executive Coach also acts, when necessary, as a sounding board by offering feedback, suggestions and the necessary support in the creation and implementation of organizational initiatives.

Executive Coaching as a professional field has been flourishing in the United States for more than twenty years now. In the last decades or so, CXOs of some of the most successful and largest companies have placed their faith and have reaped the benefit of Executive Coaching. In recent years the results produced through Executive Coaching have caused a surge in its popularity worldwide, especially in developed and mature economies.

3) Life Coaching

Life Coaching is about getting a personal coach who works in partnership with you to assist you to craft and achieve your compelling vision of the future by living out a powerful mission. During Life Coaching, while you remain the pilot of your life, the Life Coach is hired as a master who will assist you to live it fully. The Life Coach’s main role is to work with you to advance and accelerate your professional and personal development. This often happens first through clarifying and crystallizing your personal goals, values, vision and mission be they short or long term while simultaneously unleashing your passionate gusto for life. The Life Coach also assists to uncover your blind spots, to identify and remove existing or potential obstacles on your path towards success, power and mastery.

Life Coaching can be employed in organizations to enhance the capabilities of specific earmarked individuals. NASA clearly valued the benefits derived out of getting Life Coaching for individuals in organizations when they made this statement in December 2002 after they undertook Life Coaching for selected individuals.

"In every field of human endeavour in which performance is key, coaching is integral to help shift an individual's mindset, approaches, and behaviour to ensure more effective action and greater business success.”

There is also an increasing trend today to see, young highly ambitious individuals engage their own personal Life Coach as they recognize the value of realizing their potential early, thus increasing their earnings and finding the time to enjoy their wealth.

Conclusion

Now that you are aware of the distinction between coaching and its distant cousins and know exactly the sort of coaching best benefits either your organization or you personally, isn’t it time you got some coaching or learnt what it would take for you and your organization to profit from Masterful Transformational Coaching™.

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The author, Manoj Sharma is the Founder and Managing Director of DifferWorld Pte Ltd - a People Potentialization, Education and Development Company headquartered in Singapore.

To find out more about how you and your organization can benefit from MASTERFUL TRANSFORMATIONAL COACHING™ please call (65) 6338 5669, drop us an email at info@DifferWorld.com immediately.

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You can also request for Mr. Sharma’s new book START WINNING NOW!

Mr. Sharma is also the Creator and Developer KNOWING – A Transformational Experience™, Masterful Transformational Coaching™ and KNOWING THe Principles of Money™ amongst other transformational works.