‘Coaching will remain a black box unless the behavior change and the ensuing benefits, including those to the bottom line, are tracked.’ (Whitmore, 2017)

Coaching has had a hugely positive impact on individuals and organizations during the last decade. In the right context, it is a powerful tool to enhance performance. However, it is not right for everyone, and in every situation, and of course there are times when it does not work. As organizations become more sophisticated in measuring talent development, bringing meaningful measurement to coaching is overdue.

There are many inherent challenges in measuring the impact of coaching, from there being ‘far too many variables to be able to say for certain that it was the coaching that made the difference’ (Rogers) to confidentiality and the challenge of measuring the intangible. Often an organization may not have conducted any evaluation before a coaching program begins, or there is no control group to compare with. However, if we can measure the size of an atom, finding ways to capture the impact of coaching in an objective way is more than achievable.

Highlighting the value of coaching in evolving organizations will be key to continued success and the ability to continue to deploy this important tool.

Reflections

As someone who has routinely procured coaching services to support the development and advancement of talent across organisations, the need to demonstrate some measurement of the impact and results has been ever present. This one to one intervention is powerful and impactful, when deployed in the right circumstances, and capturing the performance enhancements in a measureable way is important to maintain support. Too often the perceived resistance from coaches is challenging and can leave an organization with little demonstrated impact of the opportunity.

As I have coached others and reflected, the importance of building trust, confidence and effective working relationships with clients to be able to have an impact are all critical. One core element used is the very clear confidential nature of the conversations, providing the client with a safe space for conversation. That same confidentiality can also create a barrier removing the ability for the organisation to track and measure the coaching impact.

The question for me is: can impactful coaching be achieved along with a degree of visibility and measurement for the sponsoring organization?

Advancing a measurement mindset

For coaching to continue to deliver the individual and organizational benefits we have seen previously, and avoid the often easy to level concerns about cost, impact and results, organizations will need to develop and use a measurement approach that delivers within the context they operate and use coaching. Additionally, coaches need to bring a mindset, willingness and approach to measurement that will facilitate some greater transparency on the output, not the content.

The recognition that objectively tracking progress, used appropriately, can be positive brings individual and organisational benefits, and will be required going forward is all part of the new mindset that will be crucial. Embracing the opportunity to share the impact, again not the content, is really a positive development.

This mindset needs to be addressed amongst a number of key stakeholder groups:

• Coachee: in the same way that progress in a business school program or internal leadership program would have measures of progress, an investment in coaching will have similar approaches. Being up front and transparent on how this will work, what is shared and importantly what is not shared and remains confidential will be important. All can be suitably addressed in the contracting discussion.

• Coach: this is about shifting the line of transparency a degree, not removing it. The key underpinning pillar of confidentiality remains. 

• HR professionals: some developmental investments may always be harder to measure, and with coaching I have seen how the discussions and key areas to focus upon over the engagement can shift and evolve. So, any measurement will need to be flexible.

• Line management / wider organization: continuing to manage expectations will be essential. The support and coaching will remain confidential and any impact may well take time, depending on the objectives and focus areas.

Potential solutions

The topic of measurement is of course not new. Indeed options and approaches have been considered, including:

• Estimated ROI

This approach, articulated by Sherpa Consulting, seeks to provide some assessment of the value of coaching by: 1) estimating the total value of resolving an issue; 2) multiply this by the percentage you and the client attribute to the coaching; 3) apply a confidence level of accuracy; 4) subtract the cost of coaching; 5) calculate the ROI by dividing the net benefit by the cost of coaching and create percentage.

• Coaching for Performance ROI

This approach, developed by Whitmore and team, sets out a process focused on capturing clear goals and objectives, the ongoing actions, notes on what then happened. The monetary impact and confidence level is also then considered to reach an ROI.

• Three-way reviews

Many coaches have successfully used the practice of three-way reviews during and at the end of the coaching engagement to track progress. With the coachee, coach and organization representative (line manager, sponsor, HR) these discussions ensure that there is a level of visibility and engagement in the overall process.

• Summary feedback trends

This approach captures the feedback and overall rating on the coaching experience from all those who have had a coaching opportunity. This provides some data on the value or impact that is used internally.

The above tools may be appropriate in some organisations, and bring some clarity, although they present some challenges from my perspective. Building on my experience of coaching and application in professional service firms I share the following further approaches:

• Pulse surveys

The ability to easily run pulse surveys today presents a fantastic tool to track progress and receive input from a designated group over time. With say four to six questions, re-run three or four times (say at the start of the engagement, mid-way through, at the end, and then again 3-6 months beyond) delivers great real-time insight that can be captured and measured.

• Self-measurement tracking

There is value in self-measurement as a tool to capture progress, especially as the goals may evolve. Each month during the engagement, across agreed areas, which may vary depending on the role and priority of the coachee, the individual would complete a summary. This provides a degree of visibility and summary to use internally as appropriate.

• Organizational measurement

There are existing measures in all organisations that can be leveraged to provide insight. In the law firm context this could be: collaboration metrics, client satisfaction, client growth measures, team engagement scores, 360 feedback, financial data, to name a few. Depending on the priority for the coaching engagement, an appropriate selection of measures would be agreed and tracked with the benefit that these can be seen over time, from well before the coaching began to after it concludes.

• Aggregate data

Many of the approaches discussed above focus on individual tracking and ROI. From an organizational perspective the more important and compelling data is the overall aggregate data. Is coaching delivering value for us as a Firm? This will not be answered by one example, so bringing the results from each individual coaching engagement together will show what overall impact is being derived. Achieving this obviously requires some commonality in approach to track individual engagements.

Conclusion

Measurement is critical and more is possible, indeed needed. My external coaching, along with internal coaching, has helped me appreciate the nuances to address in how we tackle this organizationally going forward. Coaching as a practice will be enhanced by the insights that measurement can provide, especially at an aggregated level.

Design a simple, yet effective approach, that is applicable for the organization, ideally leveraging existing metrics. Tailor where needed depending on the coaching priority and contract the approach at the outset. Confidentiality remains critical around content in the coaching conversations.

In considering this important topic, my thanks to Anne Scoular and Meyler Campbell.