VALUE OF COACHING: A NEW TREND IN AN OLD FRIEND, THE

Training & Development, Apr 2009 by Pace, Ann

By and large, employers today can't simply rely on flashing the Benjamins to entice staff to work harder. However, financial cutbacks in the workplace shed new light on coaching as an effective and inexpensive employee engagement and development tool.

In fact, most employees welcome being challenged and guided by their coaches.

According to the recent study "Coaching Conundrum" by BlessingWhite, a New Jersey-based consulting organization, 20 percent of employees cited being "stretched beyond what I thought I could do" as the coaching action valued most.

Cathy Earley, coaching practice leader at BlessingWnite, explains that coaching is the act of helping someone determine how best to achieve personal job goals, build professional skills and expertise, and meet the goals of the organization.

The study shows that employees appreciate when coaches push them to work beyond daily expectations. Earley suggests that stretch assignments are welcomed by employees within a tumultuous workplace climate.

"They're opportunities for individuals to get out of a rut and distinguish themselves among colleagues. Individuals who are coached to think beyond their normal boundaries are the very ones who can turn companies around in this type of marketplace," she says.

The study includes responses from more than 2,000 managers and employees in 17 countries. According to participants, guided independent work and honest dialogue are additional coaching elements they find most important. Respondents say establishing specific performance goals is the least valuable coaching action.

These responses confirmed researchers' assumption that informal interactions, guidance, and direction between managers and their direct reports are some of coaching's best attributes.

Earley explains that a coaching relationship built on honesty and trust can also serve as a stabilizing force for an employee who is concerned about his future.

"A manager acting as a coach can acknowledge that her employees are worried, create a forum for addressing concerns, and then direct them back to the business at hand," Earley says.

Ann Pace is an editorial assistan t for T D apace@astd.org.