Coaching flagged as a business essential

Posted by HR Zone in Managing people on Tue, 05/02/2008 - 09:31

Business now sees coaching as an essential part of training and talent management programmes - with real commercial benefits.

Recent research undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the International Coaching Federation found that the approximate annual worldwide revenue produced by coaching was $1.5 billion.

Speaking on the eve of International Coaching week, which starts today, Helen Caton of coaching organisation the Forton Group, said: "Coaching and cosmetic surgery have something in common. They give a huge boost but people don't always like to admit to using them."

But that's changing: "Coaching is now a valued professional service," she said. "And while our clients don’t publish figures outside their business, they view coaching as an essential part of their training and talent management programmes, from which they see actual commercial benefits.

"Leadership is an acquired skill and coaching can provide the key to nurturing the next generation of leaders. But inspiration alone isn't enough. For talented people, the support of a great coach will significantly accelerate their growth into leadership."

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Editor's Note - May 10

Had a busy week with two days at the Responsible Business Summit in London. What struck me was the appetite for sustainability in the corporate world. I spoke to senior figures from multinationals who knew wholeheartedly that businesses in the future would not succeed if the society around them failed.

Much of this appetite was understandably focused on collaboration - the future of sustainability. Words that were previously indicative of success - power, might, scale, size - are no longer enough in the open source, peer-reviewed future where opponents will not simply grumble and moan and then leave you in peace. Companies must work with governments, NGOs, charities and social enterprises as a matter of course. And even competitors, where necessary.

Facilitating this collaboration is the big challenge of the next five years. Highly-strung and ego-centric companies, feverish with the need to protect their brand, will struggle the most, but it's either adapt or die.

The business/charity relationship is one of the most interesting focal points. Business power can drive positive social change in so many ways but charities are the key holders to communities. As businesses are expected more and more to play a stake in the future, charity partnerships should be top of the corporate priority list. Businesses that don't work closely with a charity will find themselves with reputational problems.

There's a lot more to CSR, of course, but collaboration is the bedding on which CSR will rest. Businesses can no longer find the answers to all their problems in their own resources and assets.

And for many that's a scary thought.

Any thoughts, thoughts or questions, drop me a line on editor@hrzone.co.uk.

Best wishes

Jamie