Whether you’re a C-suite or HR leader engaging an executive coach for your high-potential people or a “high potential” chosen for coaching, you can expect to see a significant return on your investment.

“Many priorities. Limited resources.” is an issue for organizations in the best of times, but even more so when times are challenging (global pandemic, anyone?). You need to be certain that whatever resources you invest (time, money, people) are going to generate meaningful returns.

So why should an investment in executive coaching make the cut?

• Because executive coaching is a way to ensure your key people or teams have the competencies and confidence to lead your organization through the challenging times—today and in the future.

It gives them the readiness, willingness and ability to lead and motivate others and execute your business strategies, in good times and tough times.

• Because executive coaching enables alignment.

And alignment enables synergy that comes from having your people working in sync with organizational goals.

• Because your organization can clarify what success looks like in terms of measurable results.

By laying out what you want the executive coaching to accomplish, you set expectations and provide a benchmark for measuring that all-important ROI.

• Because executive coaching supports near-term and long-term strategies.

Based on your organization’s needs and priorities, executive coaching can be tailored to the needs of a specific project or outcome, or toward increasing leadership skills in general. It’s a valuable tool for increasing performance today as you build bench strength for the future.

• Because research shows that investing in executive coaching makes people more effective at work.

For example, a study by Korn/Ferry Institute that synthesized the results of multiple studies found that:

• • Organizations reported that coaching had a significant impact on business results (e.g., productivity, business deliverables).
  • Individuals being coached reported that coaching improved their skills and performance.

• Because leaders are asking for it!

According to DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast 2018, 67% of Gen X leaders said they would like more external coaching and 57% want external development. Investing in executive coaching helps you both retain leaders eager to improve and attract high-potentials who want to work for an organization willing to invest in them.

Next time, we’ll take a closer look at the other side of the win-win equation of executive coaching—the wins for the people being coached—whether that’s leaders, managers, teams, or other high-potentials.

In the meantime, a few things to think about…

• What do you wish your people were more proficient at? How would increasing their skills and proficiency benefit your organization and your customers/clients?
• What do you want your organization to accomplish—what goals would you pursue—that executive coaching could help your people focus on and achieve?
• What’s the risk of NOT investing in executive coaching?