What are the benefits of coaching? (Hint: Probably not what you think they are)

Many people these days have a coach, but why? What benefit do they gain from being coached? IECL has carried out a longitudinal survey of our coaching clients over 10 years (2005 – 2015) and the results are in.

The top five benefits of organisational coaching are:

• Increased job engagement

• Increased confidence/authenticity in the workplace

• Increased sense of wellbeing

• Successful goal attainment

• Increased social capacity

Considering that many see coaching as being very “goals focussed” these results are perhaps surprising. As one participant commented, “I feel so much more equipped now to be efficient in my work, and confident to make changes in the way I work, as well as the way I communicate.” This kind of result is often not a stated goal of coaching up front, but a very welcome (and often unexpected) side effect of the coaching process. Increased engagement on the job clearly benefits not only the person being coached, but can impact the entire organisational culture, especially when that person has a wide sphere of influence. And most of our coaches do have that influence: 54% are in senior management, or higher, positions.

We also looked at what is achieved through coaching. The top five achievements reported by participants in the survey were:

• Performance effectiveness

• Fostering others

• Influencing others

• Self-awareness

• Authenticity

As one participant commented, “I found the whole coaching experience extremely positive and the learnings I gained were invaluable. It has certainly changed the way I manage people.” Click on the image above to see more detail about the survey results, including who was coached and their roles and industries.

While the results of coaching can be difficult to measure in terms of ROI, this survey has provided an insight into how coaching works and what to expect from a coaching relationship.

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