ROI in executive coaching? For the sake of our profession, let’s stop using it, says Willem Jan Hofmans
There is a lack of empirical evidence that coaching delivers the desired results, according to much of the academic literature, prompting me to focus my research for my Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) on the efficacy of executive/leadership coaching. My conclusions included that ROI evaluations are not only a waste of time, but potentially damaging to the profession, leading me to develop an alternative evaluation framework,...Manage Cookie Consent
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As someone who has both purchased coaching services and who also works as an Executive Coach, there is something that has been overlooked here. I am unaware of any organisation which would make a significant investment in their business without some form of ‘business case’. Larger organisations, particularly, with shareholders and industrial strength governance are unlikely to accept that beyond “”it works”, there is no RoI to coaching. Unfortunately the organisation is often missed out of these considerations – they are key stakeholders. Also, we cannot assume that all organisations are the same – I know organisations with embedded coaching cultures (one end of the spectrum) and those where coaching is still bracketed in the realm of what you do with ‘problem people” (the other end of the spectrum). There are of course every flavour in between. Ditch RoI by all means, but what do you replace it with in a business context? I have had such conversations with business customers and invariably you end up having deep discussions about how coaching works that are more akin to conversations that you’d have in supervision. Kirkpatrick is not a good framework to measure coaching in my view. Personally, I recommend a 360 baseline at the start of the process and agree ‘measures’ for the coaching work based upon the presenting need. By agreeing what ‘good’ looks like for the coaching “at the start of the process” leads to more focused thought about the benefits. Of course you can take a more relaxed view where the coaches fees are not being covered by the organisations for whom the client works, or where the coaching is more lifestyle/spiritual in focus. There is always a presenting need – which defines the start of the journey. We should also remember that through self-actualisation during the coaching process, the ‘need’ may change and this has to be allowed for. The argument that because RoI is ‘too hard’ to define, coaches should evaluate it in some other way is not fully credible, where these ‘other ways’ completely ignore the organisation that in most cases pays for the Executive Coaching. It simply means that we need to work harder to find the ‘common currency’ needed to ensure that all stakeholders are engaged and committed to the coaching outcomes. There is still insufficient research in this space for the academic research to be anything other than materially incomplete, so the body of evidence is not sufficiently advanced for any conclusions to be definitive – so it is great news that you have shone a light on this issue and will be doing further research. Just to re-iterate, if you were to spend £1m of shareholders money on an equipment purchase, they’d look for value for money, discounts, benefits etc. So why is Executive Coaching any different? If you cannot articulate the value of the intervention beyond ‘it makes everyone feel happy’, it will be a long lonely road. If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there….