CIPD reports that managers should be supported and encouraged to develop coaching styles. Coaching should be treated as a business, not an HR or L&D, issue
Liz Hall
Coaching at the sharp end, the CIPD’s study on line management and coaching, was released at the annual HRD conference on 21-23 April. It highlights the major role HR can play to ensure line managers deliver coaching sustainably. It also calls for clarity about coaching roles and expectations.

Organisations must train, support and resource managers to coach, fostering effective teamworking and relationships to enable a coaching approach.

The researchers found that most line managers deliver coaching using development and performance, noting the difference between “primary coaching” and “mature coaching”, which includes a more participative style of management and team approaches.

But managers cited barriers to coaching too. These included time constraints, a perceived lack of coaching skills and a lack of self-confidence to deal with difficult people and issues. Productive coaching approaches can be developed by providing skills training, enhancing manager confidence and offering appropriate development and support.

The CIPD collaborated with Portsmouth University to examine line management and coaching in more than 500 organisations. Valerie Anderson, principal lecturer in HRM at Portsmouth University Business School, presented the report at the HRD conference. VT and KPMG presented their experiences of line manager coaching.

  • See news story ‘New study sheds light on manager-coaches’ for a full report on the research.

Landmark ICF global coaching study offers unique client perspective

An overwhelming majority of people who have been coached say they are “very satisfied” with their coaching and would repeat it.

This was a key finding of a global survey of coaching clients commissioned by the International Coach Federation (ICF) and published in March.

ICF global president Karen Tweedie said: “This worldwide initiative is the most ambitious project thus far to gather valuable information on the coaching profession from the unique perspective of the coaching client.”

She said the study offers valuable new insights into how clients globally perceive coaching. It explores areas such as client perceptions about the industry, their motivations for engaging in coaching, how they go about selecting a coach, their assessment of the effectiveness of coaching, and the return on investment they received from the coaching.

The top three motivations for obtaining coaching are: increasing self-esteem/self-confidence (41 per cent), achieving greater work/life balance (36 per cent) and exploring career opportunities (27 per cent).

Some 96 per cent of coaching clients report they would repeat their coaching experience, while 83 per cent report they are “very satisfied” with their coaching experience.

The largest cluster of coaching clients are between the ages of 36 and 45 (36 per cent). The majority have acquired an advanced level of education such as a master’s degree. The duration for the average coaching relationship for survey participants was 12.8 months.

For the ICF Global Coaching Client Study, the ICF commissioned independent research by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Association Resource Centre last year. The study serves as a companion piece to the ICF Global Coaching Study released in 2007.

From late September through November 2008, 2,165 coaching clients from 64 countries responded to the client survey, which was offered in English, French, German, and Spanish.