By Liz Hall
Many external coaches still forget who is paying their fees, according to Ernst & Young partner, transaction advisory services, and internal coach, Ian Paterson.
“This is a cry for help – keep focused on the client organisation; it’s not the individual who is paying the fees. Some people forget that and don’t give us feedback, which I find disappointing.”
The professional services giant is looking at the relationship between internal and external coaches and is keen to step up delivery by the latter.
ROI is a challenge for the 7,000-strong business, which is building a global coaching programme across more than 100 countries. Paterson, a due diligence accountant, set out to “crack ROI”, reviewing all the research. “But I came to the conclusion that we’re never going to get a ROI solution as there is so much else in the system.”
He asked: “But how do we get better at articulating what works in coaching?”
He said that typically those working at Ernst & Young have Myers-Briggs STJ preferences. “They need to see how a conversation leads to results.”
He has just been given the green light to run a pilot to collect data to support more investment in coaching.
It has identified seven steps to establishing a coaching culture, said Paterson, speaking at the European Mentoring & Coaching Council UK’s annual conference in London. It has looked at its external coaches, is developing internal coaches and has gained senior level buy-in. The fourth step is that coaching becomes the norm: “We’re not quite there yet”, and the final stage will be when coaching becomes how the organisation does business with stakeholders.
“Establishing a coaching culture takes six to ten years so we are quite proud.”
But there is still work to do: “The challenge is, while we want more client-serving people coaching in the business, if they’re coaching, they’re not earning.”
Coaching at Work, Volume 6, Issue 3