US-based Sherpa’s latest annual survey reveals the value and credibility of coaching is at an all-time high, spreading across the globe and creating corporate cultures
This is the year that high-definition video made its mark on coaching, while the number of practitioners using face-to-face coaching fell for the first time in eight years, according to a global survey.
Webcam, a technology that was hardly mentioned even five years ago, is now an important component of service delivery, with 15 per cent of practitioners using it to coach, according to Sherpa’s eighth annual survey – Executive Coaching at the Summit (www.sherpacoaching.com).
The use of video-conferencing is also rising dramatically. External coaches use it more often than internals, by a 22 per cent to 20 per cent margin. And as live, high-quality video starts to become widely available, it will overtake other delivery methods, predicts the report.
Some 92 per cent of internal coaches see face-to-face coaching as the most effective method of delivery, compared to 76 per cent of externals.
The report has thrown up other differences between how external and internal coaches operate, too. Internal coaches meet their clients more often and have more face-to-face meetings – more than half of internals’ coaching is in person, compared to just 40 per cent of externals’ services, the survey notes.
Internal coaches are twice as likely to have weekly meetings, and strongly favour shorter engagements (90 days or less.) Some 27 per cent of externals believe a coaching engagement should last six months or longer, while only 7 per cent of internal coaches opt for engagements that long.
Credibility and confidence
The credibility of coaching is rising, too. It is highest in the UK, Australia and Canada, with strong gains reported in Mexico, Brazil and
South Africa. Last year, the number of respondents rating it as “high” or “very high” jumped from 80 per cent to 90 per cent – and the numbers have stayed right there for 2013.
Compared to just four years ago, the number of people who see the credibility of coaching as mediocre or worse has declined sharply, from 30 per cent to 10 per cent.
HR and training professionals report a double-digit increase in their confidence in the value of coaching. The number of contributors from this group who now see the value of executive coaching as “very high” jumped from 63 per cent to 75 per cent. The percentage of respondents in Brazil who see the value of coaching as “very high” has risen by more than 20 per cent.
Fees
Coaches charging the lowest rates (five or fewer clients each week) have fewer clients than the middle and upper tiers. Most mid- and top-level coaches see six or more clients. It’s a myth that encouraging longer engagements generates more revenue – coaches who charge more have shorter engagements, and avoid open-ended arrangements, says the report. The top coaches also have more ‘employer paid’ clients and work with larger organisations. Three out of four top earners work with client companies employing 1,000 or more.
New tricks
The top earners are also more likely to offer team coaching and coaching skills training programmes. Some 43 per cent of coaches have established coaching skills programmes, compared to only 32 per cent of HR & training professionals. Some 37 per cent of coaches offer established team coaching programmes, compared with just 24 per cent of HR and training professionals.
The report differentiates between executive coaches (who work on business behaviour), and business coaches (who help clients develop knowledge and skills). There are fewer veteran business coaches and more new entrants, compared to executive coaches, and the latter charge more.
On the low end, 36 per cent of business coaches charge an hourly rate of US$150 or less. Only 14 per cent of executive coaches charge these rates.
There has been significant progress for business coaches, however. Over the past year, hourly rates for executive coaches have remained steady, while 10 per cent of business coaches have started charging US$300 an hour or more for the first time.
Executive coaching is no longer being democratised – it is once again the province of senior leaders and top executives, apart from in Atlanta, Georgia, whose HR and training professionals are the most likely to hire coaches to work at all levels.
“The change is now taking place ‘against the grain’, in spite of an improving economy. This leads us to believe that democratisation may have been an experiment that didn’t quite work out,” says the report.
Performance management
Worldwide, almost half of the contributors said coaching is “sometimes” integrated into performance management (meaning anything from comparing 360-degree feedback surveys before and after coaching to ongoing development of coaching skills), while almost a quarter reported that it is always integrated.
Only 2 per cent of our participants overall had problems with the results of coaching, while 60 per cent described results as “excellent”, and close to 40 per cent described results as “good”.
The top five processes in use are the Co-Active model; the GROW model; the Hudson Institute’s; Marshall Goldsmith’s, and Sherpa’s own model, according to the report.
Standards and accreditation
A few years back, a desire for a universal standard of practice began to grow. That feeling is still strong – nearly half of respondents say universal standards are either ‘very important’ or ‘absolutely essential’.
Demand for standards of practice is strongest in countries where executive coaching is in its early stages. Elsewhere, however, there is little call for government regulation – and it is not on the books anyway. Additionally, the credibility of coaching is on a continuous climb, so the perceived need for control is dropping, says the report.
Internal coaches favour university endorsement of coach training programmes by a 2:1 margin over external coaches. Mid-level earners, in the US$150-$300 per hour range, favour professional body association endorsement by 4:1 over universities, while one in six top coaches – those charging US$500 per hour or more – believe certification is unnecessary.
Tools
Eight out of 10 coaches use one of the top five assessments: 360-degree feedback; DISC; Myers-Briggs; Emotional Intelligence, and Strengths Finder. For executive coaches, 360-degree assessments lead the pack again this year, with a 25 per cent market share. The others each have a market share at or near 15 per cent.
The survey
The survey had more than 1,000 respondents from 53 countries – ranging from coaches, HR and training professionals to business leaders. The research is co-sponsored by the University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education in Georgia, Miami’s Corporate & Community Institute, in Ohio, and Tandy Center for Executive Leadership at Texas Christian in Texas, all in the US.
To download the free report go to: www.sherpacoaching.com
Coaching at Work, volume 8, issue 2