"Coaching allowed me to see myself as a leader in the eyes of others and, while that's not always a pretty sight, it's been one of the most impactful experiences of my development," says Chuck Feltz, president of Deluxe Corporation's Direct Checks business unit and financial services.
The International Coach Federation estimates that $1 billion is spent on such coaching services in the United States annually. Search for "executive coach" on an Internet search engine and over 400,000 hits are likely. The monthly costs range up to thousands of dollars to groom executives on the fast track to upper-management positions to helping others in times of personal or corporate chaos.
Today's Human Resource (HR) professionals are the people tasked with sourcing qualified coaches and seeing that the high cost of personal coaching delivers a calculable return-on-investment (ROI). Yet, unlike investments in technology, which often result in cost and time savings, there's no easy way to attach a dollar figure to intangibles such as improved leadership skills and enhanced interpersonal relations.
In tracking the coaching process, it is recommended that the HR professional or corporate sponsor hold quarterly status meetings with the executive and coach. Preserving trust and confidentiality is critical in the coaching relationship. That is why all conversations related to the progress of the executive's personal development are best communicated in a meeting between the person being coached, the HR professional or sponsor and the coach.
Source: Human Resource Executive, September 2005