Although fewer organisations may be undertaking coaching activity, those that are, are doing more of it, according to a study.
The survey among 332 HR professionals undertaken by the Chartered Insitute of Personnel and Development revealed that some 77% were currently using coaching techniques, down from 90% in 2009 when the body last carried out a similar piece of research. Of those employing the training method, however, more than four-fifths indicated that they had been doing more of it than two years ago.
Dr John McGurk, the CIPD’s learning and talent adviser, said: “Although budgets remain tight, it is encouraging to see that a relatively small number of organisations report decreases in their coaching budgets, compared to the number reporting decreases in overall funding in our learning and talent development survey earlier this year.”
As to what end respondents were using the activity, some 43% saw it as a good tool for boosting performance or to improve poor performance, while 48% felt that it helped to build on good performance. The bulk of coaching, in keeping with previous data, was delivered by line managers or in-house coaches, although the number of external coaches taken on jumped from 14% to 20%.
Most assignments focused on developing skills and competence (67% always or frequently), while supporting career transition (54% always or frequently) was also key. A focus on improving employees’ understanding of business, commercial and financial issues (26% always or frequently) was much lower, however.
Other findings of the ‘Coaching Climate’ report included:
- Seven in 10 respondents’ expenditure on coaching rose or was stable, while just under a quarter cut their budgets.
- Just over a third (37%) evaluated “stories and testimony” as their most common method of measuring effectiveness compared with just under a quarter in 2009. Key performance indicators and business metrics were used by three out of ten of those questioned, while 28% developed evaluation criteria at the outset during the contracting phase.
- Nearly three-quarters of respondents also had some sort of mentoring scheme in place.
To access the report visit: www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/survey-reports/coaching-climate-2011.aspx.
