It was reported recently that about 80% of Fortune 500 companies provide coaching services to multiple levels of their management teams.  When executive coaches are utilized, these companies report an increase in sales, profits, growth in market share and increased executive satisfaction.  Professional executive coaches are increasingly being used in organizations with equally astounding results.

Professional coaching allows leaders and executives gain insight into how their own experience, preconditioning, values, beliefs, and assumptions affects both positively and negatively the people they work with, lead and manage.  Personal discovery, enhancing skills, and learning new approaches are all part of the coaching process.  A coach can provide feedback, direct action planning, foster active learning and follow up to help individuals move towards more success in both their careers and the business.  Outside coaches can maintain a confidentiality that not only allows clients to explore aspects of themselves and the business more in depth, but it can also create a great sense of safety.

In past decades the focus was more on training, training, training, and results were often short lived.  Today coaching is popular and successful because organizations appreciate that continuous learning is important to us as individuals and to companies.  Coaching results are immediate and long lasting for most.  And one of the most important areas of learning is emotional learning.  The link between people and the bottom line has now become very clear.  Improve your people and you will improve your bottom line.  This is because we have seen in research that the relationship between a leader/manager and his or her staff drives the quality of products and services.  The number one problem managers have in managing is that they are emotionally incompetent.  This means they are unable to appreciate another’s perspective, they do not work well with teams and overall have poor interpersonal relationships.

In short, professional coaching is a partnership that helps clients fulfill their lives.  Through the coaching process, clients can deepen their learning, improve their performance and enhance the quality of life.