Soft Skills are Hard. Assessing impact of coaching. Parameters, KPIs and processes

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Soft Skills are Hard – Approaches for Measuring Impact of Coaching and Selection of Coaches

Soft Skills are Hard

Assessing impact of coaching. Parameters,

KPIs and processes

Presentation

Corporate Advisory Seminar - 6 February 2009

EFMD premises, Brussels

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Does coaching work?

• What do corporates say

• – and what do they measure?

• What do coaches say?

• What does research say?

• Recommendations

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Soft Skills are hard. Assessing impact of coaching. Parameters, KPIs and processes

Paradox

• Brian: Please, please, please listen! I've got one or two things

to say!

• The Crowd: Tell us! Tell us both of them!

• Brian: Look, you've got it all wrong! You don't need to follow

ME, You don't need to follow anybody! You've got to think for your selves! You're all individuals!

• The Crowd: Yes! We're all individuals!

• Brian: You're all different!

• The Crowd: Yes, we ARE all different!

• Man in crowd: I'm not...

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Does coaching work?

• What do the corporates say

• …and what do they measure?

Source:

Does Coaching Work? A report prepared for the Coaching at Work Conference, CIPD 2005

Report based on survey amongst 30 UK based organisations, eg. BBC, Dixons, Greater London Authority, Lloyds TSB, Panasonic Europe, Shell.

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Coaching

Birgit Diekmann, Senior Executive Vice President, P4, Management, HR Development, HR Support to Senior Executives/Executives

17.02.2005, Page 5

Coaching at T-Com.

Selection criteria for coaches.

Training in coaching/many years of experience in

coaching executives

Training in coaching/many years of experience in

coaching executives

Self-confident, genuine and appreciative manner,

ability to conduct discussions

Self-confident, genuine and appreciative manner,

ability to conduct discussions

Own experience of management

References from comparable large companies

Focal topics such as customer orientation,

leadership, change management

Focal topics such as customer orientation,

leadership, change management

International experience/networks

Source: EMCC Forum European Mentoring and Coaching Council

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Coaching

Coaching at T-Com.

Evaluation (1).

From January 10 to January 28, 2005, we conducted a systematic

evaluation of all coaches with whom T-Com currently collaborates in

the field of management development.

All managers who have used coaching on the advice of HR

Development were asked about their experiences of the following in

a telephone interview ...

Preparation of the coaching process

(information material, booking

process, appointment scheduling)

Quality of the coach

(formation of a relationship, technical knowledge,

effectiveness, structured approach, target orientation, focal topics)

Success of coaching

(target achievement, personal benefit)

The vast majority of former coachees were satisfied or very satisfied

with coaching in general, and their personal coach in particular

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Coaching

17.02.2005, Page 7

Coaching at T-Com.

Evaluation (2).

Status: February 14, 2005, surveyed: 36 coachees

1 = Agree completely 6 = Do not agree at all Rating: 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1 2 3 4 5 6

I have achieved my goals

I would use coaching again

Technical expertise of the coach

Rating P e rd e n t Rating P e rc e n t Rating P e rc e n t

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Coaching

Coaching at T-Com.

Experiences to date.

Some of our managers’ comments:

Our discussion of concrete, current issues helped me to

solve the problems.

Our discussion of concrete, current issues helped me to

solve the problems.

We practiced some new approaches which

allowed me to find solutions even in deadlock situations.

We practiced some new approaches which

allowed me to find solutions even in deadlock situations.

It was very helpful to have someone on the outside holding

up a mirror to me.

It was very helpful to have someone on the outside holding

up a mirror to me.

I learnt a different way of dealing with

new situations.

I learnt a different way of dealing with

new situations.

I learnt a great deal in just a few

sessions.

I learnt a great deal in just a few

sessions.

Coaching has given me confidence.

My coach was too conservative for my tastes, and unfamiliar

with modern career paths.

My coach was too conservative for my tastes, and unfamiliar

with modern career paths.

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Coaching

17.02.2005, Page 9

Coaching at T-Com.

Outlook.

Evaluation has already shown a high level of customer satisfaction with

current coaching practices at T-Com. Nevertheless, we want to improve

further, and pick up on some of our customers’ requests, e.g. for more

in-depth preliminary information

T-Com’s network of coaches is updated and developed at regular intervals to

enable us to accommodate our internal customers’ requirements even

more effectively

Contact between the HR Development unit at T-Com and the coaches is

being intensified in order to gain a better feeling for their focal topics and

working methods

Both the coaching process as a whole, and the evaluation of coaching and

coaches, will be further optimized

Benchmarks with external companies (such as Roland Berger) indicate that

T-Com operates in a high-quality, customer-oriented manner

Coaching is to be extended to managers below the senior executives level

The training and deployment of in-house coaches is to be stepped up

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Monitoring and managing the coaching engagement

Managing the

ongoing coaching

engagement

Evaluating

effectiveness

Drawing things to a

close

Initial orientation of

the coach

Checking satisfaction

and progress

Setting and managing

expectations

Setting up the

coaching

Managing your coach pool. Practical tips for HR. CIPD 2005

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3 types of data

• Targets

• Performance ratings

• Success stories

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Targets

• Increases – sales,

revenue, market share,

profitability, and

productivity

• Decreases – cycle times,

absence, down time, and

quality failures

• Instilled practice –

employee using a defined

procedure or a new skill

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Performance ratings - examples

• Performance rating from coach, coachee, mentor and manager

• 360 degree or 180 degree feedback

• Mystery shopper / customer feedback

• Cultural survey scores

• Performance ratings

• Ratings of competence

• Employee satisfaction survey scores

• Quality percentage improvement

• Customer survey results

• Skills matrix – percentage of key tasks covered by the teams

• Position in survey such as “100 best companies”

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Success stories

• Stories about changes in customer perceptions

• Accounts of individual or departmental successes

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Use of different evaluation techniques

32

Assessing changes in the organisational performance

36

Assessing changes in the culture of the organisation

39

Assessing changes in employee attitude survey ratings

57

Assessing achievements of goals set at the beginning of the coaching

64

Assessing changes in individual performance or career progress

75

Asking for feedback from participants’ line managers

89

Asking for feedback from individuals receiving coaching

Percentage of respondents using this

technique

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What do coaches say

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What do coaches say

There are regular checkpoints with HR and the manager, as

part of the HIPO development

programme

There are regular checkpoints with HR and the manager, as

part of the HIPO development

programme

Many of my clients are at CEO level or senior management, and in effect there is no one

specific person to report to…

Many of my clients are at CEO level or senior management, and in effect there is no one

specific person to report to…

Depends on the organisation, however always the boss and then

others, such as Chief Learning Officer or Leadership Development

Manager

Depends on the organisation, however always the boss and then

others, such as Chief Learning Officer or Leadership Development

Manager

In most cases I discuss progress with the coachee at

the end of each session.

In most cases I discuss progress with the coachee at

the end of each session.

Any reporting concerning progress

to HR is done with the coachee present, and is led

by the coachee.

Any reporting concerning progress

to HR is done with the coachee present, and is led

by the coachee.

We do not take any coaching engagement where we have to report “progress” to anyone. We

feel that would

compromise the coaching relationship

We do not take any coaching engagement where we have to report “progress” to anyone. We

feel that would

compromise the coaching relationship

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Example of collective feedback from coaches to an

organisation

”Please share your observations and reflections…

• Findings, and observations that COMPANY might benefit

from being aware of

• Trends that top management may take into consideration

• Development needs for the managers in COMPANY I have

spotted when working with them

• My recommendations to COMPANY based on my

understanding of the company, its culture and its values”

• Coach pool was invited via e-mail to feed back their observations, and recommendations.

The result was consolidated and explored in a NECTAR session, with participation of top management, HR, and lead coaches

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What does research say?

• Coaching outcome research not yet available

• Question is, from where can we learn about what works, in

terms of positive impact?

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Coaching borrows from both consulting and therapy

Paid for by the company Provides quantitative analysis of problems Based on organisational ethics Strives for objectivity Involves managers in goal setting Focuses on organisational performance Advises individual leaders on business matters Paid to come up with answers

Paid for by the individual Explores subjective experience Based on medical ethics Focuses on individual behavioural change

Diagnoses and treats disfunctionality

Tackles difficult issues at home and at work

Focuses on the past Paid to ask the

right questions Helps executives discover their own path Fosters individual performance in a business context Focuses on the future

Coaching

Consulting Therapy

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Therapy outcome research. Meta-analysis

•

The Great Psychotherapy

Debate: Models, Methods, and Findings by Bruce Wampold

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The hard data – what outcome research in

psychotherapy says

1. Psychotherapy has a large effect on various criteria for success (effect

size d

_≈

0.85)

2. There is a negligible difference in effectiveness between different

approaches (effect size d < 0.20)

3. The active ingredients of therapy are therefore common to many

approaches:

• Relationship-related factors: working alliance, commitment, transference

• Client-related factors: hope of change, motivation, problem, pressure

• Therapist-related factors: personality traits, cultivation of positive

expectations, warmth, appreciation, attention

• Change-related factors: opportunities for expression, practice and acquiring a

rationale for change

• Structure-related factors: use of techniques or rituals, exploration of issues of

the coachee, and commitment to theory

• External factors: outside help, changes occurring independently of the therapy

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Hard data: the strongest factors

• Quality of the

relationship: d

_≈

0.54 • Person of the therapist:

d

_≈

0.50 – 0.65

• The client. The least

studied, but probably

most effective factor in

therapy. Well founded

estimates of effect size

of ‘hope”: d

_≈

0.85. Influence of external

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Erik de Haan’s recommendations for coaches

• First, do no harm

• Have confidence

• Commit yourself heart and soul to your approach, even if you know that it

doesn

_′

t matter which professional approach you choose

• Feed the hopes of your coachee

• Consider the coaching from your coachee

_′

s perspective

• Work on your coaching relationship, discuss it explicitly

• If you don

_′

t

_′

click

_′

, find a replacement coach

• Look after yourself

• Stay as fresh and unbiased as possible

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Harvesting the learning to reach organisational

development (Peter Hawkins)

• Coaching in many organisations has begun to equal

outsourced people management. Coaching must start

to connect the personal benefit to the organisational

benefit.

– Recommendations

Build a community of internal and external coaches committed to the organisation learning as well as the individuals

– At regular intervals bring the community together to hear the challenges the organisation is experiencing and questions it has about the organisation’s

people/culture and development

– Facilitate supervision trios on key coaching relationships with managed confidentiality – Work with the coachees on structured pattern

identification

– Facilitate a dialogue with senior executives and the coachees on the key themes emerging and the