Ultimate Guide to Coaching Benefits

While the benefits of life coaching are important, this guide will focus on the impact for businesses: outlining and investigating the benefits of coaching in the workplace.

In this guide, find out about the benefits of coaching and mentoring, explore the different types of coaching for businesses, check out digital options, and read about how coaching benefits can be measured and evaluated.

Coaching in the workplace

Did you know the title ‘Coach’ was first used in the 1830s? As an informal term for tutors, the word’s meaning was not so different from today.

The concept of ‘Human Potential Management’, popularised through the counterculture movements of the 1960s, led to widespread interest in how coaches could foster personal development. As coaches moved from academia and sport contexts, their profession became popular and the benefits of life coaching began to be discussed. 

Organisations started to explore the value that coaches could bring to corporate environments, and the 1980s saw a surge in business-focused coaching.

In recent decades, workplace coaching has progressed from a pure focus on performance management to development and wellbeing. The options for businesses have multiplied. This guide will outline some, but first let’s look at why companies choose to invest in coaching.

Benefits of coaching and mentoring for businesses

The benefits of coaching are numerous; let’s first look at some numbers. Research shows that coaching is a sound investment – organisations that used coaching reported stronger market performance. 

A survey of coaching clients found that companies investing in coaching have a mean ROI seven times higher than the initial investment. The financial benefits of coaching are clear.

Aside from this, coaching leads to:

• Improved employee performance and engagement – coaching helps with goal setting, problem solving, and more. Employees receiving coaching are better able to focus on their success and thus enhance their work performance. 
• Increased employee retention. Research has shown that millennials who have workplace mentors are twice as likely to remain with their employer for over five years. 
• Faster, more effective integration of new employees. Coaching makes it easier for new starters to build relationships and feel part of their team. Research suggests that new employees are 24% likelier to make a quick exit if this integration isn’t successful – costing the business time and money. 

Implementing coaching into companies leads to heightened trust and performance, as well as happier employees and reduced turnover costs.

Benefits of coaching employees

The simplest form of business coaching involves one-to-one sessions between employees and their chosen coach, designed to guide them in realizing their potential and fulfilling their role as effectively as possible. 

Earlier in this guide, we described some of the benefits of coaching in the workplace – for the employer. Now let’s look at why it can be career-changing, even life-changing, for the employee.

• Goal realization: coaching enables employees to define their short-term and long-term goals. As well as identifying these goals, a coach helps the employee figure out and take steps towards them. An employee who can measure their progress and recognize their achievements will have higher self-confidence and job satisfaction.
• Positive communication: coaching gives employees the opportunity to consider issues they may be having in their work and talk through these in a safe and supportive space. A coach will help employees feel more confident in communicating their point of view or ideas to others within the company, increasing engagement.
• Feeling valued: when a company invests in coaching, it shows employees that their development and contribution is important. One of the benefits of coaching and mentoring is the way it makes employees feel appreciated, which leads to increased staff loyalty and improved performance.   

Creating resilience: coaching can be particularly helpful for employees whose company or industry is going through a time of upheaval. Just as one of the benefits of life coaching is increased resilience and adaptability, so too can workplace coaching enable employees deal with stressful situations, remain focused, and keep a positive mindset. Employees agree: 76% believe that coaching is helpful during periods of organizational change.

Benefits of business coaching

While employee coaching and executive coaching work to bring out employees’ potential and help people excel in their roles, a business coach usually assists with development – of a company or individual. 

Business coaching is objective-focused and looks to the future. It’s increasingly popular with companies keen to get an outside perspective, whether on their broad strategy, or specific issues such as restructuring.

The key benefits of business coaching include:

• A business coach helps to establish a vision and identify long-term ambitions for the company, taking a wider view to enable leaders to see how their next steps fit into long-term strategy.
• Business coaches use tailored and highly adaptable goals, with regular reports, to enable a company to track and analyze its progress.
• Business coaching can also be diagnostic; enabling leaders to candidly discuss challenges the business faces and work together to come up with solutions. This increases future resilience.  
• Effective business coaches give businesses the skills to survive future challenges independently; so while business coaching is valuable as part of a long-term plan, it can also be highly effective in shorter forms. 
• By transforming a company’s mindset and goals, business coaches have a positive impact on company culture, creating better places to work.

Measuring impact

How the benefits of coaching should be evaluated is something businesses ought to consider as they implement coaching programs. 

In this guide we’ve cited many studies showing the positive effects of coaching across a wide range of companies and industries. However, it’s also important for leaders to understand how coaching is positively impacting their organisation specifically. For example, are new employees responding particularly well? How about executives?

Gathering this information takes some time, but it’s the best way for organisations to ensure they have a coaching strategy that suits their needs.

Tips for evaluating the benefits of coaching in the workplace:

• Track and measure statistics on employee retention, performance, and engagement prior to and after the implementation of coaching practices. Detailed, department-specific statistics are most useful.
• Keep a note of the rate of promotion within the company. Has this been positively affected? If not, it may be worth exploring the benefits of talent management coaching. 
• Employees receiving coaching should work with their coach to develop personalized development plans that are shared with their manager. These can then be a valuable source of insight into the impact of coaching on an individual level. Regular sessions where these are discussed, and progress updates are shared, will help to track progress as well as boosting motivation.
• An annual company-wide evaluation of goal achievement is also key to ensuring coaching is guiding a business in the right direction. To really reflect on yearly progress and identify the forces behind highlights or challenges, a business coach can help.