WHY IS COACHING STILL ELUSIVE? (AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT…)

This isn’t a blog on the value of coaching.

The research has been conducted, the books have been written, the jury is in: There are direct business outcomes that can be achieved when managers incorporate coaching into their role. This high level of awareness about the critical need for coaching has been fueling retreats, training, online social learning, white papers and incentives, among a myriad of other initiatives.

So let’s not waste time talking about the value of coaching. What I am going to talk about is why—despite all this awareness of the benefits—coaching still isn’t happening.

A recent Sales Management Association study into coaching indicates that 77% of organizations report that they do too little coaching. And the majority of those that actually are conducting coaching say that it’s ineffective.

Does that ring true as you look across your organization?

The question then is, why the discrepancy between what organizations know they should be doing and what is really happening? In hundreds of instances where we have asked managers directly about their coaching activity, the response is consistently some version of “no time!” or “too busy!” However, when we recently polled people and asked them to rate not themselves personally but their organization’s management team, we got an entirely different response.

Participants in this poll of over 450 organizations told us the number one reason—selected by 44% of respondents—that coaching doesn’t happen is managers lack the skill/capability to coach. Another 23% said managers don’t prioritize coaching. Respondents also told us that less than a quarter (just 22%) of their managers embrace coaching, while the remainder are either reluctant (45%), strongly avoid it (4%) or simply “tolerate it” (29%).

Continue to read more:- WHY IS COACHING STILL ELUSIVE? (AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT…)