The Coach Connection Blog

Organizations do not measure the impact of their coaching investments

Bill Dueease — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 04:00:00 -0400

“The American Management Association (AMA) commissioned the Institute for Corporate Productivity to conduct a study entitled “Coaching-A Global Study of Successful Practices-Current Trends and Future Possibilities 2008-2018” This is the third comparison of the findings of this independent study with the methods practiced by TCC for over 7 years that further validates that TCC’s very unique method of connecting TCC clients with their best-matched coaches provides the most successful process for coaching clients to achieve their coachable goals.

“The AMA/Institute for Corporate Productivity study found that only about a quarter of respondents assess coaching’s bottom-line impact on the business to a high extent, but even this might represent an uptick in such practices, based on previous reports. “

Furthermore the study reports:

“So far, however, the literature indicates that relatively few organizations have formal procedures in place to measure coaching’s success. McCormick (2007) polled 500 readers of Personnel Today and reports that 67% of respondents say their organizations don’t measure coaching ROI and an additional 20% say they simply don’t know if coaching outcomes are measured. Furthermore, not only are formal measurement systems not yet in place, many companies (some of which have used executive coaches for years) aren’t even sure what they would measure if they had to. In fact, 44% of respondents in McCormick’s study (2007) believe it is impossible to measure the ROI of coaching at all, and, if their organizations must measure it, then anecdotal evidence of its effectiveness is all that’s possible.”

“One study suggests that only a minority of organizations assess the impact of their coaching interventions (McDermott et al., 2007), and another finds that a scant 9% of survey respondents said they formally assess coaching’s return on investment (Sherpa, 2007).”

In essence, most organizations do not measure the results of their coaching investments, and do not appear to measure the value of the results, if any, of the coaching used.

The success rates of coaching were tied to whether organizations measured success

Yet, the study reported that the success rates of the coaching engagements were directly related to whether the organization made an effort to measure coaching success, regardless of the measurement methods used.

“MAJOR FINDING-The more frequently respondents reported using a measurement method, the more likely they were to report success in their coaching programs.”

Thus the study concluded that the success rates of coaching would improve for any organization that chose to use some method to measure the successes of the coaching engagements. Yet, a minority of organizations does not even bother to measure success.

Organizations can improve coaching successes by just measuring results

I find these two conclusions of the study to be remarkable revelations. I was amazed to learn how few organizations attempt to measure success rates for coaching assignments. I was less surprised to learn of the strong correlation between successful coaching and the act of just measuring success. Where just measuring success increases the success rate.

TCC has published a synopsis of an ROI calculation for organizations by MetrixGlobal, LLC for over 6 years that showed a ROI of over 529%.

Yet, this and other calculations of the ROI are still subjective, and can be difficult to determine, but they are so high that even the most conservative ROI calculation will be high.

TCC determined that the true measurement of any coaching engagement is whether, at least, the initial coachable goals of the individual clients were achieved. This study appears to confirm this opinion. TCC has been measuring whether clients achieve their initial coachable goals since 2001. Approximately 96% of TCC’s clients have done so. TCC clients must express at least one coachable goal to TCC before coaching will be allowed to commence. Thus, the client, the coach, and TCC all know the client’s initial coachable goals going into the coaching process. Since the achievement of these goals can only be determined and declared by the clients, we use continued follow up with the clients to discover their success rates.

Another thing that we learned is that approximately 80% of TCC’s clients added and achieved other coachable goals as they proceeded into the coaching process. TCC has not been privy to these added coachable goals, unless the clients voluntarily reveal them, because they are confidential actions between the coaches and clients. Thus, we can only guess at the 80% number.

One of the characteristics of all coachable goals that TCC clients have generated (15 different coachable goals so far) is that they are all very remarkable goals that sound too good to be true. The benefits and rewards from achieving any of the coachable goals created by TCC clients will most certainly be incredible. That also holds true for the main coachable goals outlined by the Study for organizations. Two of TCC’s coachable goals are the same as the two primary goals selected by organizations, when they chose any goals. In essence, attaining these coachable goals will be so beneficial, that calculating the degree of benefits (ROI) would probably be too difficult to be productive.

Hopefully more organizations will read and use the valuable information presented in the “Coaching-A Global Study of Successful Practices-Current Trends and Future Possibilities 2008-2018,” so they can also enjoy the remarkable rewards generated by their employees accomplishing their coachable goals.

How to prevent coaching relationships from ending before the goals (successes) are achieved.

Bill Dueease — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:00:00 -0400

“The American Management Association (AMA) commissioned the Institute for Corporate Productivity to conduct a study entitled “Coaching-A Global Study of Successful Practices-Current Trends and Future Possibilities 2008-2018” This is the second comparison of the findings of this independent study with the methods practiced by TCC for over 7 years that further validates that TCC’s very unique method of connecting TCC clients with their best-matched coaches provides the most successful process for coaching clients to achieve their coachable goals.

The study reported that “Nearly one-quarter of respondents (24%) indicated they had, indeed, terminated coaching assignments.” When you consider that a majority of organizations do not measure the ROI of coaching, (the subject of my next blog) I wonder if the completion of the organizational coaching “assignments” resulted in the individual clients achieving their coachable goals? I feel this low percentage does not fully represent the lack of success rates for organizational coaching.

The study revealed in-depth reasons why the coaching relationships (called assignments) were terminated before the clients achieved their goals. The reasons given by the “over 1,000 executives and managers questioned” once again confirmed the reasons why TCC’s pre-coaching consultations of all prospective clients is so important. Through the pre-coaching consultations with prospective clients, TCC and the clients will both be assured that all four of the four key conditions to successful coaching are met to suit the clients before coaching is begun. Briefly, the four key conditions that must be met to suit the individual coaching clients before coaching starts to assure the success of coaching are:

1.The client must have at least one coachable goal

2. The client must be ready for coaching

3. The client must be matched with the coach they really like, respect and feel a close trusting relationship with.

4. The coach must be an experienced, motivated coach, who does not try to mix training, consulting teaching etc. into the relationship, and who has coached many others like the client to great successes, and has the natural gift of coaching.

When coaching clients feel that all four of these key conditions are fully met to suit them, then the chances of success are excellent. TCC will not proceed with coaching unless a client confirms that keys #1. and #2. are met by the client. AND TCC guarantees that key’s #3. and #4. are met through TCC’s Initial Period Money Back Guarantee.

The Study reported the following Major Finding

“MAJOR FINDING The top reason cited for terminating a coaching assignment was a mismatch between the coach and the employee. “

TCC fully agrees that the match between client and coach is critical and TCC provides clients with a Money Back Guarantee that the match will be made. Further details by the study reveals the following reasons the coaching process was terminated before success:

“To what extent do you agree that the termination was based on the following reasons?” The numbers represent the “Percent agreeing or strongly agreeing.” I have added how TCC’s program to meet the four key conditions would prevent these obstacles from occurring.

“Mismatches between coach and employee 65%” TCC Guarantees that TCC clients will match their best-suited coach or TCC returns their money

“Questionable expertise of coaches 53%” TCC Guarantees that all TCC coaches will have many years of experience, have exemplary success rates for similar clients and are very capable coaches. TCC has accepted only 168 coaches out of over 2,000 coaches who have applied and TCC has released 38 of those coaches due to dropping below TCC’s very high standards.

“Inability of employee to change 42%” Prospective TCC clients discover their readiness for coaching, which is key number two, before they begin coaching. If the clients are found not to be ready, coaching through TCC does not begin.

“ROI not easily measureable 39%” The reason TCC was formed and exists is that TCC clients actually achieve their coachable goals. Determining whether TCC clients achieve their initial coachable goals is an easily measured event. The success of TCC is measured by the high success rates of our clients.

“Unwillingness of employee to engage in the coaching process 37%” Once again, this is a client readiness factor. TCC discovers whether TCC clients are voluntarily willing to participate in the coaching process before they are accepted as part of key condition number 2

“Lack of time for employee’s participation 33%” Once again, this is a client readiness factor. TCC discovers whether TCC clients are voluntarily willing to participate in the coaching process before they are accepted as part of key condition number 2

“Insufﬁcient funding 33%” Once again, this is a client readiness factor. TCC discovers whether TCC clients are willing and capable of investing in themselves, the most important asset they will ever have, before they are accepted as part of key condition number 2

“Not seen as urgent by top management 33%” Normally, this would not be an issue with TCC because our total focus is on the success of our individual clients and management factors do not enter the equation.

Another Major Finding of the study also further validates key condition #1

“MAJOR FINDING The more a company has a clear reason for using a coach, the more likely that its coaching process will be viewed as successful. The fact that each of the purposes was significantly correlated with coaching success suggests that organizations that simply have a well-defined purpose are more likely to report coaching success than those organizations that aren’t sure what their purposes in coaching are.”

Fulfilling TCC’s 4 key conditions to successful coaching eliminates obstacles to coaching success.

The study revealed the major reasons coaching relationships are terminated before the goals are achieved. Preventing these premature terminations would virtually assure successes by allowing clients to actually achieve their coachable goals to generate the remarkable benefits these goals produce. Preventing these obstacles will also save considerable money, time, and effort on pursuing coaching without success. The unique pre-coaching processes TCC designed and use have been preventing the specific terminations described in the study and further explains why TCC clients achieve at least their initial goals at a success rate of over 96%.

Having a clear coachable goal is a key condition to coaching success

The study also revealed that the rate of success of coaching is determined by the clarity of their goals for coaching going in. The reason anyone engages a personal coach (whether called a business, executive, life, or career coach) is to accomplish his or her coachable goals. The coaching process is about completion, or accomplishment where the clients reach their goals. Should the client not achieve their goals, then the coaching was not successful, and many times the effort and money spent could be considered misspent. Coaching is like building a house. Spending money with contractors and suppliers and expending the time and effort to build a house is only worth it after the house is completed. Who would want to move into a partially constructed house? Thus, it is imperative that the house be completed as defined. Likewise, it is just as important that the coaching process be completed to the full completion of the client’s coachable goals.

Humorous Life Coaching Videos, TV Programs, Blogs, and Articles

Bill Dueease — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 19:15:02 -0400

Humorous videos, articles, TV show episodes, and blogs are being published about life coaching. We are keeping track of them and are listing them in this blog for your enjoyment. Links are provided to the appropriate humorous activities, and we try to keep them current for your viewing pleasure.

If you have produced a humorous piece on any aspect of coaching, OR if you know of something humorous about life coaching please submit it to me at bill@findyourcoach.com I will post it on this blog as soon as I can.
This listing of humorous videos started out as a casual thing, but has become a full time project. I have revamped the blog to give it some sense of order. I have also taken a stab at providing a simple review so you have a sense of what is involved before you click to the links. I recognize that humor comes in many forms and different people think different things are funny. I want to include all types of humorous pieces on coaching for everyone to enjoy.

I have organized it into sections, and have put them in the order of most recently received first, so return viewers can easily see if something new has arrived. When possible, I show the dates the items were posted on my blog, so returning viewers will know what they have seen and not seen.

Videos
TV programs
Blogs/Websites New addition 2/15/08
Articles

Humorous Videos on coaching

The humorous videos are being published at a record pace and they are getting funnier. Here are three that I just discovered. More coming.

Posted 4/29/08
Razowsky & Clifford: Life Coach
Young lady bothers the person sitting in front of her on an airplane as she flys to a life coaching seminar to discover that the person she has been bothering is the dwarf life coach giving the seminar. Well done and funny.

Posted 4/29/08
Seymour Funds PHFrikinD presents his humorous Infomercial called Life Coach 4 Losers where he tries to convince you to discover your inner loser and to buy his book entitled “You Ain’t All That”

Posted 4/29/08
Comedian Andy Kindler shows off his documentary on the Letterman Show where he personally visits 4 life coaches to discuss Andy’s various personal issues and his spontaneous reactions to create more issues. But the last coach gets in the funniest and best line.

Posted late 2007
Coaching Life is a new video pun on life coaching with Brad, Linda, and Lance who describe coaching from their strip mall coaching center in a crass and satirical view of coaching. It is rough at times and funny at times.

Jerry Jackson introduces his 21 day course on life coaching entitled “Be a Damn Man Life Coaching Course” This is a funny, tongue in check take off on an infomercial introduction where he “esplains” how to increase your testosterone levels, (by including curse words in every sentence) how not to be confused as a “wus” by speaking with the right accent (Texan) and how he helped many people become big successes (like George Bush). Posted 12/8/07

Dick Sturgeon Life Coach, Episode Three hits very close to home (His)

Dick Sturgeon, a life coach who operates out of his car in an alley, finally shows some balls by creating “Life Coaching” boundaries by refusing to be drawn into personal and sexual activities with one of his insistent clients. Dick showed considerable restraint by requiring a client to conduct coaching without personal contact at the appropriate time, even though this client was his wife. Posted November 2, 2007

Life Coach Dick Sturgeon is Back! Episode Two!

And better than ever in Dick Sturgeon Life Coach Episode Two Life Coach Dick Sturgeon who operates out of his car parked in some back alley gets a special walk in visitor. The local “family” enforcer shows up to collect protection money. What transpires between the protection collector, coach Dick, and his overbearing secretary is funnier than the first video. They really spoof communications in coaching. The Dick Sturgeon Life Coach series could turn into something special based upon their second video. Posted around July 2007.

“Low Budget Life Coach" This video starts off very funny with a low cost life coach struggling with his garage door to coach his client at an outdoor table. Posted around July 2007.

"Dick Sturgeon Life Coach" Here Dick Sturgeon conducts his coaching in the front seat of a car in an open parking lot with a distracted coach in the front seat and his testy assistant in the back seat. This is the first of a series of humorous life coaching videos by Dick Sturgeon and his very involved assistant. Posted around July 2007.

Life Coaching video that is a slapstick spoof by comedian Dr. Lanny Latham who poses as a Certified Life Coach and promotes “Getting Psyched” as his secret to life. Posted around July 2007.

Humorous TV Programs

Posted July 12, 2008

Life Coaching has gone to the Dogs!

Oprah Winfrey calls famed dog trainer Tamar Geller, "life coach for dogs." Tamar prefers the term "well-mannered" to "obedient" and "coaching" to "training." Geller has helped stars including Oprah Winfrey teach manners to their four-legged family members.

“Geller was featured on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" as Oprah's personal dog coach, and has provided insight to millions of dog enthusiasts nationwide as resident dog expert on "The Today Show" and Animal Planet's "Who Gets the Dog."”

Geller must be thrilled to be one very special person who is able to get dogs to open up to him and reveal their inner passions and priorities as their life coach. Eddie Murphy played Dr. Doolittle in a movie where he could hear and talk to animals, including dogs. Am I right thinking Geller can hear what dogs think and can also talk to dogs in the same manner? If so, I would love to see a video of him coaching a dog. The repartee would have to be priceless.

The Simpson’s poke fun at life coaches!

The premiere episode, “He Loves To Fly And He D’ohs,” which aired on Sunday, Sept. 23 (8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT) included Homer hiring his own life coach (get this, portrayed by non other that Stephen Colbert). After Homer saves Mr. Burns from drowning in a mall fountain, Burns thanks him by taking him on a whirlwind trip to Chicago on his private plane. Homer is smitten with the luxury jet and all the perks that come with it, including flying with song legend Richie, who serenades him with a customized version of “Say You, Say Me.” After returning home, Homer makes it his mission to find a job that offers him the chance to fly on a corporate jet, and he enlists a life coach, guest star Colbert, to help fulfill this dream.

His life coach discovers that Homer brightens up to become his natural fun loving confident self only when he bowls, versus being a downtrodden Homer otherwise. To help Homer realize his potential by being his natural confident enjoyable self in Homer’s quest to land a great job, his life coach gets Homer to always wear his red bowling shoes. And it works. Homer converts a successful and impressive Homer when he wears his red bowling shoes, even in bed. Posted September 24, 2007

The Daily Show made fun of life coaching

As a reminder, The Daily Show did an entire piece on life coaching which I described in a previous blog, you can read at: http://findyourcoach.blogharbor.com/blog/CoachingintheNews/_archives/2006/3/29/1839173.html

The Daily Show featuring Demetri Martin in his Trendspotting series, did produce a very humorous and insightful rendition of the life coaching industry, and they hit upon some humorous nerves. I hope the link to their video is still working. I believe the link is: http://www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/media_player/play.jhtml?itemId=60592 It is worth watching. Enjoy! Posted around August 2007

Humorous Blogs and Websites on coaching

8/3/08

Dream new venture for Sleep Coach Nick Littlehales of Manchester England announces his new venture as a sleep coach to help English football (soccer) teams succeed by getting more sleep and using his 40 sleep-related products. Next thing to follw will have to be a dream coach. Any takers?

(4/5/08) Let a donkey be your life coach Julia McKinnell reports how professor Andy Merrifield moved from New York City to "somewhere totally antithetical to [New York]," moving into a farmhouse in France's Auvergne region, an area known for its sought-after green lentils from Le Puy. Intending to slow down the pace of his life, he borrowed a friend's donkey and set out on foot through the countryside of southern France. Gribouille, his donkey and new life coach, provided many "pregnant moments of great meditation," he says. I classify this as humor, but I am not sure if the author was really serious or not.

(2/15/08) A new website has appeared that appears to be devoted to poking fun at the coaching industry.

The International Coaching Confederation claims to "put the CON in Confederation" It pokes fun at many of the coaching industry's weak points, like the many for profit coaching schools that will take anyone who pays, and the ways many coaches exploit their fellow coaches. I have seen the site several times and it keeps growing with additional funny sections every time. The motto of this site is: "If it moves, one of our members is coaching it"

The Russians have joined in on producing humorous articles on life coaching.

The eXile, a satirical English blog out of Russia produced a tongue in cheek advertisement entitled “The Exile Seeks a Life Coach Intern” The listed life coach responsibilities are funny, and they encourage e-mail responses. Note the jelly donut challenge. Posted around August 2007. Unfortunately, the link to this site appears to no longer work. Did the Russian KGB take it down? Here is the link that did work for several months: http://www.exile.ru/2007-August-14/life-coach.html

Talk like a life coach day!

National Talk Like a Life Coach Day, sponsored by Talk Like a Life Coach Foundation has been declared as August 2nd. Derek Sorensen announced this important milestone in his blog entitled: “Are You Ready for August 2nd?” Read about how to speak like a life coach and how to participate in his “Adopt a Life Coach” programme. (Even though he spells program funny) His tongue in cheek blog is really funny and I feel did it did not get the attention it deserved. Maybe Derek will consider sponsoring another National Talk Like a Life Coach Day later in the year so more of us can join in on the fun. Posted around August 2007

(3/21/08) The latest coach trend: A SWING COACH The International Coaching Confederation (ICC) reports on what to expect from you own "Swing coach" complete with picture. Enjoy!

I am proud to know that life coaching has reached a point where people take the time and effort to poke fun at coaching. These videos have some humorous scenes, but I do not feel they are worthy of great awards. But of course humor is always in the eyes of the beholder, and you might think they are fine examples of hilarity. Then your opinion trumps mine. Yet, I commend the people who created these videos and I encourage them and others to keep trying, because there are many humorous aspects of the entire coaching industry, which are ripe for someone to expose.

Please alert TCC of any humorous videos, blogs, or articles on life coaching.

If you as a reader know of any other life coaching videos, or humorous blogs or articles, please send them to me at bill@findyourcoach.com. I will gladly publish them. Everyone enjoys and deserves a good laugh

Global Study of Successful Coaching Practices Confirms TCC has been doing it right

Bill Dueease — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:18:14 -0400

The Study entitled “Coaching-A Global Study of Successful Practices-Current Trends and Future Possibilities 2008-2018” substantiates that TCC’s very unique method of connecting TCC clients with their best-matched coaches provides the most successful process for coaching clients to achieve their coachable goals.
That is a mouthful, but accurate.

“The American Management Association (AMA) commissioned the Institute for Corporate Productivity to conduct a global survey of coaching practices in today’s organizations, to gain a better understanding of both the promise and perils of coaching.”

TCC has assisted over 1,500 clients to achieve their remarkable coachable goals at an incredible success rate of over 96% for the past seven years by employing a very focused method of connecting clients with their ideally matched coaches. TCC was created to provide the best one-stop location for anyone to achieve their coachable goals with the greatest success rate and the least amount of time and least cost. Mission accomplished!
Although this independent study concentrated only on organizational coaching by questioning over 1,000 executives and managers, it came to the same conclusions about the best practices of implementing the coaching process to assist clients to achieve the highestratesof success that TCC created over eight years ago, and has been using ever since. The authors of the study arrived at these verysameconclusions as TCC without TCC having any involvement or influence in the study.

Comparison of the Eleven Major Study Findings and how TCC operates.

The key findings of this study and how they confirm TCC’s practices are shown below for your comparison with appropriate links to TCC web pages that provide further details.

“Finding One: Coaching is used by only about half of today’s companies.”

This supports the successful use of coaching overall and of course TCC has enjoyed even more success.

“Finding Two: Coaching continues to gain in popularity.”

This supports the expected increase in the use of coaching. TCC has also enjoyed a continued increase and expects more as well.

“Finding Three: Coaching is associated with higher performance. Respondents from organizations that use coaching more than in the past are also more likely to report two kinds of advantages:
1. They’re more likely to report that their organizations have higher levels of success in the area of coaching.
2. They’re more likely to say that their organizations are performing well in the market, as determined by self-reports in the combined areas of revenue growth, market share, profitability, and customer satisfaction.”

These findings totally support the remarkable results achieved by TCC’s clients and the value of the benefits they attract. People achieve higher success rates by using a coach and their organizations also attain higher overall success rates when they use coaches.

“Finding Four: Coaching is primarily aimed at boosting individual performance. The desire to improve individual “performance/productivity” is the most widely cited purpose of coaching.”

Organizations naturally select the coachable goals of coaching their members to become more successful and productive managers and executives. TCC agrees that these are the most popular goals for organizations. However, TCC has found that three other coachable goals are more popular in the open market. The more popular coachable goals, in descending order are:

1. Discover and obtain your ideal income position, where you Go to Play Every Day because you love what you do and do what you love, you are so good at producing quality results and value, that they attract considerable rewards, both financially and otherwise.

2. Become a far more successful and productive business owner. Says it all.

3. Discover and get life balance, where you get to enjoy and thrive in all three of your lives, simultaneously and without internal conflicts or guilt. Your three lives being your work life, (including motherhood) your personal life (your health and spirituality) and your family life (your relationships with the blood relatives you decide to keep and anyone else you allow in your inner circle)

“Finding Five: Clarity of purpose counts. The more a company has a clear reason for using a coach, the more likely that its coaching process will be viewed as successful.”

This conclusion fully supports the first of the four key conditions to successful coaching that TCC insists are met to suit all TCC clients. The first key condition is that clients must have at least ONE coachable goal to accomplish; otherwise engaging a coach would not be advisable. TCC will not accept individual clients or organizations who do not have their own individual coachable goals. The study confirmed that TCC saved many individuals and organizations considerable money and time by not accepting them as clients, because they did not have coachable goals.

“Finding Six: Evaluating coaching’s performance may help boost success rates. The more frequently respondents reported using a measurement method, the more likely they were to report success in their coaching programs.”

TCC has employed a very effective, yet simple measurement method since inception that supports this conclusion. TCC follows up with TCC clients to discover if they accomplished, at least, their initial coachable goals. Both TCC and TCC clients are clear about their initial coachable goals going in, and TCC’s clients are the eventual authority to decide if they achieved their initial goals, and TCC asks them. Hence, the basis of reporting a success rate of over 96%.

“Finding Seven: It pays to interview. Having an interview with the prospective coach has the strongest relationship with reporting a successful coaching program.”

We believe that interviewing prospective coaches is important, but we feel that the interview itself is less successful than actually experiencing a coaching session. This is why TCC clients participate in sample coaching sessions with at least three (can be more) TCC Member Coaches, to give TCC clients the clearest, most effective, and most efficient means to find their best-suited coach. http://www.findyourcoach.com/life-coach-cost.htm#mbglife

“Finding Eight: It pays to match the right coach with the right client. Matching people according to expertise and personality seems to be the best strategies.”

This fully confirms Key Conditions numbers three and four to successful coaching employed by TCC. TCC thinks so much of the matchmaking condition that TCC GUARANTEES that TCC clients will find their best suited coach, through using a very unique and effective matching process by TCC and the client, and that TCC coaches have the exceptional experience, motivation, confidence and capacity to coach each TCC client.

“Finding Nine: External training seems to work best. Externally based methods of providing training on coaching are most strongly correlated with overall coaching success, though they are less often used.”

TCC does not dispute that attaining coach training outside the organizations will produce higher coaching success. In fact TCC does not consider Internal coaching to be real coaching, because of the conflicts of multiple masters for the employee coach. The study also confirmed this by stating: “External coaches, on the other hand, can bring greater objectivity, fresher perspectives, higher levels of confidentiality, and experience”

“Finding Ten: Coaching’s international future looks bright. Compared with the North American sample, organizations in the international group have not had coaching programs in place for as long, but more in this group plan to implement coaching programs in the future.”

TCC agrees with this conclusion that people in other countries are beginning to realize the remarkable successes they can achieve through engaging their best-matched coach. TCC’s International activity has blossomed into over 15 other countries.

“Finding Eleven: Peer coaching needs to become more effective. Although a little over half of responding organizations use peer coaching, only about a third of respondents who use it consider it to be very effective or extremely effective.”

Once again TCC agrees that coaching one’s peers would not allow all four of the key conditions to be met, and has proven to be much less effective than using an independent, professional coach.

Bottom Line conclusion

If you are an organization seeking to get the best results from the coaching process, or better yet, if you are an individual who wishes to achieve any coachable goal faster, more completely, with less effort and less costly, you may want to read this study to find out how. Or of course you could contact TCC and experience the best practices first hand as outlined in the study to obtain the highest degree of success in achieving your coachable goals.

More details will be provided in subsequent blogs to prove up the findings of the study and corroborate the reasons for the exemplary success rates of TCC clients.

Get Your Highest Return (ROI) for Your Investments During Bad Times

Bill Dueease — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 04:00:00 -0400

The recent poor economic conditions have changed the landscape for where people would consider investing their money to receive secure, continuous, and profitable returns on their investment dollars.

Traditional investment opportunities look bleak

1. Real Estate has declined rapidly and is still in the downtrend.

2. The Stock Markets have all taken downward hits and are still very volatile and iffy.

3. The Commodities Markets have all risen to record highs and might still have some ways to go, but the risk reward for additional investments looks shaky.

4. Interest Bearing Accounts yield very low rates that are approaching levels below inflation.

As you can see these major investment areas are not providing the Return On Investment (ROI) and security that would give you enough confidence to attract your investment dollars.

Where is the best investment opportunity?

Where can you invest your money and obtain secure, continuous, and very profitable returns? The answer has been right there all along. The best place anyone can invest their money to reap the greatest ROI with the highest security and confidence is to invest in YOURSELF.

The greatest asset you will ever have is YOURSELF.

You are and will always be the most valuable and most productive asset you will ever have. When you invest in YOU and grow and improve as a person you cannot lose. Self-growth even in small levels brings considerable additional rewards and excellent returns on your self-growth investments. Think of the new opportunities and rewards that you receive when you graduate from High School and the greater levels you receive when you graduate from college. When you improve the core asset of yourself, it attracts more wealth, both financial and personal at much higher levels than the cost of the self-improvement investments. For example athletes receive rewards in recognition, power, fame, money, and adoration that are considerably greater in value and staying power than the amount they invested in increased sports coaching and training to increase their athletic skills and productivity. Medical professionals invest considerable time and effort in continued education and learning to improve their medical knowledge, shills and confidence. Their abilities to provide better and better medical solutions to their patients increase, and translate into more productive and lucrative practices.

Why risk all of your investment money in the less secure and less profitable investments of today? Carve out a portion of your investment dollars to invest in yourself now. The conditions could not be better, even though the economy appears to be declining. In fact, as others loose confidence, loose momentum, and loose interest as they scramble to protect their dwindling resources, you will stand out as you grow by investing in yourself. You will be improving yourself to move forward in the areas of your life that mean the most and you will be gaining momentum.

Possible ways you can invest in yourself to grow and improve as a person?

1. Invest in improving your health. There are all kinds of ways this can be done. Weight loss program. Exercise program. Take up an exercising sport. Eliminate unhealthy habits. Invest in activities you would enjoy that will also improve the health and conditioning of your body. Whatever you do or invest in to improve the overall health of your body will result in very valuable benefits to you in many ways. You will gain more energy, more stamina, more alertness, and more self-esteem. You will also reduce sickness down time, reduce the costs to repair your body through sickness and other body breakdowns, and you will reduce the mistakes you would make in every day decisions because you were not fully alert to think completely and clearly.

2. Invest in learning new information about subjects you like and can use to your benefit. Take classes, read books, research online information to gain more knowledge about languages, computer programs, financial information or whatever you feel will benefit you because you have become more knowledgeable. Pick subjects and information you want to learn and that you can use for personal growth.

Taking classes in subjects you have no interest in just to get grades for a degree will produce much less improvement in you, the asset you are investing in. You are spending time, effort, and money to cram information into your personal knowledge base, that you will most likely have little interest in and that you will probably forget and rarely use after you complete your exams. But if you earn a degree you might be able to use it to convince others you know something. And this could be a valuable document for marketing yourself.

3. Invest in a personal coach to accomplish any coachable goals you might have. A coachable goal is “a future place you want to be, that requires you to grow and improve as a person to achieve it.” By using a personal coach you will unravel the mystery of you by discovering what really drives you, motivates you, limits you and what is really important to you. You will dramatically increase your true knowledge and understanding of you. This is self-awareness. And self-awareness is considered the best form of self-improvement. You will also achieve your coachable goals to reach places you had previously thought to be out of reach. You get the best of both worlds. That is why the Return On Investment (ROI) for engaging a personal coach has proven to be so remarkably high over the years. One of many studies calculated the ROI of investing in a personal coach to exceed 500%. This looks real good when compared to the 2.5% in interest you might be able to get from an interest bearing account.

By using a personal coach to achieve your chosen coachable goals, you gain two huge rewards. Not only do you directly gain the remarkable benefits you receive from the coachable goals you select, which you will undoubtedly choose to be very valuable for you, but you will also gain the remarkable benefits of the self-awareness personal growth of YOU, which will produce even more valuable benefits.

It is your money! Invest your money wisely

You are the most valuable and beneficial asset you can ever invest in. I encourage you to pick any one or more of the different ways to invest in yourself and enjoy the remarkable personal, emotional, and financial rewards you will receive by improving YOU in any way.

Life Coaching has gone to the Dogs!

Bill Dueease — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:52:27 -0400

Oprah Winfrey calls famed dog trainer Tamar Geller, "life coach for dogs" Tamar prefers the term "well-mannered" to "obedient" and "coaching" to "training." Geller has helped stars including Oprah Winfrey teach manners to their four-legged family members.

“Geller was featured on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" as Oprah's personal dog coach, and has provided insight to millions of dog enthusiasts nationwide as resident dog expert on "The Today Show" and Animal Planet's "Who Gets the Dog."”

Geller must be thrilled to be one very special person who is able to get dogs to open up to him and reveal their inner passions and priorities as their life coach. Eddie Murphy played Dr. Doolittle in a movie where he could hear and talk to animals, including dogs. Am I right thinking Geller can hear what dogs think and can also talk to dogs in the same manner? If so, I would love to see a video of him coaching a dog. The repartee would have to be priceless.

Geller opens up a whole new market for many life coaches out there seeking clients. But why stop with just dogs? I imagine someone will soon claim that he or she is the life coach for cats, horses, cattle, bears, goats, and or turtles. The possibilities are endless.

The next time you visit a zoo, you might be lucky enough to meet the resident life coach for the animals, and learn about the inner concerns of the animals that their life coach will reveal.

I guess we at TCC know whom to call when we hear a dog barking on an incoming life coaching consultation request call. We call Geller, the “life coach for dogs.”

Read about more humorous perspectives on life coaching that we have gathered for your pleasure. There are some other really funny presentations of life coaching.

Why there is so much confusion about Life Coaching

Bill Dueease — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 11:53:17 -0400

The struggle by coaches to market their coaching services has become a very competitive and misleading process. There are over ...

Response to "The Tyranny of Flawlessness" by Nancy Rommelmann

Bill Dueease — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:50:30 -0400

Nancy Rommelmann in her April 9, 2008 blog entitlied "The Tyranny of Flawlessness" claimed that the rise in ...

Response to The Daily Show’s Expose on Life Coaching

Bill Dueease — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 21:24:15 -0500

The Daily Show did a satire on life coaching that aired on March 21, 2006. It was funny in most ...

Life Coaching Has Arrived!

Bill Dueease — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 07:14:03 -0500

Jay Leno told a life coach joke on his March 21, 2006 show Jay Leno: According to "Jane" magazine, the ...

Starting Over Confuses Viewers About True Life Coaching

Christy — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 15:05:52 -0500

The daytime television program called Starting Over has been on the air for about three years now. Starting Over is a scripted, Hollywood, dramatized entertainment TV show. It features women with many different life problems, who have been sequestered in a house under controlled conditions. The show produces good theater and entertaining drama as these women are followed around 24/7 with cameras recording their struggles to overcome their problems. The show provides at least two people they call “Life Coaches” and at least one consulting psychologist to help these women overcome their problems. The show will also provide other resources including makeup artists, hair stylists, and even Jenny Craig to help these women improve their appearance and lose weight, as part of their path to overcome their problems.

Using Certification to Pick Your Coach is Not Enough!

Bill Dueease — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 10:56:55 -0500

Today I am posting a question from a prospective client in the “research phase” of hiring a coach and my subsequent response. Dear Coach Connection, I am still discussing different coaching options but wanted to know whether it would be possible based on our phone call for you to line me up with three different coaches who are ICF certified? Let me know what you think. Thanks! Steve

Response to Wall Street Journal Article by Jared Sandberg

Bill Dueease — Sat, 08 Oct 2005 09:31:22 -0400

This is my response to a Wall Street Journal Article by Jared Sandberg entitled “Some Office Coaches Whitewash Miseries with Sunny Platitudes.” The web address of the original article: Some Office Coaches Whitewash Miseries with Sunny Platitudes The above captioned article was recently published in The Wall Street Journal and has been the buzz of the coaching community. I felt that the article was very indicative of the overall confusion regarding the life coaching process, and warranted a full response. In essence, I felt it was a very good article that inaccurately, yet understandably, misdirected its criticism towards life coaching. The entire article and my responses are shown below.