Are you ready for a coach? Professional coaching can be transformational. Learn how a company-hired professional coach can advance your career and find tips for asking your boss to support hiring a coach.
Whether you are new to your position, a veteran in your role, or looking to move up in your career, working with a coach can help you define and achieve your goals. It is a valuable investment, but paying for coaching can be a challenge.
There is good news, however! The number of companies hiring professional coaches is increasing. On average, 57% of coach practitioners who responded to the 2023 ICF Global Coaching Study said their client’s coaching sessions were paid for by their employer. Compared to results from 2019, the rate of employer-paid coaching has increased from 52%.
Here’s what you need to know to prepare for working with a coach and tips for approaching your employer for support in this life-changing endeavor.
Pitching the Benefits of Employer Paid Coaching
Bill Gates believes anyone can benefit from coaching regardless of their endeavors. The savviest business leaders and entrepreneurs understand the value of investing in coaching for themselves and their teams.
Even if your employer doesn’t currently work with coaches, you can help them understand how coaching can benefit you and the company. It’s important to recognize that organizational leaders receive a lot of requests for professional development and must decide how to allocate those budget dollars, so you may need to help them see the ROI. Data and research can help support your request for coaching.
These are a few recent statistics that can support the value of investing in coaching that you may want to consider sharing:
- Coaching clients report a median ROI of 788%.
- Coaching boosts productivity by 44%.
- Coaching increases team performance by 50%.
- Companies with a strong coaching culture have higher revenues than other companies in their industry.
How Will Coaching Benefit My Career?
Each person has their own reasons for seeking out a coach. The most common reasons include:
- Improving communication skills.
- Developing a healthy work-life balance.
- Increasing self-esteem/self-confidence.
Many people use coaching to help juggle multiple demands and fulfill numerous responsibilities in their personal and professional lives. Working with a coach can help you reduce stress, manage burnout, and find a better work-life balance.
At the same time, coaching can help you overcome the feelings of two selves. Many report “being one person at home and another at work.” Coaching can help you embrace what makes you unique so you can be more authentic at work.
Coaching can help you overcome feelings of imposter syndrome and gain confidence in handling new challenges. Many coaching participants have shared that they are no longer afraid to face new challenges and feel more equipped to handle the unknown.
3 Tips for Talking to Your Employer About Coaching
Requesting coaching from your employer can sometimes feel uncomfortable. These tips can help you prepare for the conversation.
Do Your Homework
Find out more about your employer’s professional development opportunities and what, if any, eligibility requirements are in place. Think about your organization’s and department’s priorities so that you can explain how your desire to work with a coach contributes to those goals and the bottom line.
If your employer doesn’t offer professional development support, find out if coaching is available to management or leaders within your organization. If there is already a coaching program in place for these employees, you may be able to make the case for expanding the availability to other employees at different seniority levels. One way this can be done is through team or group coaching as it decreases the cost for the employer.
Be Strategic
Talk about the future of the business and suggest that your continued professional development through coaching will be an asset to the business. Highlight how coaching will better prepare you for upcoming transitions, or changes in your role, or within the broader company.
Focus on Specific Skills
Highlight specific skills that you can and hope to develop through coaching. Connect this skill development to the impact you expect to see in your role and the asset these skills will be for your team and the company. Focus on skills that are essential to effective leadership, like conflict resolution, recognizing blind spots, and building a high-performing team.
Chances are your company is knowledgeable about the benefits of hiring a professional coach. Acknowledge the benefits you have observed or heard from colleagues who have worked with a coach. So, be confident and ask!
Find the Right Coach
Ready to take the next step? Transformation can’t happen without a personal commitment to change through hard work. But finding the right coach is key to achieving a breakthrough.
Approach your employer and use the ICF Credentialed Coach Finder tool to price and find a coach who is right for you, now is the time to take action and invest in your future.
