Coaching Culture: Measuring Progress and Success

PART 5: COACHING CULTURE SERIES

Now that we’ve covered multiple approaches and strategies for how to introduce coaching skills and coaching related activities into your organisation, it’s time to consider measurement. How do you know that coaching is making a positive difference?

Several years ago, while working as a continuous process improvement consultant, our mantra was to measure what’s important, not just what’s measurable. This principle most certainly applies to measuring the progress of your investment when building a coaching culture. There are many, many things that an organisation can measure, but how useful are they and what do the results tell you? The key here is to really think about what it is that you want to achieve and develop an approach to measurement that provides meaningful data and evidence.

In the early years of using coaching within organisations, some viewed it with scepticism. The evidence of success seemed based on subjective responses as opposed to empirical data, and most organisations tend to favour empirical data as evidence of success when it comes to making a financial commitment. Today, there are much better methods to establishing this empirical data, and there is far more recognition and acceptance that the subjective response is not only valuable, but critical, to the success of a culture that is truly infused with the principles of coaching. This mindset is very noticeable in organisations that demonstrate a strong coaching culture.

We will look at both aspects, but first, I’d like to share a simple model that can be used to provide a framework for measurement. The Kirkpatrick Model was originally developed to provide an evaluation of the four levels of learning, and it can be easily adapted to coaching as follows:

• Level 1: Reaction: What did the coachee think or feel about the coaching engagement?

• Level 2: Learning: What did the coachee learn during the coaching engagement?

• Level 3: Behaviour: How did the coachee apply their learning? What changes in behaviour were evident?

• Level 4: Results: What impact did the changes in behaviour have? What changes in results or productivity were evident?

For examples of how these levels could be translated into measures, sign up to get the full series delivered directly to your inbox!

At this point, we’ve covered the building blocks for creating a strategy for coaching culture and ways to fully utilising coaching as a strategic resource within your organisation. Next, we will show you how to create sustainability for long-term success!