Professional coaching: an obligation of means or results?

“It's impossible to measure coaching results.” Many have already heard this phrase. However, it is the result of a certain lack of knowledge of this profession. Today, Valérie Rocoplan, Founder and CEO of Talentis, and Executive Coach, answers this essential question: “Does the professional coach have an obligation of means or results? ”

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What does “obligation of means or results” mean in the context of professional coaching?

As experts in professional coaching, we consider that we have a commitment to our customers. That of arriving at the objectives that we have defined with them in a very careful way. Asking the question of an obligation of means or results is therefore essential. This is in the essence of the profession of professional coach since in the coaching protocol, the way in which we exercise our profession, there is the obligation to establish, above all coaching, A contract of objectives. Whether with the coached person, the coached team and/or the organization.

For example, in the context of individual coaching, it is generally a tripartite contract. In the context of team coaching, it will be a team contract.

How do you set coaching goals?

When creating a coaching contract, we will ask the client: “At the end of this coaching, will you be satisfied if...? How did the coach help you progress? How will you measure the team's progress through this coaching?... ”.

Therefore, if we talk about goals, it is good that there are a mutual commitment of the parties, of the coach and of the client, to move towards the success of this objective. It would be a bit strange, in our opinion at Talentis, to say: “Let's set goals, write them down in the contract, let's even set indicators to measure whether or not these objectives have been achieved.” To say afterwards: “No, in the end we only had an obligation of means. We did what we could, but it is not our fault if the objective is not reached.” It's true that we have a bias that is perhaps a bit strong at Talentis, which says: “We are committed to the success of our goals.” That, I think, is what has made Talentis successful for years. “Getting wet” with our customers by saying, “Maybe we need to calibrate reasonable goals. Maybe we'll have to cut the goals into pieces to be sure we can move forward and measure our progress, but we are committed to goals.”

How do you measure the achievement of coaching goals?

After each coaching service, we send evaluation documents that are notified by the participants, by the coachees, by the managers, but also by the sponsors to measure satisfaction, of course, but especially the achievement of objectives. A results-based culture is a culture that measures performance, that measures the achievement of goals and not just the satisfaction of coachees.

Let's take a concrete example, the Taking office. The supported person, who is going to take on (or is in the process of taking on) a new managerial position, will say to himself: “I would like, in a year, to succeed in taking on the role of manager and I would like, thanks to coaching, to reach such a level of competence.” At that moment, the coach will then calibrate the outlines of the mission with his client: “What will make you say that your assumption of office is successful? ”. For example, it will be:

“I will have a team aligned around me around our ambition and everyone will know how to articulate this new ambition.”

“Everyone will be clear about their goals and their autonomy.”

“I will have a clear agenda of my strategic priorities for the coming months”...

In any case, each position is very different and what matters is how the person will be able to measure, effectively and in a very concrete way, what they have achieved as a goal.

Another example, for leadership programs, which last an average of 6 to 8 months, in the same way, it will be necessary to establish a contract with the client with clear and measurable objectives:

“How did this program help us develop these skills? ”

“How will these skills be measured? ”

“Will there be feedback from participants, but also from their managers on the progress of these people? Will we do a 360 feedback?...”

Once these goals and metrics are established, we hold meetings with our clients every month or every 6 months to assess each initial objective and assess progress over time.

Is there a shared responsibility, between the client and the coach, in whether or not coaching goals are achieved?

Of course, when we talk about a results-based culture in professional coaching, We are talking about co-responsibility. That is to say that we, professional coaches, have 50% of the responsibility, and of course, there is 50% on the side of the coachee, on the side of the team, on the side of the client.

According to Talentis' philosophy, the coach is committed to doing everything in his power, using the best protocols to, like a sports coach, make his champion win. But we are not all-powerful, we are very clear that there are shared responsibilities. Having a culture of results means that we will not give up when our champion wants to let go and that we will go all the way through the training and that if the champion no longer wants to train, he is the one who decides not to train anymore. But we are going to challenge him, we are going to give feedback, we are going to remind him of the objective. And then, in the end, we take our share of shared responsibility for the success of coaching. What is in the area of coaching? What is external? What has been put in place, which has also made it possible to achieve these objectives?

We are well aware that coaching is not a position of superpower. We are facilitators.

Will the rise of digital coaching platforms push professionals in this sector to be even more precise in measuring the results of the support they offer?

The coaching market has evolved enormously recently, but is in the process of approaching a major disruption, which is that of the arrival of remote coaching platforms.

These platforms are successful not simply because they connect coachees and coaches in 1 click, it's not that at all, it's because they provide the company with a lot of data. Not the confidential content of the coachings that is fully protected but rather the number of coachings in progress, the number of coachings completed, the progress made by the coachees in relation to their initial objectives? What are the skills that have been developed etc...

Through these platforms, HR managers have access to measurement elements that are extremely interesting for them and their company. Thanks to the reports made possible by these platforms, companies can say: “Through coaching, we have made so much progress in this skill.”

So yeah, that's the meaning of the story. Both coaching and training will now be practices where we must be able to measure the effectiveness of individual coaching or group coaching protocols.

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