16 Dec Measuring Results for Executive Coaching Engagement
The benefits of executive coaching are vast in business culture development and reflect in the desired results from both digital marketing and social media. However, the methodology of determining the efficacy of executive coaching engagement is dependent on what goals you aspire to achieve. Hear more about this in my latest video interview with Patrick Henry, CEO of QuestFusion.com:
Interview Discussion Between Patrick and I:
Patrick: How do you measure results? I know that a lot of times as a CEO any time that I get a potential vendor, supplier or partner coming in, that’s a question that I’m always curious about.
I may have my own idea about how I’d measure results, but I always think it’s always good to hear how someone responds to that. Especially in coaching, digital marketing or social media, I ask, “How do you measure results in your business?”
Leland: One of the ways it starts is with what you’re going after. What’s the target? When I say that I’m going to help someone become faster, better, smarter, bigger or whatever it happens to be, I want them to understand what that means exactly. What are we looking for? I’ll give you both an individual example and a team example.
In an individual’s case, it’s because they’re not soliciting input on a regular basis. They occasionally ask questions, but they pretty much talk over people.
Patrick: You’re saying this is an example. This isn’t a generality?
Leland: No, this is a real life example. What we’re going after is the person being able to fluidly take in input but then act. It’s not just taking in input and stalling. It’s taking in input and acting. That was the goal.
But that is not how they behaved/acted. Through 360 interviews with people who they worked with, we actually were able to describe very specifically how they were. So they saw this is what they weren’t doing, but they wanted to be doing. Whatever it is, three, four, five or six months later, you assess again. You ask people not generally what’s better, but be specific. What happens?
When we go back to the 360 interviews, the folks said things like: “Well, she’s not interrupting. She’s stepping back and asking me questions.” “He’s not just asking me questions. He’s asking me penetrating questions. He’s really listening to my ideas.” “She does not always agree with me, but I know I’m being heard.”
Then I’ll always ask for why. Why is that true? Why do you say that? I have concrete examples to show to someone. This is how you were. This is how you are now.
I do a second thing. I want to know what that person has made a contribution to in terms of company results. Then we try to understand through questions, like before, when we talk in the 360s. What about the client’s behaviors and actions have led to successes within the team or the organization?
I can’t always point a direct line. I don’t think any coach can. You can’t say, “Oh, because of me, you got these results.” You can say, “Because of the work that we did together, there’s been a contribution to that result. We believe it’s a better result than we would have gotten otherwise.”