Press release

AC Survey Helps Coaching Practitioners Qualify Coaching Effectiveness

In a recent survey by the Association for Coaching (AC), 90% of coaching recipients, reported increased confidence and self-awareness as a result of undertaking a Coaching programme and 98% felt that coaching met or totally met their needs.

The survey was designed to address the general lack of evaluation in life and business coaching. Katherine Tulpa, chair of the AC, comments: “The Coaching market has grown rapidly over the last five years and this growth suggests that coaching clients see a value in the service that coaching brings. However, as an industry we need more formal studies of its value and potential, and this is one of the areas the AC wanted to address this.”

By evaluating the value of coaching, the AC aims to raise the professionalism of the coaching industry, make it more accountable and enable coaching professionals to effectively promote and qualify the benefits of coaching. The survey is just a starting point of an overall research programme.

Participants of the survey had all received coaching programmes, mostly within the last twelve months and feedback from the survey was generally positive. As well as increased confidence and self-awareness, respondents felt that coaching had allowed them to resolve issues, increase business success and advance their career. In addition, clients rated their overall experience of coaching highly, rating it on average 7.8 out of 10. Scores were closely related to coach-client connection, indicating a personal one-to-one relationship is a very important factor in coaching success.

A wide variety of coaching disciplines were evaluated, including personal coaching, executive coaching and career coaching. Benefits cited for personal and executive coaching were very similar and included increased confidence and self awareness and improved time management. Coaching had particular value when individuals were stuck in a rut and actively wanted to make positive changes. Additional value was cited when recipients of coaching were going through redundancy, when they needed to respond effectively to a new role or when they are having difficulty making decisions or moving forward.

The summary report into the value of coaching can be obtained from the AC website by clicking here.