Photo by Omar Gattis on Unsplash
The real return on your investment in coaching will never be found in a spreadsheet, financial or otherwise.
Yes, you can point to increases in defrayed costs, bring forward the close dates of sales deals and increase conversations about coaching in Slack channels as evidence that the investment was worth it.
Yet, the return on investment will often actually sound something like this:
‘It is good to be seen as a whole person not just a number in a spreadsheet.’
‘The group was amazing but it was eclipsed by the invaluable practices we can apply to all our lives, our families.’
‘My husband just commented as he walked into the kitchen and heard me singing…he asked me what had happened as it is not the person I have been for the past few days!’
‘Instead of falling into Dad mode, I used a little coaching get to some good next steps. This skill may be changing my world.’
ROI from a coaching perspective stands for ‘Ripples of Impact” and this is the unit of measurement by which to assess whether your investment in coaching for others or yourself produced the expected payback.
Coaching is an act of grace. It is a gift. It is that special opportunity to be with someone — by their side as they talk, think and struggle — whilst as coaches bringing nothing to the moment but complete presence.
This act of grace gives the person something unique: A quiet space to truly be heard. A space where creativity, freedom and choice naturally emerge.
This is the ROI you are looking for.