By Sue Mennell (27-03-2008)
This year’s CIPD learning and development survey shows that coaching continues to grow in popularity. It is now used by 71 per cent of employers, up 8 per cent on last year.
The most popular uses of coaching are for personal development, performance coaching and management and leadership development.
The greatest responsibility for delivering coaching falls to line managers and this trend is expected to increase over the next five years.
But while 72 per cent of respondents consider coaching to be an effective tool, 42 per cent are concerned that success is gauged against objectives set by line managers, coaches and those being coached, rather than a formal evaluation process.
To build value into your own Coaching and Development programme take a look at the sample content top tips for Making the Most of Coaching and Mentoring: There are hundreds of articles dealing with both the theory and the practice of Coaching and Mentoring that will allow you to quickly develop a solid formal evaluation process.
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There is a concern building within learning and development circles about the effect of the economic slowdown on budgets. Traditionally, development and training budgets are one of the first to be hit along with the marketing budget. The thinking being that the short-term financial need outweighs the short-term impact on performance. Development is wrongly seen as a long-term activity.
In a time of uncertainty and change, people need support and development to be able to deal effectively with the inherent issues and challenges. It is the responsibility of learning and development professionals to identify the business issues and specifically where focused learning interventions can have an impact on the bottom line. This might be in areas such as financial management, business acumen or how to lead change.
A smaller budget doesn't mean that results can't be achieved, but it might take a bit of creative thinking to generate solutions. Leadership and development professionals need to be able to fight for their budget by being clear about the issues they are addressing and the impact that these will have on the organisation. It is important to point out the consequences of not continuing to invest in development, as there is clear evidence that those organisations that refocus and invest in development of their market and staff, are those that tend to do best when the economy moves into a growth phase.
Be clear about your plans and the impact these will have on the performance of the organisation, and think about how you can drive more efficiency in your own area of responsibility. We hope we can support you in this at eden tree.