Coaching That Counts - Harnessing the Power of Leadership Coaching to Deliver Strategic Value
By: Dianna Anderson, MCC and Merrill Anderson, Ph.D.
Book Review by Vernita Parker-Wilkins
Originally published in the February 2005 Issue of Link & Learn. 
The popularity of leadership coaching has spawned a multitude of books on the subject, most of which focus on how to become a successful coach. Notably missing from the bookstore shelves are works that illuminate the coaching experience from the perspective of the leaders who receive coaching and books that provide research about how coaching creates value for the individuals and organizations who invest in coaching. Until now.
Coaching That Counts, authored by husband and wife team Dianna and Merrill Anderson, answers three of the big questions now being asked about leadership coaching:
- What do leaders experience through the process of coaching?
- What needs to be done to manage coaching as a strategic initiative?
- How does coaching add value for individuals and organizations?
Merrill Anderson is internationally recognized as the leading evaluator of corporate coaching initiatives and Dianna Anderson is a Master Certified Coach, together they take the conversation about the practice and value of leadership coaching to a whole new level. In Coaching That Counts, their collective years of experience, insight and research are translated into a very practical, user-friendly exploration of leadership coaching. Coaches, coaching initiative managers and business leaders will find great value in this book.
In the first section of the book the Andersons present an empirically-based client-centered model of coaching that clearly reveals what coaches and their clients need to do to achieve transformational change. The fact that this model is empirically-based is important, because it has face validity and resonates with the reader's experience. The model reveals the underlying dynamics that make leadership coaching such a powerful development tool, including the process of translating ever deepening insight into meaningful action
The second section will speak to those who manage large scale coaching initiatives. In this section the Anderson's clearly demonstrate the steps that need to be taken to ensure that coaching programs deliver strategic value.
In the third section the authors address the value that coaching delivers to the bottom-line. They provide practical, real-world tools and methods that enable the reader to demonstrate the ROI of a coaching initiative. They also provide a powerful business case for leadership coaching, based on the latest ROI studies of coaching that the authors have conducted.
I have first hand knowledge of the practicality of the tools and methods introduced in Coaching That Counts. Approximately one year ago, I worked with Merrill Anderson to assess the business impact of my firm's executive coaching program. The ROI exceeded 600%. Not only did the study validate anecdotal data we had collected about the value of the coaching program, it also provided us with ideas for program enhancements.
Here is the bottom-line: this book is a must-read for coaches who are working in organizations, for managers of coaching initiatives, and for learning leaders who need to articulate the value of coaching for the business.
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Vernita Parker-Wilkins is an Executive Development Manager with Booz Allen Hamilton, a global strategy and technology consulting firm. Her primary areas of responsibility include leading the firm's executive coaching, immersion and development programs.
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This issue of Link&Learn was published in February 2005, by Linkage, Inc. (http://www.linkageinc.com).
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