Today’s pro-active businesses are recognizing the transformational effect that executive coaching has on team-building, leadership, morale, and, hence, bottom-line results. Businesses are composed of people, and coaching is a supportive process that focuses on connecting people with performance, and has become an integral part of mainstream organizational strategy and professional development. In fact, coaching has been shown to be one of the top two fastest growing trends for small business growth; the other being involvement in a Peer Advisory Board.

There has been a sea of change in the business community, with companies becoming much more collaborative in nature than ever before. Small businesses, by virtue of their size, depend greatly on the ability of their leaders to create a culture where people are more than tangible assets, or organizational costs… they are investors in the knowledge of the company. As leaders are coached and transformed, they create strategic value for the business, and this has a dramatic effect on the success of the entire company.

What coaching is:

• A process that takes individuals and businesses from where they are to where they want to be by assessing current challenges, clarifying goals, removing obstacles, and forwarding action.
• Predicated on the core belief that every individual and organization has the answers within to achieve desired outcomes.
• Results oriented and process driven.
• Based on the belief that effective and long lasting change occurs from the inside out, both individually and organizationally.
• A confidential relationship utilizing accountability, common sense, empathy, and intuitive listening to achieve remarkable results.

Why Coaching Works:

• It is designed to quickly and efficiently get to the essence of a matter.
• It focuses on strength, rather than weakness.
• It sees opportunities rather than problems.
• It is supportive, non-judgmental, and validating.
• It utilizes accountability to increase follow-through.
• It encourages creative problem-solving.
• It is solution focused.
• It clarifies goals, identifies obstacles, forwards action.

Benefits of Executive Coaching:

• There are no quick fixes in business. Because coaching is results-oriented, process-based, and client-focused, and relies on accountability, and a deep sense of trust, stated goals can often be attained in a surprisingly short time.
• Outside coaches can often reflect and validate ideas, encourage and support the implementation of solutions, and maintain a sense of objectivity that few business owners have the ability to do.
• Coaching can bring awareness of imbalances in a business owners life, and have a transformational impact on their personal and business lives.
• Coaching offers a sense of personal control….a primary cause of stress in business is a sense of the loss of personal control. This can be particularly frustrating in a small business situation where that may have been a guiding value and impetus for start-up.
• The Emotional Intelligence of leaders has been shown to be a decisive factor in business success - far outweighing IQ, experience, or industry-specific knowledge. Coaching has direct impact on the development of Emotional Intelligence.

Statistics on Executive Coaching:

• ROI’s for coaching are typically in the range of 500-700% (Metrix Global, LLC, case study on ROI of Executive Coaching, 2001)
• ROI for Executive Coaching- 570% (Fortune Magazine, Fisher, A.“Executive Coaching-With returns a CFO Could Love", February, 19, 2001)
• Of 101 U.S. companies sampled who use coaching, 58% were small or medium sized businesses, government agencies, and non-profits. (Auerbach, J.E. (2005) “Seeing the Light: What Organizations Need to Know about Executive Coaching.” Executive College Press; Pismo Beach, CA.)
• A study of Fortune 1000 companies using coaching showed the following percentages of executives reporting the following benefits: (Manchester Review, 2001, Vol 6, 1; and ” Executive Coaching -With Returns a CFO Could Love", Fortune Magazine, February 19, 2001)
  • 53%- increase in productivity
  • 23%- reduction in costs
  • 22%- increased bottom line profitability

Professional Requirements Within the Coaching Profession:

Coaching is a relatively new profession; having been in existence since the early 90’s. Currently, there is no licensing required, so, in reality, anyone may call themselves a coach. However, the overriding professional body for Coaches is the International Coach Federation (ICF), which accredits coach training programs using strict guidelines around training hours and content, ethical guidelines, and the completion of both written and oral exams for certification. Certified coaches may receive additional credentialing from the ICF by completing a specified number of coaching hours, providing several references from credentialed coaches, and, for the highest credential, successfully completing an ICF exam.

All Oppelle facilitators and coaches are certified and have completed the rigorous training guidelines outlined by the ICF.

We strongly believe in upholding the Ethical Guidelines the ICF has set forth, and require all Oppelle facilitator/coaches to be additionally certified through the Oppelle Facilitator Training Program, and we believe this differentiates us from other Peer Advisory Board Memberships.