January 21st, 2010
HumanTechnics has announced that it has secured the ILM (Institute of Leadership and Management) Level 7 accreditation for its HumanTechnics Advanced Certificate in Executive Coaching qualification. The HumanTechnics training is already accredited at Masters level by Bristol Business School. This dual award from these two accreditation bodies is unique to HumanTechnics.
The ILM accreditation is in fact an additional qualification in its own right called the ILM Level 7 Certificate in Executive Coaching and Leadership Mentoring.
ILM Level 7 Certificate in Executive Coaching and Leadership Mentoring – those in the public sector will probably recognise the ILM as a body and possibly also the level 7 coaching and mentoring certificate. For those in the private sector the IML maybe new. The ILM have a huge range of management and leadership qualifications. Their approach to qualifications is modular and awards can be attained by professionals progressing through ILM accredited programmes even if delivered by different training providers. ILM qualifications range from level 3, supervisor level, to Level 7, which is Postgraduate level and linked into the same national quality framework as University qualifications. The HumanTechnics programme provides an ILM level 7 certificate award.
In the absence of a single accreditation body for coaches and coach training, University accreditation for professional coach training programmes has become very important. The ILM have made strong inroads in joining Universities as a key accreditation partner. How important the ILM Certificate will become in the coaching market is difficult to predict. It will ultimately depend on how recognised and valuable it’s perceived by coaches and people who employ coaches. However the recognition of the ILM coaching awards has grown very quickly and the HumanTechnics team believe that ILM accreditation will become very important and this is way it’s become a key element of the HumanTechnics qualifications going forward.
Matt Tobutt, Managing Director at HumanTechnics comments: “I’m really delighted about gaining the ILM accreditation for the HumanTechnics coach training programmes. The market is currently split generally along the public/private sector lines on how recognised the ILM are, however there’s no doubt that the recognition of the ILM level 7 coaching and mentoring award is growing very rapidly and this additional award will become increasingly important to our graduates.
With the HumanTechnics programmes already accredited by Bristol Business School at Postgraduate level and the ILM award also being at Postgraduate level, we are able to offer HumanTechnics coach training graduates a strong basis to represent their status as highly capable professional coaches.”
The issues around accreditation of coaches and coach training has shifted significantly over the last couple of years as clients have expected coaches to provide evidence of more formal qualifications. University accreditation for professional development programmes for coaches has become a must have, in addition schemes such as the ICF’s (International Coach Federation) credentials which are awarded on the basis of continued professional development and a portfolio of experience, are increasingly seen as important and valuable. So the market is growing up! It’s probably un-realistic to expect a single industry body to emerge but buyers of coaching services are becoming much more savvy about who they hire, coaches are much more careful when it comes to choosing coach training programmes and finding the right qualification for them. The experience and expertise of the coaching industry is at a new high and organisations and individuals are benefiting from that on a daily basis.
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April 15th, 2009
A black art? Maybe, certainly pricing coaching services is not straightforward for either provider or buyer.
There’s no mystical formula that I can provide but I can share my views and some of the approaches that I think work best.
It seams to me that coaching engagements fall into two main categories; coaching as part of development projects, and individual 1-2-1 interventions. I think that pricing models fall loosely into these same two categories.
What I mean by ‘development projects’ is things like leadership programmes, management skills programmes etc. Fee structures for these types of projects are perhaps the most straightforward as they tend to be based on a consultancy day rate equivalent to trainer fees. Often with these types of projects the coaches are also the trainers running the skills development workshops that form part of the development programme.
In this instance it’s normal for coaches to be expected to deliver 3-5 coaching sessions within a consulting day and the utilisation of the consultant’s consulting day is built into the overall project plan – simple.
Consultancy rates charged and paid vary a great deal – if you’re a coach looking to work within an organisation I think it’s a very sensible idea to ask the organisation what they are used to paying for work with the specific seniority level of the client group. As much as purchasers grumble about high fees there is also a tendency to perceive consultants will lower fees as less good – a trap definitely worth avoiding so worth doing a little bit of investigating before negotiating.
Individual coaching interventions are a different story. Outcomes vary considerably – they often include; supporting a senior exec stepping up into a new role, performance development for execs considered as performing below potential, supporting execs responsible for new/key initiatives etc.
In my view ‘per session’ rates are a nightmare approach to pricing. I’d always suggest a 6-month project at a fixed price. This would typically involve an average of 1 face-to-face session per month and open communication with the coach for the duration of the project. These projects tend to be far more resource time heavy at the front end. By spreading the project over 6-months the coach is able to balance the contact and support effort and ensure support right to the outcome. For the purchaser (most often not the coaching client) this fixed cost approach is much easier to work with – the funding can be agreed and budgeted for. It also removes the association of the contact time and the fee – ultimately it’s about the outcome and this approach works well.
How much? I think a good rule of thumb is 6% gross annual salary for a 6-month programme. This assumes that the execs salary represents the influence that client has on the success of the organisation and so it seems intuitively right to use this to measure value delivered by the coach.
A really good coach can deliver exceptional value to a client and client organisation – so it’s always important for organisations to choose the right consultant who will achieve a successful outcome. For the buyer of coaching services this I believe more important than difference in consulting fees.
Matt Tobutt
HumanTechnics
Tags: Coaching, coaching culture, coaching skills, coaching style of leadership
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April 6th, 2009
Coaching as a specialisation has matured significantly over the last few years.
Just to clarify I’m talking here about ‘executive coaching’, and I’m using this term to include all organisational coaching, including Leadership coaching, business coaching and performance coaching. Whatever your preferred label, coaching has grown-up significantly.
Most coaching in organisations now clearly starts from the desired outcomes of the organisation.
This ‘three-way contracting’ and the need to dovetail outcomes for both organisation and the coaches is now core to executive coaching. It’s become the norm to start a coaching relationship with a detailed discussion of the outcomes desired by the organisation and how the coachee would like to use the coaching opportunity within this context.
I know this view rankles for some coaches that see coaching as an entirely client driven activity shrouded in mystery. The idea that the coach would introduce the outcome of the organisation or worse, to steer coaching sessions towards opportunity to work on developing specific competencies would draw criticism from some quarters of the coaching industry.
My view is simple. Coaching is hugely effective way of developing people’s skills and performance. This is very valuable to organisations and this is why organisations invest in coaching. Organisations want to be able to demonstrate and measure results from this type of investment against their outcomes.
I believe that three-way contracting and working from organisational outcomes is now recognised as fundamentally part of what executive coaching is.
Tags: business coaching, Coach Training, executive coaching, leadership coaching
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