Executive coaching is considered by many organizations to be one of the most essential components of an effective leadership development strategy. Since its emergence onto the corporate agenda, it has grown into a robust billion-dollar industry and continues to experience dynamic growth and popularity.

When companies develop their strategies for using coaching, it is sometimes viewed as just another tool like training, but in reality, an organization’s investment in coaching services on behalf of the leader is symbolic of its commitment to the leader’s development and value to the organization.

Initially, The model for using coaching was much like renting a power tool from the hardware store. It wasn’t something the average HR director had hanging on the garage wall.  Today, senior leaders regularly ask for coaching to accelerate their individual and professional development. To be coached is to be valued by the organization. Use of coaching is growing because of its focus on the individual. The one-on-one interactions provide ample time to build trust between the coach and the coachee and to discover the best ways to build an executive’s capabilities and efficiencies.

A recent study by Underhill and Koriath titled “High Impact Executive Coaching” reported that 63% of the organizations surveyed “plan to increase their use of coaching over the next five years”. An even greater endorsement for the use of executive coaching as a development tool is the fact that “92% of leaders being coached say they plan to use a coach again”.

Even though coaching has been found to be a key element in the development of leadership skills, it is generally seen as being too expensive to distribute across the organization and down into the high potential and emerging leader levels. It is time for a new coaching paradigm to emerge, one that delivers the goods to all levels of the organization in a cost effective methodology.

A new model, based on a peer coaching foundation is now emerging. Marshall Goldsmith, Andrew Thorn and Carry Metkowski are some of the pioneers that are bringing this model to light. They are creating ways to make it affordable and possible for each member of your workforce to “own” individual coaching.

Imagine the benefits and results of executive level coaching for your entire workforce without the executive price tag.

In the weeks to come we’ll be sharing more about peer coaching and giving you an inside look at how the program works. You will also receive the latest information on some exiting new programs that are about to launch.