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COMENSANews November 2010
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COMENSA posted on November 19, 2010 01:30 
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By
Belinda Davies
Return on Investment
Return on investment and the measurement thereof is a timeless challenge to everyone in the business of developing people, not least coaches and mentors. Even more challenging, in my opinion, is that we often fail to consider or calculate
the return we get when we invest in ourselves. [read more] |
 |  | There
may be fairies at the bottom of the garden.
There is no evidence for it, but you can't prove
that there aren't any...? Richard Dawkins
I am increasingly tempted
to re-title my editorial column: "From the Ablution
Block" as so much of my inspiration comes to
me in the peaceful contemplative space of my
shower. It must be something to do with having
that sensation of water on the brain...
We turn ourselves into
pretzels on the topic of Return on Investment
- what do we measure, how do we measure it,
how can you measure an intangible or a soft
skill...? In my opinion, this focus on ROI is
a little bit like closing the stable door after
the horse has bolted
I believe that we should
be investing in the following: - Establishing
strong, credible reputations for excellence
and delivery; - Showcasing those interventions
that demonstrate our competence and abilities
to deliver; - Focussing on those activities
that will earn the respect of our peers and
potential clients. - Building relationships
with clients where you discuss and agree on
what should be measured.
Reputations aren't built
overnight, and respect doesn't come with one
degree, diploma or successful intervention.
Respect is partly underpinned by delivering
results - by being able to demonstrate that
we make a positive difference.
Malcolm Gladwell gave
us that wonderful magical number, 10,000 hours,
to build expertise in an area. How many hours
have you invested in your chosen field? Do you
have an area of specialisation, or are you a
generalist? If you have specialised, how far
do you think you are down the 10,000 hour continuum? |
| There are 8,760 hours in a year. Let's go with
the number of working days in the South African year (240), and presume that you
are spending this time earning a living.
That accounts for 1,920 hours. If we take
away the remaining 125 days for leisure
(weekends, public holidays and annual leave),
that takes 3,000 hours out of the equation.
I'm also going to allocate 9 hours a day
for eating, sleeping and that all-important
time in the ablutions - this takes care
of another 2,160 hours during the working
week. You're left
with 1,680 hours or 7 hours per working
day to work towards excellence and expertise
in your chosen field (this is without
going to the gym, spending time with kids,
spouse, or other significant others and
so on). If you completely ignore all of
these other distractions, it'll take you
1,428.5 working days - or almost 6 years
- of constant application to achieve Malcolm
Gladwell's magical number.
But we can have
all the expertise in the world. It's worthless
if we don't have the kind of relationship
with our client and coachee that enables
us to establish "as a team" what we really
need to achieve, and how we will measure
our progress along the way.
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Sunny
shines a light
By Nick Wilkins and Dr Sunny Stout-Rostron
Naturally business coaches want to market their services. And
what more tempting way to sell business coaching than to quote
nice big numbers about the return on investment (ROI) the client
firm can reap? Like this, for example: "The latest study on
executive coaching ROI is the International Coach Federation's
Global Coaching Client Study of 2009. It found that coaching
racks up a whopping 700% ROI for organizations |
Michelle's
monthly tip for making the MOST of your COMENSA membership
By Michelle Clarke
This month: Serve, earn, succeed The work that coaches are doing
is excellent: ethical, appropriate and helpful - quotes Dr Fillery-Travis,
participant in the GCC Working Group on Research. If we recognise
this about our work, why then do many of us short-change ourselves
by offering hours and hours of coaching for little or no financial
reward? |
| Cracking
the Code: MCSC for Members - Part 3
By Megan Hudson, Editor-at-large and Code-breaker
I was in a conversation earlier this month with a member about
the MCSC framework, and - from comments that were made - it
became clear to me that this member was not familiar with the
contents of the framework, or where to start. Well, if you're
reading this article, good for you because you're on the right
track and we're eating this elephant one bite at a time. What
I'd also like to suggest that you start doing is one, some or
all of the following: |
Research
By Emma Tyrrell and Nick Wilkins
GCC Rainbow Convention 2011 Update on the Pods Practitioner Research
Process The "Rainbow Convention" of the Global Coaching Community
(GCC) will be held in Cape Town on 11-14 May 2011. The GCC is
an international dialogue on the professional development of coaching,
and the Rainbow Convention will be the third international event
in the dialogue, following a convention in Dublin (July 2008)
and a symposium in London (July 2009). This will be an exciting
opportunity for South African coaches and other stakeholders to
have a say in the future of coaching. |
ROI
vs VOI
By Sandra Perkins and Antoinette Gmeiner
While many South African organisations have enthusiastically embraced
coaching, the challenge and conversations around exact measurement
of the impact of these coaching interventions remains an ongoing
debate. Even literature on the matter seems unable to provide
us with a clear cut answer as to HOW to go about "measuring" the
impact or effectiveness of coaching interventions on business
performance. |
Skewed
perspectives
By Marti Janse van Rensburg
"The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on
the surface of a gas-covered planet going around a nuclear fireball
90 million miles away, and think this to be normal, is obviously
an indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be. - Douglas
Adams in the Salmon of Doubt. Many, many moons ago, I studied
chemical engineering with a bursary from the CSIR. By the time
I had completed my degree - sort of - I went to work for them. |
| Return?
What do you want it to be?
By Steve Dold
Return on Investment: For me the first thing to identify when
I look at my return on investment is whether I was expecting
a monetary return or an emotional return. I'm sure everyone
is familiar with the age-old joke about the accountant, when
asked; "What is seven minus five?" and he responded with: "What
do you need it to be?" What is the basis for his response? | | ROI
- Result or Intent?
By Lorna Schofield
There are a number of ways in which the notion of investment
plays itself out for me. In 2009, during my PCC year at the
Centre for Coaching, my coaching question was how do I invest
in myself by taking a year's sabbatical? Doing so enabled me
to invest in my renewal, reframe how I viewed income as a source
of self-worth and invest in a learning programme which I believed
to be one of the best in the country. | | Is
your ROL negatively impacting your ROI?
By Veronica Wantenaar
A problem that is often encountered with clients is that they've
allowed (Routine of Life) to take over and they have lost sight
of the (ROI) Return on Investment that they could be achieving
in their life.People become so that they end up chasing their
tails and find that life is passing them by: They have been
to school, studied further, got married and had children and
the Routine has set in. |
The
Holy Grail of coaching ROI
By Rob Smale
For coaches to be seen as adding value in the business world there
is a requirement for us to be able to prove that value. This need
has resulted in consistent calls for us as a profession to be
able to prove Return on Investment. |
| Return
on ... Leadership
By Ivor Shaskolsky
Verses in Ecclesiastes (chapter 10; verses 16 and 17) state
"Woe to thee O Land, when thy king is low-minded and when the
princes eat in the morning! Happy art thou O Land when thy king
is noble-spirited and thy princes eat in the proper time, for
strengthening and not for gluttony." Nothing new! Written by
King Solomon. | | J.O.B.
- Just on Broke
By Marius van Niekerk
I've managed to dodge that bullet often. Wearing a tie. Very
constricting. 35 deg C outside and very humid. Is that how I
measure my successes, or is that just a by-product of the enjoyment
of working in a small business or working for myself? If I see
someone in a tie, are they coming for a job interview or trying
to sell me something? |
Investing
in your marriage
By Audrey Ramaboe
Making your marriage a lifelong love affair ... the power of knowing
yourself in a marriage You were born together, and together you
shall be forevermore. You shall be together when the white wings
of death scatter your days. |
| Protecting
your well earned retirement
By Robert Brain and Veronica Wantenaar
Baby boomers, born in the 1950's, are approaching what was once
considered the age for retirement. With the recent economic
downturn many of these people are deciding that retirement is
not an attractive option at this stage. | |
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| | The Bottom-line on John Parkin's "F***-It" The Ultimate Spiritual Way Stress, fear and tension makes us less agile and more likely to get stuck. Learning to say, "F***-It!" will allow you to let go of your need to control everything. You'll relax and begin to dance with life in a more agile way. There are two kinds of F*** -It's: There's the f***-it-and-let-go" where you breathe out deeply and say, "F*** It" to trying to make stuff happen, and you release and let things be. And then there's the "f***-it-and-go-for-it" where you take a big breath in, say "F***-It" and throw your whole self into taking action to make something happen. We need in-breaths and out-breaths Knowing when it's time to breathe life in more fully and when it's time to breathe life out and which type of f***-it to employ is what will determine how successful your results are and how much you enjoy life. You're dancing with life and sometimes you let life lead and sometimes you take the lead. Flexibility and being present to what your dance partner is doing is of course key in enjoying your dance with life. When you say F*** It, you carry out a spiritual act... because you give up, let go, stop resisting and relax back into the natural flow of life itself. - John Parkin This coaching tip is extracted from The Bottom-line on John Parkin's, "Fuck It: The Ultimate Spiritual Way". Click here to read more and download the full Bottom-line, including an interview with the author, John Parkin. Click here to get an exclusive 40% off when you join the Bottom-line Bookclub COMENSA MEMBERS ONLY | | |  | | Visibility creates opportunities. | | As the coaching industry becomes increasingly competitive, it is more important than ever to enhance our personal brand and be visible to the widest possible audience. | | Coach Directory offers a great opportunity to become visible on the Internet, allowing coaches to present themselves in their own unique way, and focus on their own unique selling points. | | "Since listing my profile, the Coach Directory has proved to be an excellent source of client leads and more recently, client mandates." Michelle Clarke | | " have had three or four calls via the Coach Directory. I am pitching for business with someone as we speak actually. The service is working, congratulations." Mark Smith | | "I have had between five and ten calls from the site, of which three have been converted into business." Felicity Hart | | "I have personally had 7 queries directly as a result of the Coach Directory and 4 of these have converted into coaching clients. I am very happy with the website and I think that it is user-friendly and looks fantastic." Liz Witherspoon | | Make yourself visible. It could create a whole new world of opportunities" | | Coach Directory is offering a 25% discount to all COMENSA members. [Click here for details] |  | | | | | | Please note that the views expressed herein are those of the authors, and not necessarily those of COMENSA. | | | | | |
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