Leadership Coaching Government Style

The Defense Intelligence Agency is growing a new army that is targeting the hearts and minds of its workforce. The foot soldiers are moving DIA’s leaders beyond what they thought was possible to help them maximize their personal and professional achievement. Equipped with thought-provoking creative processes and empowering questions, this new cadre is one of leadership coaches.

Is building a DIA coaching program worth the investment?

“Organizations are using coaching to retain talent and support high potentials and emerging leaders,” says Stephanie Marisca, former president of the International Coaching Federation New England Charter Chapter. “More and more organizations are looking to coaching as an opportunity to optimize performance.”

The ICF Global Coaching Client Study reports organizations with coaching programs observed better work performance, business management, time management, team effectiveness and career growth. The same study found that coaching clients noted improvements in self-confidence, relationships, communications skills, work- life balance and wellness.

“Organizations need to create a culture of creative thinkers who are motivated and empowered, who feel their contributions are valued,” says Marisca. “Coaching provides the objective support to create desired change within organizations.” Regardless of the organizational mission, Marisca believes coaching adds value and supports the pursuit of mission accomplishment. 

Some private sector firms already embrace coaching. At Ernst and Young, for example, “emerging leaders are singled out for coaching during the grooming process for acceptance into the partnership,” says Clifton Smith, coach and senior manager at EY. The coaching culture has a positive impact across the firm.

EY is not alone. Well-established coaching programs exist at Apple, Google, Berkshire Hathaway and others.

According to Forbes and Bloomberg Business Week, nearly 100 percent of CEOs say they would like to see coaching in their workplace. But only about a third of executives receive coaching or other leadership development training, according to a Stanford Business School study. Coaching is still not a widely implemented best practice.

What’s holding organizations back?

According to the ICF, coaching provides a median return on investment of more than three times the amount spent.  Nineteen percent saw an ROI of 50 times their investment, while another 28 percent saw an ROI of 10 to 49 times their investment. In 2014, however, 27 percent of organizations reported that they did not evaluate effectiveness of their coaching program at all, according to ICF’s 2014 report Building a Coaching Culture. Of respondents that do evaluate effectiveness, the most popular measures were employee feedback (58 percent), coach feedback (42 percent), and performance appraisals (32 percent).

Most organizations with coaching programs are qualitatively recognizing the positive effects, but there’s little current information on the value-add in real dollars.

That gets to the heart of the main obstacle: up-front cost. If an organization could invest $100,000 with an expected return of $300,000 within two years without adding to its workforce, would it be worth the investment? Most organizations would say yes, but such upfront costs may still be prohibitive. 

To realize the return, however, the initial investment must be made. The same is true for the federal space as well, where leadership coaching is beginning to catch on.

Coaching has proved successful at NASA, the Central Intelligence Agency and elsewhere. Coupling best practices at agencies with her experience in the financial industry, Cynthia Covington, leadership development specialist at DIA, is on a mission to establish a formalized coaching program at the agency.

The Academy for Defense Intelligence acquired funding for external coaches before implementing a program in 2014 to provide coaching training at the Brookings Institution for 22 of its senior executives. Covington then attended Georgetown University’s coach training program, which she calls “the most transformative experience” of her life.

Many others are joining the cause. Training is readily available, and the flexibility of the coaching certification program offered by the Institute of Professional Excellence in Coaching and other places lets candidates pursue coaching certification simultaneously with other responsibilities.

DIA is working to establish a formal coaching program to be offered at all levels. Covington sees the opportunity for creating a culture shift in which employees grow their skills, recognize and enhance their value, and reach their personal and professional goals. With champions like her, DIA will get there, and we will all be better for it.

Randall Trani, a career civil servant at the Defense Intelligence Agency, Army veteran and former diplomat, attends Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Connect on Twitter @randall_trani. The views expressed are his own and do not represent the views of DIA or any other government agency.

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