Expert Push

It's not often that Hollywood's vision of the future comes true. But a 1989 comedy starring Roseanne (Barr, as she was known then), gave a glimpse of the latest phenomenon to sweep Australia's corporate landscape.

In the movie She-Devil, Ruth (Barr), establishes the Vesa Rose Agency a company designed to help people reach their full potential.

Fast forward to 2001 and, in this case, life has imitated art. Life coaching, as it is known in the industry, has become the secret weapon of executives desperarte to maintain the edge over their competitors. A recent TMP Worldwide survey of 8,000 Australian employees, from a range of industries, indicated that demand for coaching services among respondents exceeded 74 per cent.

Richard Hewson, director and founder of Hewson's Australia, (formerly Hewson's & Associates), says that the industry is going through a boom period with some industry estimates indicating a 30 fold increase in the number of qualified coaches in Australia since 1996.

"People are time poor and they need results quickly, hes says." Businesses are running leaner and meaner and that's probably because of competition.

"Companies are realising that this is a very cost-effective and time-effective way of retaining good people and giving them the coaching in the area of their blind spots and resolving those issues straight away."

Having established his executive coaching business eight years ago, Hewson says that Australian executives were at first reluctant to consider the benefits of coaching, relying instead on traditional avenues for encouragement such as family and peer support. Now he says, clients who range from company CEO's to middle management recognise the value of working with an impartial coach. He also believes the trend in the US, where executives are asking for coaching as part of their remuneration package, will soon be seen in Australia.

"It can be lonely at the top and they can feel vulnerable. They can feel emotions just like everyone else and they don't have an outlet for them. They can't go to the competition, they many not be able to talk to the board about the issues, or staff, and they may have partners outside work who are too emotionally involved with the person to be objective", he says.

So what exactly is life coaching and what does it involve? After a consultation between client and coach, a three hour strategy meeting is held to target business goals and what Hewson calls executive "blind spots".

"For the individual there are insights directly relevant to the awareness and the achievement of both career and personal goals and on the other hand for the business the benefits include having leaders who are in better position to improve themselves, their management, communication, people handling, and team building skills as well as their contribution to the bottom line.

"The result of this meeting is that the client knows more clearly what they have to focus on and what they have to do to create stronger results focused on their business increasing revenues and reducing costs."

Hewson says the most common issues arising from strategy meetings involve conflict between workplace practice and personal ethics, and business leaders not knowing how to demand performance with de-motivating staff. He admits that at times coaching can be a confronting process for the client.

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