HR - Recruitment - How to Tell If A Recruiter Can Be Your Next HR Manager

One strong opinion I have is this - if you aren't recruiting as a HR Generalist, you're an administrator, subject to being outsourced at your employer's whim in the future.  I believe HR people need to be heavily involved in the Talent acquisition process in their companies.  I know recruiting can and is outsourced, but if you are good on the recruiting front as a HR Manager, you'll always have a job.

So, it stands to reason that Recruiters are great candidates to be HR Managers.  Jim Stroud agreed with that awhile back, and wondered aloud "why not HR" to his recruiting brethren. 

Of course, not all Recruiters would make solid HR Managers.  But many would.  Here's my list of the top three reasons why recruiters would potentially make great HR Managers, then my top three barriers that have to be validated before you would ever put a recruiter in the HR Manager role.

Why I love Recruiters as potential HR people:

1.  Energy - Most recruiters have better energy than your average HR Manager.  Energy is good, and our profession can stand some spicing up...

2.  A...B...C... - (Always Be Closing) - Recruiters are salespeople, used to working a funnel and closing business.  There's usually a scoreboard involved, be it the number of vacancies, time to fill or cost to fill.  That means most recruiters worth a promotion to HR Manager know how to compete.  Another good attribute to have.

3. Employer Brand Awareness - As part of the ABC equation, recruiters are always aware of your brand proposition.  That experience bodes well as they make the transition to retaining as well as recruiting employees.  Who better to tell your employees why this is a cool place?

Before you hire that recruiter as a HR Manager, check under the hood for the following:

1.  Patience - HR Managers have to have patience daily.  Workplace politics and human nature conspire to make HR Managers take 4 steps where 1 would have been OK in order to keep everyone happy.  If your recruiter doesn't have that, don't put them in the job.

2.  Judgment - What's the reputation for integrity and good decision making with the recruiter in question?  Viewed as a business partner by the departments they recruit for, or the jester that wears the lampshade after knocking a couple back at the Christmas party?  This question isn't limited to recruiters, it would be there for any transfer from another area into HR.  The recruiter has to have a good reputation, or it won't work...

3.  Tolerance for Administrivia - Recruiters will see more administration in this role than they are used to.  If they seem overly frustrated by the administrative burdens of your ATS or EEOC process, they probably won't be a great fit.

Recruiters are a great candidate source for HR managers openings.  Follow these guidelines to determine if they have the chops, and you'll end up with a great selection without getting

Stress Management:- 6 Surprising Stress Fixes

Simple, field-Tested Strategies You Can Use Right Now

You know what stress looks like: The sun rises; so do you. Your child suddenly remembers that he needs cupcakes for the school party. The dog's gotten sick in the living room. Your spouse leaves for work in a huff after a pre-breakfast tiff over finances. You leave for work without a report that's due today. You double back, grab it from the kitchen counter, trip over an Everest of laundry — must we go on?

You know what stress feels like: Your pulse quickens, your lungs squeeze shut, your ears ring, and you wonder if this is the time your head actually explodes. Sensing anxiety overload, your brain orders up a chemical surge that makes your blood vessels narrow, heart race, blood pressure rise, and muscles tighten. Your body is mobilizing to deal with threat.

Good plan, nature! But you weren't meant to stay on red alert forever. Prolonged stress leads to health problems. High levels of the stress hormone cortisol are associated with heart disease and cancer; stress has also been linked to gastrointestinal problems, eczema, asthma, and depression.

And you probably already know what's involved in long-term, big-commitment stress reduction: physical changes (exercising, eating right, getting plenty of sleep); organizational changes (planning ahead, divvying up chores equitably); attitude changes (letting go of what you can't control, for starters); and relationship changes (finding ways to talk through, directly and respectfully, the problems that are the sources of anxiety). All of these transformations are definitely worth the effort.

But here's what you may not know: Recent studies have suggested six new stress reducers — research-tested, rather surprising, and relatively simple. You can ease these strategies into your life right now.

Strategy 1: Smooch Spontaneously

"When I come home from a hard day at work and kiss my husband, the bad stuff doesn't seem to matter anymore," says Cheryl Kennedy Henderson, 47, an accountant in Knoxville, TN. Science says she's on to something. A recent study of 2,000 couples showed that those who kiss only during lovemaking are eight times more likely to report suffering from stress and depression than those who frequently kiss on the spur of the moment. Study leader Laura Berman, Ph.D., an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and ob-gyn at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, explains why: "Kissing relieves stress by creating a sense of connectedness, which releases endorphins, the chemicals that counteract stress and depression."

Strategy 2: Take the Cuddle Cure

More good news from the annals of affection: Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recently found that holding hands and hugging can measurably reduce stress. Fifty couples were asked to hold hands for 10 minutes, then hug for 20 seconds. A second group of 85 people rested quietly, not touching their significant others. Researchers then asked people in both groups to talk about a past event that left them angry or anxious. Those who hadn't cuddled before revisiting the past exhibited signs of elevated heart rate and blood pressure. But couples who had hugged and held hands weren't nearly as ruffled. "The gentle pressure of a hug can stimulate nerve endings under the skin that send calming messages to the brain and slow the release of cortisol," explains Tiffany Field, Ph.D., director of the University of Miami Medical School's Touch Research Institute. And if your honey isn't on hand? Field says other studies have found that a hug from a friend or a professional massage can also help banish tension.

Strategy 3: Lash Out Less

You may have already concluded what a series of studies has confirmed: When married couples argue, men are more likely than women to withdraw — and this frustrates their wives. The studies also revealed something not as obvious. The way a woman deals with frustration during hostile arguments can measurably affect her stress load, and thus her physical health. Women who responded to their husbands with verbal hostility showed elevated stress-hormone levels during arguments and for hours afterward. Their mates didn't show these physical signs of stress, says Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry at Ohio State University College of Medicine and a member of the research team. Prolonged surges of stress hormones can damage the immune system, she notes. (One serious physical consequence of a hostile fighting style was discovered last year by researchers at the University of Utah, who found that wives who lashed out at their husbands during disagreements had twice as much coronary artery calcification, a sign of heart disease, as wives who stayed calm. Hostile husbands weren't affected.) "Conflict isn't necessarily bad," says Kiecolt-Glaser. "It's the way couples disagree that affects health." Her advice: Concentrate on the issue at hand and forget about getting even; drop the sarcasm and name-calling. "Generally it's best to try to keep the emotional temperature as low as possible," she says. "The more heated the words or tone of voice, the harder it is for husbands and wives to hear each other. If necessary, take a deep breath and respectfully end the conversation, promising to talk about the situation later, when you're calmer."

Strategy 4: Put the Kettle On

Tea is the most popular beverage in the world (after water); even coffee-worshipping Americans guzzle more than 2 billion gallons of tea a year. Part of the appeal may be its tension-taming powers. In a recent study, scientists at University College London noted that people who drank black tea four times a day for six weeks had lower levels of cortisol after a stressful task than those who drank a caffeinated fruit beverage. Research also shows that a substance in green tea leaves, L-Theanine, may shift brain wave activity from the beta waves that accompany anxiety to the alpha waves associated with relaxation. Maxine Friedman, 43, of New York City, the mother of 7-year-old twin girls, builds tea breaks into her busiest days. She finds the ritual as calming as the beverage. "I start relaxing even before I start to drink — at the sound of the kettle, the feel of the cup in my hand," she says.

Strategy 5: Loosen Your Electronic Leash

Thanks to high-tech gadgets, your kids can reach you 24/7. Knowing where they are and what they're up to? Priceless. But there's a hidden cost. A two-year study of 1,367 working men and women in New York State, two-thirds of them parents, found that all were overburdened by a blurring of the divide between the workplace and home. But while both men and women reported bringing job-related worries home with them, only women felt stress because of home worries spilling over into the workplace. Researchers speculate that cell phones and pagers are responsible for this blurring of boundaries. "When your kids have a crisis or a relative gets sick, it's usually the women, not the men, who get the call at work," says Noelle Chesley, a professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the study's author. She suggests you take turns with your spouse being "on call" for minor emergencies, and make sure the sitter and the school have his number as well as yours. You may have to retrain the kids, too.

Strategy 6: Reflect On What You Value

When your frazzle level is so high you feel yourself spiraling out of control, a quick way to re-center is to remind yourself of what's most important in your life. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, asked 85 people to complete a questionnaire ranking their values from what matters most to what matters least. Then the group was divided. Half the people were asked to talk about their top-ranked values; the other half discussed what mattered least to them. Afterward, everyone took part in a stress-inducing task (giving a five-minute speech in front of a heckling audience, then counting backward from 2,083 by 13s). People who'd reflected on their most cherished values had a lower stress response than those who'd discussed matters that didn't mean much. "Affirming your values changes the way you appraise a situation," says David Creswell, Ph.D., the study's lead author and a research scientist at UCLA. "In this case, the stressful event became less of a threat and more of a challenge." He suggests one way to put the research findings to work: In a stressful situation, think about people important to you, and how you've been a good mate, mother, daughter, sister, or friend. "Affirmations of close relationships are powerful sources to draw on," Creswell says.

WebMD Feature from "Good Housekeeping" Magazine

By Catherine Guthrie

Motivational:- The Power Of "Instead"

Instead Of Seeing Problems,
Look For Opportunities.
 
Instead Of Chasing Efficiency,
Take The Time To Be Effective.

Instead Of Making Statements,
Make A Point Of Asking Questions.
 
Instead Of Winning An Argument,
Create A Dialogue In Which Everyone Wins.
 
Instead Of Fixing Blame,
Team Up With Colleagues To Fix The System.  
 
Instead Of Bemoaning Your Boring Day,
Climb From The Rut And Create A New Path.
 
Instead Of Getting Buried In Tasks,
Lift Yourself Up With A Mission.
 
Instead Of Exaggerating Your Perceived Weaknesses,
Exercise Your Real Strengths.
 
Instead Of Waiting For Perfect Conditions,
Choose Today As The Day For Change.
 
Instead Of Saying No,
Find A Way To Say Yes.

 

By Tom Terez

Motivational:- Stop Caring for What Doesn't Care for You at All

You Will Never Agree to Spend Another Moment with Worried Thoughts and Feelings Once You Realize that they Don't Care about You At All!   --- Guy Finley

HR - Management:- Results-Based Management

There is a haunting quote from Edward Deming that one of the saddest things in business is to "do with great efficiency that which ought not be done at all." Too often, our time and efforts are mis-directed and wasted.

This week I had a conversation with one of those wonderful people who truly loves her work and has succeeded in building a business around her core talents and values. Unfortunately, she's doing more and more of it, while earning less and less.

Like many professionals and managers, she is caught-up in the joys and details of her work, and has forgotten to measure the bottom-line.

In professional offices, this can happen when the boss is so focused on excellence in their profession that they forget to manage the business. One of my most common coaching scenarios is the passionate professional (Attorney, Architect, whatever) who loves their work, but needs help running the business. They may be the best professional in town, but their business is floundering.

It happens in larger enterprises where policies and procedures or traditions have taken on a life of their own. Employees (and the boss) end up doing their jobs and working very hard, but not necessarily growing the business or serving the customer in the best possible way. Over time it's a recipe for frustration and ultimately, failure.

Whenever we forget to focus on our most important RESULTS, we run the risk of working hard on things that "ought not be done at all."

By Philip Humbert

HR - Training:- Are You Worth It?

Is it really worth having you around?  It's easy for a trainer to get low self-esteem during times of economic unrest--the rumor is training and learning and development programs are the first to get cut when business starts slackening. Whether or not that's true, training is, nevertheless, not the world's most glamorous profession (shocking, isn't it?), so it's rare you're given the credit you deserve. It's not like you're the sales manager with a staff that's raking in a fortune, or the top executive whose brilliant strategy saved the company from a financial plummet. Your contribution is more of a quiet one, like the corporate equivalent of a movie set designer or sound technician. Invaluable, but usually not one to be stopped for compliments.

So is it a surprise that though your value has been proven--investment in learning and development we've all heard adds up to greater company profit and success--the investment in resources by your bosses in the programs you need to implement to deliver on their goals often is lacking? If you've already hauled in the business analytics to make your case for enhanced investment in training, what's the next step?

The best would be to already have that much-talked about seat at the corporate table so you can glare angrily across the morning conference bagels and pastries, offering a tacit reminder that you're still there. But since that's not a situation enjoyed by the majority of trainers, and even some learning executives, you have to start looking for other ways to make your case. You've given them the numbers, so now it's time for them to hear from some of the glamorous star employees. Don't be afraid to use internal company networking to nudge that "gifted" sales manager to bring up to the executive suite the helpful sales training programs you've put together for his team for the last five  years. Be frank, just ask for the sale's manager's help in proving the worth of learning and development to the boss. It's a process similar to asking for references before landing a job. In this case you're asking for internal references to continue, and maybe even do better, in your current role. That new executive who wouldn't be a part of the suite you have to prove yourself to if not for the leadership development and succession plan you put together years ago?  Ask him or her to put in a good word for you, too.

There's an old adage that the numbers speak for themselves, but that doesn't appear to be the case when it comes to training. Study after study gives evidence of the business-savvy of preserving learning programs, and executives say how important they think these programs are to employees, but your curriculum and job always seem to be on the line when finances tighten. Why is that?  Since there's no logical answer I can come up with, I attribute it to a lack of internal boosters to offer what they call in advertising the emotional sell. Great ad men and women know the best commercials focus on tugging at emotions rather than delivering numerical evidence of worth. So maybe you should do the same.

The star managers and up-and-coming leaders your programs paved the way for may not be the most articulate orators, but they'd probably do better than that mute row of extra zeroes you've been counting on.

Your job and programs on the line again?  Are you relying on something more than numbers to make your case to executives?

Posted by Margery Weinstein

Investment:- Warren Buffett's Best Buys

Investing like Warren Buffett is neither an art nor a science. Rather, it is a study of human nature and a willingness to follow a mundane path. As the Oracle of Omaha has proved, boring does not equal unprofitable. His investments often reflect the most basic products and services, ranging from consumer goods like razor blades and laundry detergent to soft drinks and automobile insurance.

A basic tenet of Buffett's strategy is to invest in companies he believes will provide a long-term value investment, rather than investing in fads or technologies that may be profitable in the short run but are likely to become obsolete in the foreseeable future. His investments are guided by his famous words: "It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price."

Choosing Investments With Long-Term Value
In 1987, Buffett famously stated, "I'll tell you why I like the cigarette business. It costs a penny to make. Sell it for a dollar. It's addictive. And there's fantastic brand loyalty." While he later stated that the tobacco industry was burdened with issues that made him change his opinion of it, this statement sums up Buffett's description of the perfect investment. (To learn more about the value investing strategy of selecting stocks, check out our Guide To Stock-Picking Strategies.)

Buffett's holding company, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A), has a portfolio that contains both wholly owned subsidiaries, such as Geico Auto Insurance and Benjamin Moore & Co., and sizable blocks of shares in publicly traded corporations. For example, Berkshire Hathaway is the largest shareholder of both Coca Cola (NYSE:COKE) and Kraft Foods (NYSE:KFT), brands that are ubiquitous throughout America's supermarkets. (Learn to assess the systems by which businesses make their revenue in Getting To Know Business Models.)

While these investments are profitable, Buffett's most ingenuous picks were his purchases of See's Candy and Gillette. Both were so seemingly ordinary that they belied their market shares and their capacity to generate profits that most companies only dream about. Let's take a look at them in depth.

Example 1: See's Candy: The Perfect Business Model In 1972, Buffett purchased See's Candy from the See family for $25 million. See's has been around since 1921, and its stores, designed to look like they belong on Main Street in a traditional American village, can be found throughout the western United States as well in many airports. Their selection is neither trendy nor flashy; the company offers the type of fare that while not in style, also never goes out of fashion. Over the ensuing decades, Buffett invested another $32 million into the business. Since its acquisition, the seemingly nominal confection and retail manufacturer has returned $1.35 billion to its owners. What attracted Buffett to this investment? Primarily, it was a highly profitable business with extraordinarily attractive fundamentals. Its pretax earnings were 60% of its invested capital. As a cash business, accounts receivable was not an issue. As for cash flow, the rapid turnover of products combined with a short distribution cycle minimized inventories. Operating strategies, such as increasing prices before Valentine's Day, provided extra revenue that went straight to the bottom line. Thus, this seemingly nominal enterprise was a perfect business model. In addition to financing its own growth over the years, See's has proved itself to be a valuable cash cow whose profits offer Berkshire Hathaway another internal source of revenues with which to make other acquisitions. (For related reading, see Spotting Cash Cows.)

Example 2: Gillette: Another Great Success Story Gillette provides another example of Buffett's investment strategy. In 1989, Gillette was a company with core products that were so firmly entrenched in the marketplace that seemingly every household in America used them. Gillette's razors, and more significantly the razor blades that fit them, once provided 71% of the company's profits and held a huge market share as the top brand in the United States. The company's Papermate pens, pencils, erasers and Liquid Paper, equally lacking in glamor, were sold in every venue imaginable, from stationery stores to supermarkets to newsstands. White Rain shampoo, Rite Guard and Dry Idea antiperspirants, and Gillette Foamy shaving cream were all powerful name brands, which together represented $1 billion in sales in 1989. During the 1980s, the razor industry was shaken up as disposable razors initially took away a significant share of sales from Gillette. In 1988, Coniston Partners attempted a hostile takeover of the Gillette company. Gillette won that battle, and in 1989, the company redefined the industry with the introduction of the Sensor Razor, a product that appealed to men's desire for a high quality/high tech product and reinvigorated the company's sales and profits. That same year, Buffett stepped in with a $600 million purchase of preferred stock, making Berkshire Hathaway the owner of 11% of the consumer goods company, a seat on the board and a healthy $52.5 million annual dividend. Through the 1990s, Gillette's stock price gave Berkshire Hathaway a significant paper profit. In less than 24 months, the $600 million investment was worth $850 million. (Learn about the strategies corporations use to protect themselves from unwanted acquisitions in Corporate Takeover Defense: A Shareholder's Perspective.)

Patience Pays
Buffett's modus operandi is to be patient, so he did not liquidate his holding and take an immediate profit. Rather, he continued to demonstrate his confidence in Gillette's management, even as the company invested millions of dollars in research and development and acquired Duracell, another classic American brand. In 2005, the acquisition of Gillette by Proctor & Gamble (NYSE:PG) valued Berkshire Hathaway's shares at more than $5 billion and made Berkshire Hathaway the largest shareholder of the world's leading consumer product manufacturer. Since P&G fits Buffett's parameters as a company that possesses many of America's favorite brand names, he assured Wall Street that he would not only hold the shares, but would increase his position in the company.

If Buffett had invested the original $600 million in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rather than in P&G, its value before dividends would have grown to only $2.2 billion. (To learn more, read Think Like Warren Buffett and Warren Buffett: How He Does It.)  

While See's and Gillette are seemingly very different companies, Buffett recognized that both possessed the most valuable formula a company can achieve: profitable and timeless name-brand products. Boxed candy has been a staple of American society for generations, and See's is such a well-loved product that the company saw growth even during the years of the Great Depression. Gillette's shaving products serve a need that will never disappear, and their products have been found in homes throughout America and the world.

Financially, both businesses reflect strategies that have proved to be successful. The cost of producing boxed candy has often been, like perfume, less costly than the packaging and marketing of the product. This translates into extraordinary profits. And the razor blade business that Gillette pioneered and still dominates is the original example of the business model of giving away a larger, infrequently purchased product (the razor) in order to sell a smaller, repeatedly purchased product (the disposable blades) to customers for the rest of their lives.

Conclusion
The first step in replicating Buffett's investment strategy is to locate wonderful companies with long-term value and fairly priced stock. The next step is to get away from the sidelines and invest. See's was profitable before Buffett purchased it, just as Gillette was already known on Wall Street as a desirable investment. It is Buffett's willingness to put his cash down and hold these stocks for the long run that separates him from those who only watch and wait.

Buffett has described his strategy as the "Rip van Winkle approach" after the main character of a famous short story by American author Washington Irving who falls asleep and wakes up 20 years later. Perfect timing is difficult if not impossible to achieve, but Buffett explains that "we simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful."

To learn how to get in on Warren Buffett's profits by using form 13F to coattail his picks, read Build A Baby Berkshire.

 

by Lenny Lubitz

Personal Finance:- Is Your Financial Situation Sustainable And Renewable?

Two words that have attracted a lot of attention are "sustainable" and "renewable". These words are generally used in an environmental sense when discussing energy and natural resources, but they should also be applied to your personal financial situation. Using sustainable and renewable sources of energy, for example, can create a secure supply of energy upon which people can rely. Similarly, ensuring that your lifestyle, savings rate and income can be sustained and/or renewed will help you achieve long-term financial security. (For more information, read Special Feature: Green Investing.)

Your Lifestyle
Let's start by examining the spending portion of your financial equation. Do you know how much money you spend each month? If you don't, there's no time like the present to take inventory. (To learn how setting up a few good habits today can lead to a lifetime of financial well-being, read Six Months To A Better Budget and Get Your Budget In Fighting Shape.)

Even if you don't know how much you spend, you should certainly know how much you earn. Starting there, do you know what you would do if your next paycheck did not arrive? How long could you continue to support your current lifestyle? Even if you can't bring yourself to create a budget, at the very least you need to stash away some cash in case you find yourself unemployed. (Read Build Yourself An Emergency Fund for additional insight on sustaining your lifestyle if troubled times arrive.)

Your Savings Rate
Now let's look at the savings portion of your financial equation. How much do you save each month? Include all sources, from money set aside in your checking or savings account to your 401(k) plan or other employer-sponsored plan - and don't overlook the cash you stash in the cookie jar.

Now figure out how difficult it would be to save that same amount if you were unemployed or were forced to accept a lower-paying job than the one you have today. When you are saving for long-term goals, such as retirement or the cost of a child's education, the amount you end up with is significantly impacted by the amount you put away early on because of the effects of compound interest. Any interruption of the steady stream of savings could significantly reduce the likelihood of achieving your goal. (To learn more about the value of a regular savings plan, read Dollar-Cost Averaging Pays.)

When you put your savings plan under the microscope, be sure to view it in the context of your income. Are there places where you could cut your spending if times get tough? Is there a way to cut other expenses before you reduce the amount allocated to savings? (While you are contemplating this topic, be sure to check out The Indiana Jones Guide To Getting Ahead for some great advice on how to conquer the obstacles blocking your path to financial well-being.)

Your Income
Now let's examine your primary income source. If you are counting on a paycheck from your job to finance your expenses, you should put some thought into where your job ranks in terms of sustainability. Are your skills likely to be in demand five years from now? 10? 15? Is your present employer stable? If not, are your skills easily transferable to another employer? Could you earn an equal or greater paycheck if you changed jobs?

If not, are you taking action? Remember, today is the best time to start preparing for tomorrow. (Invest In Yourself With A College Education explains how investing thousands of dollars in higher education could help you increase your lifetime earnings by millions.)

Hope for the Best, Plan for the Worst
Although the future is unknown, taking inventory of your life will certainly let you know where you stand today and take the stress off your tomorrow. If your current level of income would not be easy to replace, spend some time contemplating the merits of living with less. (Read Downshift To Simplify Your Life to learn how to ditch the rat race with voluntary simple living.)

Simplifying your lifestyle without reducing your income is a great way to free up some cash to build up your emergency fund or give your investment plan a major boost. With a little forethought, you can be prepared for any eventuality.

Of course, if your cash inflows are steady, your savings plan is on track and your source of income is secure, there's nothing wrong with living the good life. Just do so responsibly. Don't buy more than you can afford, keep your debt-to-income ratio low and have a backup plan in the event that life rains on your parade.

by Lisa Smith

 

HR - Coaching:- Executive Coaching Competence

They think they're too busy for it, but your prodding hasn't been in vain, a new study by outplacement, coaching, and career management firm DBM and the Human Capital Institute suggests. "Trends in Executive Coaching: New Research Reveals Emerging Best Practices" shows organizations increasingly are using executive coaching to enhance performance across the enterprise by grooming high-potential employees, while also supporting high-performing executives and leadership teams. Here are some of the highlights:

• Demand for Executive Coaching Services Is Growing due to increased credibility and demonstrated impact on the enterprise. The vast majority of the study's nearly 500 respondents (78 percent) view coaching as a credible and effective way to enhance an individual's effectiveness in driving an organization's performance.

• Organizations are Benefiting from a High Return On Investment (ROI) for Executive Coaching. Of study respondents who calculate ROI, 77 percent believe executive coaching provides their organizations with a solid return. These individuals estimate levels ranging from a minimum of 100 percent ROI to more than a 500 percent return.

• In Addition to Tracking Direct Evidence of Financial Return, Organizations also Consider a Variety of Qualitative Factors When Measuring the Impact of Coaching. These include: achievement of agreed-upon development objectives (84 percent); anecdotal evidence of success (83 percent); assessment from the coach (82 percent); other people's perceptions of the coachee (79 percent); and the coachee's ability to be promoted or to take on new responsibilities (74 percent).

• Organizations are Using a Combination of Metrics and Qualitative Factors When Evaluating the Success of Executive Coaching. Organizations measuring direct financial impact most often track: executive output (33 percent), such as sales revenue and productivity; quality improvements (23 percent), such as increased reliability or decreased defects; cost savings (23 percent); and turnover (21 percent).

• A Majority of Enterprise Executives (78 Percent) View Executive Coaching as Credible and Valuable. "DBM's research reinforces that executive coaching can generate significant rewards within an organization," says Karen O'Boyle, president of DBM North America. "Businesses that invest in human capital by effectively leveraging executive coaching to groom talent throughout the enterprise are witnessing a significant impact on both operational excellence and the bottom line."