Executive coaches help firms retain best staff

The answer for an increasing number of finance professionals has been executive coaching, with some coaching firms reporting annual growth of 50% in their business in the financial industry.

Whereas a few years ago banks might have considered employing a coach for one or two top executives, they are now engaging coaches for whole groups or teams at a time, says Des Gould, director of coaching practice the Success Group.

Moreover, it is being now used as a retention tool, with high-flyers being offered coaching by their firms to encourage them to stay. 'A lot of firms offer it as a means of keeping people,' says Tammi Mindell at coaching firm GHN.

Schroder Salomon Smith Barney is one of the banks to have introduced coaching during the past two years.

Lynne Fisher, senior vice president of training and development, says it brings tangible benefits. The coach picks up the specific issues that affect you and your business, it is geared around your own timing, the coach comes to you and the programme occurs in the form of short sharp bursts of input.

At SSSB, as elsewhere, coaching is aimed at the top people. 'It has the most benefit for people who are already contributing at a high level,' says Fisher.

'We want to invest in them to ensure that they can help to take the business forward, and we want to retain them.'

At Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, coaching is being integrated into leadership programmes. UBS Warburg and Chase Manhattan are two of the other banks regularly using coaching.

'Everyone wants to know how you can get more out of people without causing stress,' says Lucia Thompson of coaching firm Metamorphosis.

As personal coaches become integral to top people's packages, the industry looks set for continued expansion. And drawn by the allure of growth and high fees, new firms are entering the market.

At present, coaching is provided by a combination of the large - GHN, the Change Partnership, Kiddy & Partners, the Success Group, Sibson, to name but a few - and the small, many of whom are individuals working in specialist niches.

Outplacement firms are rushing to offer coaching, but their success is by no means guaranteed. 'Coaching is for high-flyers and to use an outplacement firm would send a mixed message,' says Fisher.

Despite growing demand, however, coaches themselves appear to have been spared the perils of the free market. 'The concept of competition in coaching is almost unknown,' says Chris Kiddy, of coaching firm Kiddy & Partners.

'This is partly because it's a new area and demand exceeds supply, but it's also because it is at a very personal level and it is a question of chemistry. I have never been asked to tender for coaching.'