Coaching services and experiences in Ghana survey 2020

December 19, 2020

Zoweh Global Consult, in partnership with Evolution Consult, embarked on a series of discussions and engagements with various professionals and stakeholders in the human resource management and human capital development sector, culminating in the two consulting firms to conduct this coaching survey.

This survey has three main objects to address: first, to know how wide the gab for coaching is for peak performance and growth among individual and corporate bodies. The second is to understand how respondents think coaching can impact the growth and development of personal lives and corporate entities in Ghana. And finally, to educate the respondents on what coaching is and what it is not.

This survey was done via survey monkey using social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter to reach as many respondents as possible. In all, 1030 people participated across a structured category of people for 30 plus days. The respondents were made of 640 males and 390 females making 62.14% and 37.86% respectively with an age range between 18-60 years plus, 40(3.88%) respondents were from 18-24 years, 320(31.07%) respondents were from 25-34 years, 460(44.66%) respondents were from 35-44 years, and 210 (20.39%) were 45-60 years.

Out of the 1030 respondents, 1010 stated their work category as follows, 330 (32.67%) from public/Civil service, 440 works in the private sector making 43.56%, and entrepreneurs were 240, which is 23.765%. Six hundred thirty (630) respondents from 1000 who stated years of work, had 1-10 years of experience.

One of the critical points of the survey was to know what coaching means to the respondents. And out of 1030, 140 (13.59%) said coaching is soccer-related, 350 (33.98%) said counseling/advisory, 560 (54.37%) said mentoring, 140 (13.59%) said motivational speaking, 20(1.94%) said therapy, and 400 (38.38%) said it is a thought-provoking guide towards possibilities and peak performance. It was also revealed that 860 (83.50%) have never heard about Ontology-Mindfulness-Ecology coaching. Ontological-mindfulness-ecological coaching is rooted in tried and tested methodologies in coachings, such as somatic and neurolinguistics programming(NLP), international coaching federation competencies & ethics, philosophy & language, effectiveness & communication, inquiry, and expansion

The other critical areas worthy of consideration are that out of 610 respondents who answered the question “what was the credential of the Coach,” they got coaching from. Three hundred (300) making 49.18% said skilled expert facilitated it, 260 (42.62%) said the person was a trainer, and 50 (8.20%) said the coaches were International Coaching Federation certified. The 1030 respondents were asked if they were aware that ICF (International Coaching Federation) credentialed Coaches are different from Counselors, Advisors, Psychologists, Psychotherapists, Mentors, Motivational Speakers, etc., 990 answered with 770 saying No/Not sure. These two equally critical questions enforce our position that many respondents do not know what coaching is or about.

It is fascinating to note at this point that, according to ICF, coaching is a thought-provoking and creative process of partnership between a coach and client that inspires the client to maximize their personal and professional potential. Coaches who are credentialed by ICF work within certain ethics and competencies. These competencies got recently reviewed in October 2020. So, in a nutshell, coaching is not therapy, motivational speaking, mentoring, counseling/advisory, etc. But competent or credentialed coaches make referrals to some of these professionals when they assess that what a client needs are preferably within another discipline and augment the process.

Respondents were asked if they knew anyone with any of the three (3) coaching credentials. Out of 980 answered, 840 (85.71%) said No, and 140 (14.29%) said Yes. This question and the associated answers reinforce the conclusion that most people who claim they have had coaching sessions indeed don’t know what they got isn’t coaching but any of the ones mentioned in this survey.

It is very revealing that, out of the same 990 respondents who answered the question in the above paragraph, 770 (77.77%) are not aware of their in-house or external coaching policy or implementation of the companies they work with.

When respondents were asked, “Have you been in a situation with your relationship, education, job, business, career, etc., where you felt the need to talk to someone in confidence, but you readily couldn’t have any name of a Coach or Coaching organization in mind?” Out of 1000 respondents who answered, 660 (66.00%) said Yes.

But out of 1010 who answered the followed up question to the above that “Does the long term absence of a safe and confidential space to express your discomfort or any other feeling or experiences at work/home affect your productivity level? 670 making 66.34% answered Yes and 340 making 33.66% said No.

But we are of the expert opinion that, if the 340 were to be assessed, we would find a lot more suffering from the absence of a coach or coaching services. As a follow up to the question above, respondents were asked “ If YES rate from 1-5 ( 5 being highest impact on productivity)”. The response recorded 10(1.54%) – Low impact, 280 (43.08%) – Mild impact, 240 (36.92%) – High impact, 80(12.3%) Very high impact, and 40(6.15%)- Highest impact. This is one of the most important revealation about the survey, imagine about 360 out of 690 workers vary between high-highest impact on productivity for the absence of safe and confidential space to have their feelings and other needs coached on. If we expertedly troubleshoot even the 280 mild impact, we will get more who will appreciate the impact as well.

Out 1010 respondents answered this question, “Given the opportunity to get coached, which area(s) of your life would you want to receive coaching” with a specific preference. Three hundred and seventy (370) making 36.63% chose Health, 520 (51.49%) chose Career, 370 (36.63%) chose Relationship/Marriage, Spiritual life, and Education both got 280 (27.72%) respectively, Finance got 530 (52.48%), Business got the highest with 570 (56.44%), and 50 (4.95%) respondents were “Not sure” what they will need coaching on.

From this survey, we recommend to companies to make coaching a very integral part of the personal development of their executives, managers, supervisors, and general employees. They must engage the services of professional or credentialed coaches in this regard to produced the desired expectations.

Also, we wish to encourage individuals who are aspiring high and eager to break the status quo to sign on coaching with professional/credentialed coaches. It is a fact that FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 executives, top-performing athletes, outstanding national presidents, innovators from silicon valley, etc., all engage the services of professional coaches to shore up their performances and ingenuity.

We want to encourage our women significantly to invest in their abilities and possibilities by subscribing to coaching from professional coaches to scale up.

In summary, the world is fast shifting from the mechanistic view of several decades to the world’s ecological perspectives, centered around an individual’s holistic well-being to explore their embedded geniuses and accompanying possibilities. This makes coaching a strategic tool for dreaming big to dare the global development’s status quo.

The survey and summary was led by