Market Research

Women Leaders Executive Coaching
Market Research Results
by Terrill Welch

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I am a Certified Executive Coach, recently completing the Executive Coaching Graduate Certificate Program at Royal Roads University in British Columbia Canada. My academic background and personal motivations have led me to a career devoted to leadership in women and gender issues. In December 2002 I developed and administered a market research survey to gather information from fifty women leaders about potential executive coaching services designed to meet their specific needs.

Following are the results of my research, but first I would like to thank all respondents for their time, thoughtfulness and participation in this market research survey about potential coaching services specifically for women leaders. Many respondents wrote extensive comments and suggestions that will be integral to developing a dynamic service delivery model for women leaders. Most significant was the generous offering of time to suggest alternatives or additions to individual and organizational executive coaching.

I also received several offers to connect with other services who are working with women leaders or in the coaching and consulting field. These services want a referral contact for women leaders and gender analysis. Reaching out and accepting these offers early in 2003 is high on my list. This will be mutually beneficial for the women leaders I serve by providing strong sources for information sharing and referral to others services for specific and specialized needs.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The highlights for each section of the survey:

These results bring fruitful information for designing executive coaching services specifically for women leaders. For example:

• All aspects identified in the section on individual coaching received ratings of over 80% with Confidential Partnership, and Respect and Challenge receiving over 90%.

• All aspects identified in the section on organizational coaching received ratings above 70% with Workshop Approach, and Organizational Assessment Tools rated at 80% or higher.

• There was more variation in ratings for teleclass subject areas. Interest was highest for the subjects of emotional intelligence (80%) and consensus/accountability (87%), lowest for feminist leadership (62%).

Problems and Solutions:

Women leaders responding to the market research survey are interested in executive coaching, particularly if it is uniquely tailored to their needs. About 45% indicated they are willing to purchase these services at the rate proposed in the survey. However,, another third of the respondents (about 35%) wanted to pursue executive coaching but saw the rates for service prohibitive and suggested lower rates. The majority of respondents were women leaders in the non-profit sector and suggested such solutions as sliding scales and a lower rate for non-profit organizations.

Both of these solutions are possible -- and yet they do not fully address the issue. One respondent commented on the common ethical dilemma for women working with women: Essentially, women deserve to be paid at the same rates as their male counterparts, yet their clients have less means to do so. Women with less means deserve the same quality of service (in this case executive coaching) as their male counterparts. I think it is fair to say that services like executive coaching, which were created and designed to serve mostly male chief executive officers, has often led to avoidance in thinking through and addressing the gender implication of executive coaching services for women leaders. Hence, current executive coaching models are sometimes beyond the means of women leaders or the organizations they lead.

My solution is to meet this business challenge with creativity and a principled delivery model. I will offer individual coaching as outlined in the survey at the rates proposed, and also offer a variation on these services which I think will be attractive to women leaders. Respondents repeatedly suggested their desire for opportunities to connect with other women leaders in a high-functioning structured environment. Taking into account both financial accessibility to services for some respondents, and the desire of women leaders to engage in structured discussions with other women leaders, I will design and deliver a networking coaching model for women leaders that can be offered to small groups (three to five) leaders at a time, providing high quality and accessible executive coaching. The best part of this adventure is that this affordable value-added offering can be delivered for about one-third the cost of individual executive coaching with the advantage of having a team of enthusiastic individuals to work with.

In an effort to give back to the field of women leaders and as a means of acting on my beliefs about social responsibility, I will also continually have a limited portion of service that will be delivered pro-bono in every area of service delivery.

To sum up: As an Executive Coach, positioning herself to be a woman behind women, these quantitative and qualitative survey and research findings show two aspects of primary importance to women leaders. The first is they desire to set their sights high and reach for a vision which is truly fulfilling. The second is they desire to get coaching support to make these dreams a reality. Individual executive coaching with networking possibilities must be the foundation service offered for women leaders. Other services -- such as organizational coaching, teleclasses, articles on specific topics, research findings of specific interest to women leaders and gender analysis -- will be value-added. This is because mining your own gold as women leaders is your richest resource.

DETAILED RESULTS

Who responded to the survey?

A total of 50 respondents interested in executive coaching services specifically for women leaders completed the survey. Of those, 42 want to be contacted again when services are fully operational in February 2003. Six additional qualitative responses were received by those wanting to contribute their thinking about executive coaching services for women leaders and, for a variety of reasons, declined to complete the full survey.

Some respondents are working on the international front. Most respondents were from Vancouver – then Victoria, followed by Ottawa, then a handful from the interior of British Columbia, and with a smaller number from Seattle.

The majority of women leaders responding to the survey were from the non-profit (40%) and government (32%) sectors. A sizable number came from the entrepreneurial sector (26%) and a larger than market share percentage came from the corporate sector (12%). Twenty percent of respondents filled in the category for “other”, and responses included such leadership sectors as post secondary education and local government.

Interpreting the results:

Once data is gathered, meaning must be applied to the results. Each of the following sections will include preliminary learning and direction for the delivery of executive coaching services specifically for women leaders.

A. The issue of language and the underlying tension it implies.

Language usage, like other areas of communications, becomes extremely important when partnering in a coaching relationship. For example, the word “executive” holds it’s own tension in many sectors where women are leaders. Where appropriate, I will identify language usage that was brought to my attention. For example, to best serve the non-profit client group with respect to the use of the words “results”, “leverage” and “return on investment” and any tension identified with the use of this language, I will identify and use more appropriate language for this sector. Conversely, “life learning objectives”, “social responsibility” and “facilitating social change” created some resistance for corporate and government leaders where this perspective has been outside their scope or directions as leaders. Again, through recognition of each leader’s individual desires and needs, material will be presented in a manner which is most accessible.

However, it will be important to give clients as many opportunities to extend themselves as possible. Executive coaching is partly about providing opportunities for clients to stretch. To that end, women leaders responding to the survey commented on and recognized the necessity for the proposed service design to respond to all the sectors where women are exercising their leadership abilities. This may lead to an occasional stretch outside of a particular leader’s comfort zone of corporate, entrepreneurial, non-profit or government. This occasional stretch appears to be appropriate because many women leaders identified an interest in or have moved between sectors. The ongoing tension in this aspect of executive coaching service design has the potential to allow for cross fertilization and strengthening of women’s leadership in all sectors. The more challenging task as an executive coach for the various sectors will be to decide when to translate, or adjust language and focus from one sector to another and when to allow the tension to remain and enhance the experience of the leader or leaders. I expect to accomplish this feat through awareness of the challenge and through open ongoing dialogue with executive coaching clients. Particularly in relation to the aspect of finding a focus or action to best give what clients want, this becomes a necessary point of clarity in the coaching relationship.

B. Individual coaching: What do women leaders want most?

Individual coaching is about helping women leaders accomplish what they really want to do, enhance their success and to have more of what they want in life. Each coaching session will promote self-discovery, establish achievable goals, and determine a course of action with a commitment to measurable results.

All responses for the specific aspects of individual coaching identified in the survey were clustered in the important to critical rating on the scale. Individual Executive Coaching received the highest overall rating of all the potential services identified in the survey. In addition, some respondents were looking for opportunities to brainstorm and connect with other women leaders within the individual coaching context. These comments are congruent with findings in the secondary research covered later on.

Out of 50 responses, 45 said they would be willing to purchase individual executive coaching. Of those, 23 said they would be willing to purchase individual coaching at $100 to $150 for each individual coaching session.

1. The aspect of having “a confidential partnership where you can explore your doubts, fears and celebrate your successes” is at 90% of the maximum rating it could receive. This is the one area that women leaders I have coached often mention as significant in their work because they do not have the ability to receive this service in any other capacity within their work environment. Another survey comment related to this area was a critical need for individual support in brainstorming with an Executive Coach for specific solutions to leadership issues.

2. The second aspect of “time with someone who respects you enough to challenge your assumptions and ask you to deliver exceptional results” is at 90% of the maximum rating it could receive. In addition to this high rating, the use of the word “result” received some comments as “too corporate” particularly from non-profit organizations working in the field of violence against women. Another way to say this that may be more palatable is “time with someone who respects you enough to challenge your assumptions and ask you to identify and know what success in a particular area looks like to you and how you will know when you have succeeded”.

3. The third aspect of “providing a coaching environment with a factual understanding of leadership dynamics important to women leaders is at 83% of the maximum rating it could receive. Of the forty-nine ratings provided, no responses were given to say that this aspect was, unimportant or unnecessary, with most responses in the important rating (24) followed by the critical rating (14). In reviewing the qualitative data included with the survey, my thinking is that women leaders are familiar with the leadership dynamics they face as women in leadership positions. To have this understanding as an executive coach is important rather than critical in relation to the previous aspects discussed. If necessary, they will “make do” if this is not a foundation of the coaching relationship. Therefore, to be able to provide this aspect becomes a “value added” attribute to the proposed coaching services.

4. The forth aspect of “providing assessment tools and coaching to enhance your self awareness, action planning and leadership skills is” at 84% of the maximum rating it could receive. In this aspect the ratings were again predominantly in the important rating. The difference with assessment tools, unlike the previous aspects, is that there were responses that ranged all the way down to a rating of unnecessary. From my discussions with women leaders I have coached and from qualitative data included in the survey, use of assessment tools is seen as important or critical dependent on the level of self awareness the leader has about the aspect they want to explore. If self aware is high, the need for assessment tools is seen as less important. Based on this information, I anticipate using assessment tools following consultation with a leader on what they are wanting to know about themselves and determining how successful the tool is likely to be in shedding light on that characteristic or skill of their leadership.

5. The final aspect of “a partner who will work with you to find the focus and action for the best return on your investment of effort, time and resources” is at 87% of the maximum rating it could receive. Despite the high rating, the use of the language “return on your investment” was seen as coming from the corporate world and did not resonate with the non-profit sector. This feedback will become extremely important in designing services and materials that best fit women leaders in this sector. An alternative way to view this coaching aspect is to frame it as “a partner who will work with you to find the focus and action that you determine will make the best use of your efforts, time and resources”

 C. Organizational coaching: Can we all use a coaching approach?

The organizational coaching services outlined in the survey are intended to enhance the use of a coaching approach by a whole group for teams within an organization, to large national and international working groups.

The ratings for organizational coaching were more spread out than for individual coaching; however, the greatest number of responses still rated each aspect identified in this section as important. In reviewing the qualitative comments provided, some of this spread of responses appears to be because the survey was addressed to individual women leaders and not organizations, creating an inability for the leaders to respond on behalf of national or international working groups or executive teams within their government or corporate structure. As an Executive Coach, if a woman leader felt aspects of organizational coaching would enhance the work of a particular group, my emphasis would be to partner with the leader in presenting a suitable and tailored offering to those who were required to support the decision.

Out of 50 responses, 42 said they would be willing to purchase organizational coaching services. Of those, 26 said they would be willing to purchase organizational coaching services at $1,500 a day and in one case up to $2,000 per day US funds.

7. The aspect “coaching a team or working group to build high-performances and results” is at 77% of the maximum rating it could receive. As noted early, the language may have contributed to a lower over all rating for this aspect. Another alternative way to say this might be “coaching a team or working group to gain the most useful and meaningful decisions with the least effort possible”. The most prevalent ratings were divided among somewhat important (12), important (17), and critical (14). With the small sample and nothing more than already mentioned in the qualitative data, any conclusive understanding of the variation in responses is difficult.

8. The aspect of “workshop and follow up to preparing and implementing a coaching approach in an organization, team or working group” is at 80% of the maximum rating it could receive. The spread of ratings mirrors that of the previous aspect. The use of a coach approach as a tool to work with colleagues has been part of requests and skill building with individual women leaders I am coaching. From the comments received from respondents, more clarity of what this aspect would look like and accomplish would be of assistance to women leaders who want to consider this organizational coaching aspect.

9. The aspect of “organizational assessment tools and coaching to enhance awareness, action planning and results” is at 82% of the maximum rating it could receive. This is the highest rating for all of the aspects of organizational coaching in the survey. However the spread of response mirrors the previous two aspects. In reviewing the qualitative responses and from discussions with women leaders who have participated in organizational assessment tools, I will hazard a guess that it is extremely important to clarify the purpose, intent and expected outcomes of using an assessment tool before deciding it is an appropriate direction to take.

10. The aspect stated as “in addressing gender implications internally and externally to your organization, use of a coach approach for you to identify actions carrying the most leverage potential” is at 74% of its maximum rating. The wording of this question was poor and not easily understood…..need I say more? The ratings were much more spread out and the curve for the majority of responses was at somewhat important (16) important (18) and critical (7). The overall rating was the lowest for the aspects under organizational coaching. In reviewing the qualitative data in relation to the ratings, gender implications are best understood as a value-added benefit for women leaders seeking executive coaching rather than a critical need.

D. Teleclasses: How about an opportunity to look at various aspects of leadership?

The purpose of teleclass offerings will be to enhance strategies and explore issues important to women leaders.

With the exception of Making sense: Feminist first, leader next (rated at 62%), there were good ratings for topic suggestions. My best guess is that “feminist” carries significant baggage for many women leaders in all sectors, creating a necessity to reframe this offering. Suggestions from respondents include: Leadership without compromising your principles or Making sense: The principles of progressive leadership. One of the reasons for drawing this conclusion is that Consensus and accountability: using the strength of diversity to get lasting results received a rating of 87%. The second reason is that it is the only place in the survey where I used the word “feminist”. In conclusion, though the content of the survey and proposed coaching services rely heavily on feminist theory and practice, there is more interest when the material is simply presented from this perspective rather than directly identified as coming from a feminist framework.

Out of 50 responses, 35 said they would be willing to purchase teleclasses. Of those, 21 said they would be willing to purchase teleclasses at $200.00 per student for a series of teleclasses on a particular topic. There were many requests for more information about what teleclasses were and some difficulty was evident in understanding the pricing question. This area needs further work and greater explanation before respondents can confidently rate pricing for the teleclass offering.

12. The teleclass subject area “Making sense: Feminist first, leader next” is rated at 62% of its maximum rating. As mentioned above this topic area received a low rating with highest score as somewhat important (17) followed by neither important nor unimportant (14) with the remaining ratings scattered along the complete scale.

13. The teleclass subject area “Possibilities: Business with social responsibility” is at 76% of its maximum rating. The highest score on the scale was a rating of important (17) followed by somewhat important (15) with 9 respondents rating this topic area as critical.

14. The teleclass subject area “Emotional intelligence: Facing gender facts about the advantages of women leading” is at 80% of its maximum rating. The highest score was important (18) with critical and somewhat important both receiving a scores of 13.

15. The teleclass subject area “Consensus and accountability: Using the strength of diversity to get lasting results” is at 87% of its maximum rating. The highest score for was important (22) followed by critical (19). This subject area was of interest to all sectors of women leaders. It has the potential to be developed for a variety of delivery methods including face to face workshops, teleclass and internet discussion.

E. Secondary Research: What do others say?

Secondary research validates market research findings.

The Globe and Mail November 29, 2002 (B11) reports that an in-depth study by Industry Canada based on figures for 2000 found that 45% of all small to medium-sized enterprises have at least one female owner. Women tend to be in knowledge-based industries and restaurants. Women do more relationship building, identifying “a different kind of networking and they tend to be prepared to help each other a little more in business” than their male counterparts. The article also notes that 100 largest women-led companies in Canada generated revenues of $2.1-billion in 2000, up from $1.2-billion in 1999. More than 43,000 companies headed by women had at least three years of operations, over $500,000 in annual revenue, a solid business plan and operations in technology, life sciences and value-added services”.

In Birmingham Business Journal, May 6, 2002 an article by Susan M Hengel about executive coaching for business women identifies the willingness for women leaders to seek coaching. She states that “women in business continually seek professional improvements such as developing one’s own job performance, becoming a more effective leader, managing careers or moving successfully into a new position”. This is supported in the survey results where 42 out of 49 respondents want to be contacted once services are operational, with two respondents declining because they were already working with a coach.

Margaret Heffernan is writing a book on the naked truths about women in business, and presented some of her findings in Fast Company August 2002. She states that women work differently than men:

They seek places that are transparent and collaborative, that respect relationships as the bedrock of all good businesses. What women want are companies that look a lot more like a network than a pyramid, companies where fairness is a given, companies that value what’s ethical above what’s expedient.

She concludes that if women can not find these kinds of companies, then they will simply build them. Rather than having a goal to get onto the boards of Fortune 500 companies to become Chief Executive Officer, the goal is to change the game entirely.

This is also supported by Nancy Einhart in an earlier article in Fast Company identifying five reasons why your company should care about female leaders. A summary of the five reasons include:

• Women are leaving corporate America nearly twice as fast as men. Only 4% of the top earners at Fortune 500 companies are women. Women fill only 7.3% of the total line positions held by corporate officers (stats from Heffernan article).

• Ignoring women means ignoring a crucial talent pool. Mirroring the market place means having women in leadership positions.

• The one-dimensional model of career progression and compensation is outdated and ineffective. A belief that working your way to the top by age 50 or 60 is not useful for current strategic practices in growing leaders.

• Women offer a unique and valuable business perspective.

• Women leaders attract new female talent and invigorate the women working below them.

At this time, there is limited evidence of Executive Coaching offered with a primary specialization for women leaders in Canada. Some services are offered in Detroit and Florida and some services work nationally in the U.S.

F. Methodology and concluding remarks:

The research was conducted from November 25, 2002 to December 10, 2002. The method used to conduct this research is referred to as a snowball technique and is a type of non-probability sampling in which women leaders identified others to be included in the survey. Due to the survey’s specific focus on women leaders this was an appropriate method to discover first hand what women leaders are looking for in executive coaching services. The survey was distributed to women leaders known to the researcher, other colleagues who would also be able to pass the survey on to women leaders and a national list serve where women leaders and other researchers working on issues important to women could be contacted. The majority of research surveys were sent and received via email.

There is no way of telling how many surveys were circulated in using this method. The majority of the respondents knew the executive coach conducting the research either through a direct working relationship or by reputation. Other respondents knew the person extensively who had passed the survey along. For some, an attraction to the unique nature of executive coaching specifically for women leaders was enough of a draw to complete the survey.

This research represents tentative findings from a small sample and will require further exploration over time. There is no intention to imply scientific rigor in this market research survey. Rather, through the use of specific questions, the goal was to invite survey respondents into a conversation about what women leaders want from executive coaching services. The findings are presented here in the interest of sharing knowledge and building a community of understanding that will best serve women leaders in the future.

Work Sited:

Einhart, Nancy. “Survival Tactic: Recognize Your Female Talent.” In Fast Company. January 2001. http://www.fastcompany.com/lead/lead_feature/act_fineline.html.

Heffernan, Margaret. “The Female CEO ca. 2002.” In Fast Company. August 2002. http://www.fastcompany.com/online/61/female_ceo.html.

Hengel, Susan M.. “Executive coaching develops business women.” In Birmingham Business Journal. May 2002. http://birmingham.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2002/05/06/focus4.html.

Ramsay, Laura. “A league of their own.” In The Globe and Mail. Friday, November 29, 2002. (B11).

Additional Gender Analysis sources:

Catalyst:
“Catalyst Study Finds Women Hold 9.8 Per Cent of Corporate Board Seats Among Canada's Financial Post 500 Companies.” March 2002.http://www.catalystwomen.org/press_room/press_releases/2001_wbd_canada.htm.

“Catalyst Study Dispels Myths About Generation X Professionals and Sheds Light on What This New Generation of Leaders Seek At Work: Gender Gap Still Exists Between Men and Women at Work.
” December 2001. http://www.catalystwomen.org/press_room/press_releases/genxcanada.htm .

“Women in Leadership: A European Business Imperative.” Executive Summary. 2002. http://www.catalystwomen.org/publications/summaries.htm .

Further information, comments, permissions or inquiries:
For further information, comments, permissions or inquiries, please contact:

Terrill Welch
A Woman Behind Women
Site 21 Comp 32
Mayne Island B.C. Canada
V0N 2J0
250-539-5877

tawelch@shaw.ca

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