Recent research on performance management and coaching conducted by Bersin & Associates finds that senior leaders who coach, develop, manage and hold others accountable for practices taught during the coaching and development process are three times more effective at producing improved business and talent results than those who do not.

The research also shows that organizations are moving to a coaching and development model of performance management because it drives innovation and growth, which is a top priority in organizations today.

According to the research, 70 percent of the organizations claim they coach their employees, but many lack proper strategies for performance management and coaching. Only 11 percent of senior leaders actively coach regularly and only15 percent of leaders describe coaching and managing employees as taking place "very frequently."

 Despite the challenges associated with performance management and coaching, 10 percent more of organizations said they use a coaching and development model of performance management as compared to companies that did in 2008.  

The research, part of Bersin & Associates' new study, High-Impact Performance Management: Part 1 – Designing a Strategy for Effectiveness, found that executive engagement is critical to performance management and coaching effectiveness, but it is severly lacking at most organizations. Of those organizations with very frequent executive engagement with performance management, 81 percent had strong business results – and none had below-average business results.

Only 35 percent of organizations with infrequent executive engagement had strong business results, according to the survey.

The most severe challenge to effective performance management and coaching is that managers lack the skills to coach their employees. The research shows that organizations most effective are those who teach managers how to correctly coach therefore delivering higher levels of employee productivity, employee engagement and financial performance.

"High-performing organizations are moving from competitive assessment toward a coaching and development model for performance management to address an unusual confluence of events: a slow recovery from a deep recession, the rise of a younger generation that expects more coaching and development and the globalization of much of the workforce," said Stacia Sherman Garr, senior analyst for performance management, Bersin & Associates.

According to Garr, the coaching and development approach to performance management empowers organizations to provide support when they cannot offer more compensation. “It also facilitates the development of younger workers and helps retain employees in competitive emerging markets."

In a related development, Envision, which provides performance management and coaching solutions, revealed it can dramatically elevate the level of agent effectiveness through multiple solutions, including Click2Coach, eLearning and Quality Monitoring.

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