Can a coaching culture improve the level of performance of salespeople in SMEs?

18th May 2018 |   Michael Sweeney

Coaching Culture

Coaching in Ireland is in the early stage of its life cycle, mostly used by “early adopters” rather than being in the mainstream of management tools.

The use of coaching in companies as a development tool for employees has exploded over the past 15 to 20 years. According to a report by Frank Bresser (2009) there are about 43,000 to 44,000 business coaches operating in the world, with over 80% of them working in Europe, North America and Australia. In 2004, an article by Sherman and Freas (2004) in the Harvard Business Review claimed that business coaching, including mentoring, was worth $1 billion in the US and $2 billion dollars worldwide, and its development has continued at a rapid rate since then.

In Ireland, coaching too has become popularized in recent times and now there are four coaching accreditation bodies: the International Coaching Federation (ICF), Association for Coaching (AC), Life and Business Coaching Association of Ireland, (LBCAI), and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). A plethora of courses, both accredited and non-accredited, on coaching skills and practice have popped up throughout the country.

Michael Sweeney

Sales Team Leader Managed Print Service

Michael Sweeney leads a team of six salespeople within the Managed Print Service (MPS) Division of Exertis Ireland, the largest technology distributer in Ireland. Exertis recently acquired TOS Ireland, which was the Irish distributor for Toshiba Multi-Functional Devices.