The coaching industry continues to grow globally as human capital development is critical in the constantly evolving corporate landscape.

Organizations increasingly recognize the positive impact of coaching, defined by the International Coach Federation (ICF) as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.

According to the ICF 2016 Global Coaching Study, there are more or less 53,300 professional coach practitioners worldwide generating estimated cumulative annual revenue of $2.3 billion.

Locally, the coaching practice is still in nascent stage but results of the first-ever Study of Professional Coaching in the Philippines, commissioned by top coaching, training, and consulting solutions provider Benchmark Consulting and undertaken by leading research agency, Kantar, reveal that more Filipinos are leveraging coaching as a means of personal and professional development.

The research presents responses from 300 Filipino employees, aged 21 years and older, who have received professional coaching in the last three years. The figure is broken down into 100 respondents for each of three categories — life coaching, external corporate coaching and internal corporate coaching.

Julius Ordonez, Benchmark president and ICF Philippines founder relates, “As we strive to advance the coaching practice, guided by the ICF global standards, we need to see where we are in the field to derive research-based insights on how stakeholders could be more discerning and effective in the use of professional coaching.” Ordonez is the only Filipino who holds a Master Certified Coach Certification, the highest of ICF credentials.

In the study, those who take up life coaching are mostly millennials, aged 24 to 34 years old, aiming for self-development, achieving work-life balance, better decision-making, and clearer life purpose.

Of 100 life coach-trainees, 77 percent expected the coach to be a source of motivation and challenge as they work towards their goals. Almost half paid for their own coaching program, spending under P10,000 per hour, while the rest were sponsored by their companies.

Respondents say that coaching helped them improve their lifestyle, personality and personal effectiveness.