RIO - Our Trip to China
By Bronwyn Bowery-Ireland
CEO, ICA
Last year Robyn Logan and I headed to Greater China to explore the coach training market. We had received many stories prior to going to China about what it would be like, what to expect etc. As it transpired, many of these anecdotes were based on stereotypes and unsuccessful business outcomes.
Since our return from China and Hong Kong I have been involved in a separate research project that seeks to evaluate the Return on Investment (ROI) in the coaching process. One particular model identifies four areas in which to evaluate a coaching program: Reaction - Learning - Behavior - Results
I wondered what would happen if I applied the model of ROI to our China trip. When I used this measure I found that we had a highly successful trip with a very large ROI. Here are the questions I asked myself:
| Reaction: | What is our reaction to the trip - our findings, how we felt, what we experienced, how well it went. |
| Learning: | What did we learn learn from the trip - facts, principles etc |
| Behavior: | What changes would we make as a direct result of the trip? |
| Results: | What were the quantitative results of the trip ie achievement of business goals. What were the qualitative results of the trip ie. increased creativity etc |
Whilst in China we met some amazing people. We learnt a great deal about the generosity and warmth of the many coaches we met. We also learnt that no matter what country you are from, core coaching principles are the same everywhere. We intuitively knew this anyway because ICA is an international school with students from over 40 countries - but this trip confirmed it for us.
The connections we made continue today and we are working towards establishing ICA in China and Hong Kong. So many people shared our vision of coaching in China and share our enthusiasm as we set the processes in place.
This experience, so far, has been highly stimulating and enjoyable. We look forward to bringing you more news in future issues of our newsletter.
|