Although fairly new, coaching is
an extremely fast growing profession around the world. It is now classified
among the high earning professions especially in the USA. A Pricewaterhouse Coopers
study commissioned in 2007 by the International Coach Federation found that
part-time coaches averaged annual salaries of $26,000 and full-time coaches
were averaging $82,000. Most professional coaches charge fees in the range of
$150/month to $400/month for a package of 3 scheduled sessions per month. A
very manageable caseload for a full-time coach is around 25 clients per month. Gross
income projections can therefore be estimated by multiplying the number of
clients desired by fees within that range taking local economics into
consideration. Twenty-five clients, for example, at $250/month generate
$75,000/year. Twenty-five clients at $350/month is $105,000. Even when those
Dollar signs are replaced with Ghana Cedi signs, it is still fantastic earning
for asking questions for a few hours a day. Coaches who specialize in
executive, corporate and leadership coaching often charge considerably more
($600 to $1,000+/month), but prospective coaches are however, encouraged to make
conservative projections when considering the field and take their local
economy into consideration.
But just how important are
coaches and why do they get paid so much? To understand this one must first
consider the fact that; the most successful people you see around doing great
things have personal coaches you don’t know about. Most coaches don’t mind
being the power behind, it’s the nature of the job. As Ghana’s foremost
performance coach Katey Aklie puts it;
“our
job is to get others to reach their aspirations; that is how we achieve our
dreams”.
Some of the aspirations they
want to reach are billion dollar ventures. Consider the following scenarios:
Case 1: Imagine if you run a
business worth $20 million that is under performing because of two or three key
people. You are loosing money on a daily basis because of these two. A coach comes
along and gets them to start ticking and your earnings for the year quadruples
because of improved performance. What would that be worth to you and your
organization? Wouldn’t you give 10% of your 20 million for that kind of results?
Case Two: Your teenage son is lives
in the F zone at school and you are worried he will never make university. You
have tried everything and nothing has helped. A coach comes along and places
him among the top five in his class. What will that do for his future and what
monetary value will you place on that? There are parents who will give the
world to have that kind of help; they just do not know who to turn to.
“As
coaches work behind the scene; accepting your place as the power behind is the
mentality you need to be a good coach. It is always about other people and
their aspirations and never about you. You succeed only when others succeed”. –Katey
Aklie
In Ghana the seeds have only
just been planted and it is developing roots really fast. Internationally
certified performance coach Katey Aklie, affectionately called HOPEMAN by most is
the force behind this growth and he and his team estimates that Ghana alone
needs about ten thousands coaches who will shape the destiny of this nation. He
insists that our politicians, business people, professionals and everyone else
are functioning around 30% of their true capacities. They could really benefit
from the services of a coach by just spending an hour with him/her per month.
Coaching will move them to the next level and that will reflect on the national
output. He also believes that youth coaching is probably one of the most needed
niches at this point if this nation is to have a better future. While he
conceded that the general public is not used to the idea and do not know how to
use coaches, he says that things are changing as more coaches are trained and.
They will through their practice show everyone else the value of coaching. He
said:
“It
is like everything else, you have to start from somewhere but we are already alarmed
at the level of change. The thing is that Ghana already has many people who
call themselves coaches. The only problem is the lack of right skills to do the
job so people can actually see the benefit of the service”.
Currently he is focused on training
more coaches and guiding them into the new career area. We will open new
options for revenue generation for counselors, teachers, pastors and other
professionals who have the inclination to help people reach their best by
simply retooling them with coaching skills. There are quite a few people who
call themselves coaches without really understanding what is involved. Some
think it is a cool tag for motivational speaking and going around telling
people to do things no one knows will work. The first training program is intended
to certify all these folks who clearly have an interest and a passion to help
people improve, put them into the new association and help them build their
practices. This is the reason why the cost of training has been cut down by
50%. They will begin to make change as we certify and license them to start
taking the profession to the next level.
The next training session begins
on the 3rd of November. The five day training is collaboration between
the Performance Academy and the OD institute--Africa’s only graduate School of
Organizational Development headed by the world renowned OD consultant Prof.
Noble Kumawu. Everyone with an interest in coaching or helping people to be
their best (youth workers, teachers, pastors, counselors, managers and just
about anyone) is invited to join the groundbreaking training program to prepare
themselves for the coming flood of opportunities. Call
0201197700, 0268388560 for information on the training program.
Posts
