Coaching imperative for business success —International Coach Federation

By Princewill Ekwujuru

PRESIDENT, International Coach Federation (ICF), Nigeria Chapter, Ajibola  Ponnle, has called on public and private sector executives in Nigeria to key into benefits of coaching in order to optimise the human capital of the country.

Ponnle made the call during a conference organised by the ICF chapter in Lagos, in commemoration of the 2017 International Coaches Week. In  her keynote address, she lamented the rate of misconception about coaching in Nigeria. According to her, coaching helps unlock potentials needed for development, but Nigeria seems not to be moving with the ongoing silent global revolution.

“In our environment, people are still very confused about what coaching is. When you talk about coach, they think of a football or athletics coach. But we tell people that we are life, executive and leadership coach. There’s still a lot of misconception about what it is and what we do. So the aim is to tell people about what coaching is and how it can help their organisations to increase their bottom line and even individuals to perform better and live more satisfied lives in general,” she stated.

Speaking on the benefits of coaching, she explained that coaching is a global trend and is being deployed in every sector of the economy around the globe. She stated that if well embraced it will help develop sectors of the Nigerian economy.

“For Nigeria right now, the focus is on entrepreneurship, agriculture, SMEs. The federal government has identified these sectors as the drivers of the economy. What you find out with a lot of entrepreneurs is that they have the vision and idea, many of them lack the skills and someone that would help channel the skills, and also make them accountable.

Having a coach with small businesses would help the company stay focused on the targets. It would help achieve the business objectives. Coaches really work in every sector. We have professional, life, corporate and leadership coaches. The key is that for whatever goal you set, we help develop the strategies to achieve them,” she noted.

Ponnle added that coaching will also be invaluable in the public sector as it would keep officials on their toes and make them accountable. ‘‘The richest man in the world, Bill Gates said everyone needs a coach. It means that there’s real value to coaching in getting people to where they need to be,” she stated.

 

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