Measuring ROI? In business coaching? Yes and yes.
Isn’t this just a fad? Isn’t this impossible? No and no.
As more and more organizations use business coaching as a human resources, performance improvement, and leadership development approach, many executives question its value, particularly as coaching expenditures grow. Whether the engagement takes place in the context of an internal department for coaching or through arrangement with a business coaching firm, coaching assignments and commitments are planned and executed with good intentions. Unfortunately, however, not all coaching engagements produce the value desired by either the individual being coached (participant) or the sponsor who often pays for it. It will be increasingly important that business coaches measure a significant return on investment (ROI) and show the value of business coaching in terms that managers and executives understand.
It’s Not a Fad . . .
Measuring ROI enjoys a history of nearly thirty years of application in a variety of human resource and performance improvement processes and across the full spectrum of industries and organizations. Thousands of trained practitioners implement an ROI process in their own settings and thousands of impact studies are generated annually worldwide. The methodology is the subject of many books in many languages.
It’s Not Impossible . . .
Successfully measuring ROI for business coaching involves much more than simply assessing results achieved. The most effective ROI processes involve four phases: planning, data collection, data analysis, and reporting.
In the planning phase the coach, the person being coached, his or her manager, and the sponsor (client organization) agree on the evaluation plans and establish a baseline for expectations.
The data collection phase occurs in two time frames. Data is collected first during the coaching experience and then at the conclusion of the engagement or at an appropriate follow up time. The data collected include satisfaction and reaction, learning, application and implementation, business impact, and ROI. See Figure 1.
| Evaluation Levels | |
| Level | Measurement Focus |
| 1. Reaction & Planned Action | Measures participant satisfaction with the coaching experience and captures planned actions |
| 2. Learning | Measures changes in knowledge, skills, and attitudes |
| 3. Application and Implementation | Measures changes in on-the-job behavior and progress with application |
| 4. Business Impact | Captures changes in business impact measures |
| 5. Return on Investment | Compares coaching engagement monetary benefits to the program costs |
The third phase in the ROI Methodology–data analysis— isolates the effects of the coaching on the business. The process includes converting data to monetary values using conservative figures (higher figures for costs, lower figures for benefits), capturing costs, calculating the return on investment, and identifying intangible measures and benefits.
Phase four–reporting–requires reaching conclusions, generating reports, and communicating the information to target groups. This new knowledge affords all involved–from the coach and the person being coached to upper level executives in the client organization–the ability to assess the value of the coaching engagement and the opportunity to make adjustments going forward.
Final Thoughts . . .
Developing the ROI in business coaching is not a fad, and it’s not impossible. Measuring ROI in business coaching is, and will increasingly become, an imperative for organizations and coaching firms pursuing the highest standards of accountability.
This article first appeared in Business Coaching Worldwide (Premier Issue 2005, Volume 1, Issue 1).
Jack J. Phillips, Ph.D, is a world-renowned expert on measurement and evaluation, chairman of the ROI Institute, and consultant to many Fortune 500 companies. He facilitates workshops for major conference providers throughout the world. His most recent books are Proving the Value of HR (SHRM, Winter 2005) and Investing in Your Company’s Human Capital (AMACOM, Spring 2005). Find out more about Jack’s work at http://www.roiinstitute.net.
Prepare business coaches, leaders or other professionals to solve practical, real-world business challenges and drive new opportunities with the WABC Accredited® global mark, a program accreditation distinction that ensures you’re offering the most comprehensive and robust business coaching training available in the world.
The global business landscape is evolving at an accelerating pace. The demand for confident, competent leadership and ethical, sustainable business models has never been more pressing and necessary for success.
As a discipline that challenges leaders, teams and individuals to think more critically about clarifying and activating their strategy, business coaching is essential to sustaining organizational achievement.
As a powerful intervention, business coaching is a discipline harnessed by tens of thousands of organizations and businesses worldwide, including many Fortune 500 leaders.
It’s no wonder that such a wide array of business coach training programs are available worldwide, whether through internal corporate solutions, or through open programs offered by universities and training institutions. With such strong market growth, there’s a clear demand and abundance of choice.
Yet the global community of business coaching stakeholders—coaches themselves, their trainers, those thinking about becoming a business coach or the organizations interested in applying their skills—must discern the quality of the training they seek and they put into practice every day.
As an unregulated industry, the challenge is a lack of clarity and consistency on what defines excellence in business coaching. WABC has met this challenge through rigorous self-regulatory initiatives focused on raising the quality, credibility and profile of business coaching worldwide.
As the leader since 1997, WABC leads the business coaching industry in identifying the qualities, actions and skills of the effective business coach.
Our insights have allowed us to deeply understand the link between the quality of an individual business coach’s training and the quality of business coaching services they can deliver.
The WABC Accredited global mark was developed in direct response to this crucial need for clarity, reliable standards and quality service delivery within the industry.
As a program accreditation distinction, WABC Accredited:
WABC Accredited programs equip individuals with the evidence-based competencies that leaders, organizations, individuals and teams need to realize their potential, backed by the latest theoretical and practical knowledge designed to deliver results.
For training programs dedicated to offering the best training and education in business coaching, the route to achieve the WABC Accredited mark is through our WABC Program Accreditation Process.
Our process optimizes your program for success by ensuring your training is grounded in the business coaching best practices shaping the industry today.
Whether you represent an open enrollment program offered by a training provider, university or educational institution, or you represent an internal business coaching training program offered by a corporation, business or other type of organization, the depth and breadth of our program accreditation process ensures your program is built on research-informed best practice.
You’ll learn much more about our program accreditation process when you explore all our WABC Accredited levels.
WABC’s rigorous program accreditation process engages successful providers in a continuous lifecycle—from initial accreditation to annual monitoring to re-accreditation every five years to ensure they deliver the highest, most relevant training to business coaches today and tomorrow.
The WABC Accredited mark means:
WABC Accredited is a testament to the excellence of your program and sets you apart from other training providers. Participants know that WABC prepares them for the practical challenges of business coaching in organizational and business-specific settings.
Because it is based on best practice for both business coaching and program accreditation processes, WABC Accredited broadcasts your program meets the highest global standards and is specifically tailored to business coaching, not coaching in general.
Whether your training is available to the open market or to employees within your organization, effective business coaching training can transform how people perform their role, no matter their career stage or level of seniority.
With many levels of accreditation to suit your needs, you’ll be able to build a relevant program that brings out the best in your participants.
WABC Accredited applications are evaluated by fully qualified, independent assessors. They assess the competencies your program addresses and the quality systems it adheres to, ensuring your training meets WABC’s robust criteria.
Our transparent program accreditation process also offers providers access to fully qualified, independent advisers who provide personalized advisory support and feedback designed to make you think more critically, creatively and strategically about your program offer.
Earning WABC Accredited for your program means your graduates are eligible to receive their own individual WABC credential, a distinction available to graduates of WABC Accredited Programs.
WABC credentials signal that your graduates are equipped with the evidence-based knowledge and skills to solve real-world organizational challenges and deliver excellence in business coaching.
Carrying the WABC Accredited distinction means you get to build your program’s brand with the support of a global organization committed to excellence.
You will gain the right to leverage the WABC Accredited brand in your marketing, program and training materials.
You will also have access to exclusive opportunities with WABC to build your thought leadership profile, promote your services and access a global community of business coaches and clients.
The WABC Program Accreditation Process includes demonstrating the success of your program’s standards, approaches and learning models.
By sharing this information with WABC, you build the global body of knowledge about business coaching as an evolving, innovative practice.
Your program accreditation shapes business coaching practice, development and self-regulation around the world, to create even greater efficacy and impacts.
The program accreditation process leading to the WABC Accredited mark enables you to learn an enormous amount about effective business coaching, as your curriculum is measured against WABC’s expansive, detailed knowledge base.
Fine-tune your program for success with helpful, personalized feedback during the accreditation process, so you can offer best-in-class training built on research informed standards and best practice in business coaching and training alike.
Earning WABC Accredited for your program also means your program participants and graduates can also enjoy being part of WABC’s membership community, where they can expand their thinking with access to cutting edge knowledge and build their professional network with like-minded colleagues across the globe.
Prepare business coaches, leaders or other professionals to solve practical, real world business challenges and drive new opportunities with the WABC Accredited® global mark, a program accreditation distinction that ensures you’re offering the most comprehensive and robust business coaching training available in the world.
Whether you are a business coach trainer, a coaching organization, or an institution solidifying your existing offering, building a new program or looking to offer your participants a premium business coaching training experience, WABC Accredited distinguishes you apart from the competition.
Having your program WABC Accredited® means that your graduates are eligible to receive their own individual credential from WABC. This is an exceptional professional development opportunity that will help raise your value as a trainer.
Gain credibility that demonstrates your training is rooted in research-informed best practice. Align your program with a globally recognized distinction, and equip yourself with the confidence of knowledge and expertise from an established association, backed by research.
Align with the global standard for standards, skills and competencies that ensures continued business coaching success. Build your reputation with a specialized program accreditation, designed for business coaches, leaders, managers, directors and teams practicing in business and organizational applications.
Signify that your program is rooted in evidence-informed best practice and robust research, and incorporate thinking from adjacent disciplines, such as neuroscience and psychology, to complement your programs.
Offering a WABC Accredited internal training program builds an engine of business coaches, leaders and other employees that are dedicated to the continued success of your people, your strategies and your performance as an organization.
By supporting your leaders, managers, directors and teams with the knowledge and skills to better identify opportunities, unblock challenges, and work together towards shared objectives and priorities, there’s no limit to how far your organization can go.
Having your program WABC Accredited means that your leaders and employees are able to access high-quality training from you and receive their own individual credential from WABC. Taken together, this is an exceptional professional development opportunity that will help raise your value as an employer.
Clarify your leadership purpose and vision, and engage employees more effectively in achieving your priorities. Establish strategic destinations that strengthen your organization’s alignment and integrate diverse stakeholder and market requirements. Build trust and loyalty with teams and clients more quickly by improving your relationship building and persuasive skills.
Guide your team with clarity and communicate strategic intent to create clearer project asks. Build more trusted relationships with colleagues and reports alike, built on sound advice and authentic leadership. Develop strategic roadmaps and benchmarks that address challenges realistically, to ensure your team can reach them.
Foster a positive work environment that outlines clear expectations and drives more focused mindsets. Build a culture of support, respect and collaboration that is aligned with your core values, expertise and business objectives. Unify teams with diverse perspectives and attract and retain top performers. Operate with integrity and discretion to drive trust across your organization.
Fully engage team members to drive top performance and innovation. Improve each individual’s level of confidence, emotional intelligence and communication skills to motivate collaboration and accountability. Equip your teams with the empathy skills needed to build relationships with diverse stakeholders across the organization.
Build customer experiences that are distinct and increase loyalty and reputation in the market. Enhance your service by building a culture focused on active listening, effective communication and customer satisfaction.
Our company is thrilled to be the first in the world to achieve the WABC Accredited® mark for our two leader-as-coach programs, The Blueprint: How to Lead with a Coach Approach and The Blueprint: How to Lead with a Coach Approach – Credential Edition. What we witnessed from the leaders was profound – they quickly grew more self-aware, confident and resilient, and were able to navigate complexity with clarity, purpose and a renewed sense of possibility. And as leaders, they turned their learning into meaningful action—elevating the people around them, sparking trust, deepening accountability and lifting the well-being and performance of their teams.
What makes these programs exceptional is their foundation. They are built on WABC’s evidence-based competencies and global standards, grounded in decades of research and shaped by real-world coaching and leadership practice.
Any participant will tell you—the transformation is undeniable. They leave not only equipped to accelerate their careers but grounded in a deeper understanding of themselves and empowered to lift others, strengthen their teams and lead with confidence and impact in today’s rapidly evolving professional environments.
Weplusnetwork is an Italian consulting company with a network of executive consultants and coaches, experts in developing leaders, managers and other talented professionals within organizations. Since 2013, Weplusnetwork Business Coaching Training School has answered the growing need of companies and individuals for expert relational, coaching and leadership competences through our training programs for senior professionals and managers interested in gaining a better understanding of how business coaching can improve their effectiveness to thrive in complexity and uncertainty within their organizations.
It quickly became clear as we began our journey as a coaching training school that we needed to align our training with a global accrediting body, and WABC was the clear choice given its world-class evidence-based competencies and professional standards for business coaching. In 2015, our Business Coaching Lab program earned the WABC Accredited (Level 1 – RCC)® qualification. This WABC recognition has been a distinctive mark for our training offer, and many HR professionals and managers of large, multinational or Italian companies choose our School because we pay special attention to organizational and business needs for people developmental paths. Additionally, and equally importantly, both our faculty and alumni have enjoyed being part of an international cohort that acknowledges best practice business coaching.
Since our program was initially accredited, we have engaged in the WABC Program Re-accreditation Process necessary for us to maintain our program accreditation. Both the initial and re-accreditation processes allowed us to systematize and enrich our training content offered to delegates, and to confer with senior advisers on the WABC Program Accreditation Team. WABC proves very helpful to keep our programs up to date, distinctive and reinforced with global best practices.
We are grateful to WABC and can attest to the value WABC provides for both training participants and training providers.
We serve a diverse and fast-evolving leadership landscape in Singapore, where organizations are navigating new expectations for collaboration, resilience, and human-centered leadership. For years, I had been designing and delivering coaching interventions that helped leaders grow in these areas. As demand increased, it became clear that our program needed the kind of structure, quality assurance, and global legitimacy that only a respected global accreditation body could provide.
WABC’s reputation for rigorous professional standards and its grounding in evidence-based business coaching made it the natural partner for us. Their framework aligned well with the needs of the leaders we support—who operate in complex, multicultural environments and require practical, applicable coaching skills that strengthen their ability to think strategically, influence effectively, and build meaningful relationships across their teams.
Going through the WABC Program Accreditation Process was an unexpectedly rewarding experience. The WABC Accreditation Team was kind, responsive, thoughtful and genuinely invested in helping us bring out the best in our program. Their guidance pushed us to articulate our intentions more clearly, refine our content, and design a learning journey that would set leaders up for fundamental behavioral shifts. The process helped us strengthen both the depth and the discipline of our approach.
Earning the WABC Accredited® mark has elevated our work in multiple ways. Leaders now experience a more intentional, structured coaching methodology, and they appreciate that their learning aligns with a globally recognized professional standard. The accreditation has also offered our participants a pathway to pursue the Registered Corporate Coach™ (RCC™) credential, which they have found motivating and meaningful for their professional development.
For us as a program provider, the accreditation has brought clarity, credibility and renewed purpose. It reinforced our belief that coaching can play a pivotal role in shaping future-ready leadership in Singapore and provided the solid foundation for continued growth.
We are proud to partner with WABC—not only for the recognition, but for the learning, support and global perspective that have strengthened the way we serve leaders and organizations. The accreditation has set a strong trajectory for our program, and we look forward to expanding its impact in the years ahead.
Our organization passionately serves the healthcare industry, and our services include a range of coaching programs for developing leaders. As healthcare organizations face increasing complexity, we wanted to ensure our programs met the highest, globally recognized standards while remaining practical, relevant and results oriented. When we discovered WABC, we knew we’d found the right accrediting body for us and are thrilled to have earned the WABC Accredited® qualification for three of our programs.
We began with earning the WABC Accredited (Level 1 – RCC)® qualification for our Healthcare Certified Coach Program / Leadership Certified Coach Program. Grounded in WABC’s leading evidence-based standards, earning this accreditation strengthened the confidence of our participants and partners and reinforced the value of the program and its role in developing capable, ethical and impactful healthcare coaches.
Building on our first success, we next earned both the WABC Accredited (Level 1 – Leader-as-Coach)® and WABC Accredited (Level 2 – Leader-as-Coach)® qualifications for our respective CTI Leader-as-Coach Program and CTI Leader-as-Coach Certification Program. These programs – built on WABC’s evidence-based competencies that enhance trust, accountability and sustainable performance – align closely with the realities of healthcare leadership and reflect a rigorous standard for developing leaders who integrate coaching skills into everyday leadership practice.
The WABC Program Accreditation Process experience itself was both rigorous and constructive. The process validated the strengths of our programs’ approaches and further elevated the clarity and consistency of our programs’ offers. The WABC Program Accreditation Team provided clear direction, timely feedback and a high level of professionalism that made the process purposeful rather than procedural.
Our decision to choose accreditation through WABC was a deliberate investment in quality, credibility and long-term impact. Our decision reflects our strong, ongoing alignment with a global accrediting body recognized for excellence, credibility and impact. We appreciate WABC’s leadership in advancing the coaching profession and are proud to be part of its community.
WABC builds excellence at every level of business coaching. From creating robust evidence-informed standards to ensuring that program providers offer exceptional business coaching training, we continually find new ways to support business coaching achievement. Take the next step to build a better training program.
Are you a champion of business coaching within your organization and want to introduce WABC to your employer to see what’s possible?
Whether your organization has a business coaching program or is interested in building one, WABC accredits in-house programs to ensure that your employees are trained to coach using the latest research-informed best practice and global standards.
With WABC, program providers can expect a program accreditation process unlike any other in the coaching industry.
In fact, the path to earn the WABC Accredited mark is an important professional and business developmental opportunity in its own right. By design, you will move through our process of progressive stages and steps that enable you to showcase your program offering for evaluation.
Many training providers and organizations want to enhance their credibility and build WABC Accredited programs that drive tangible business results, but aren’t sure where to start.
WABC helps providers develop WABC Accredited training programs, and offers a range of consulting and business services to identify opportunities and improve coaching within organizations.
We invite experts and researchers worldwide to apply their expertise to the subjects impacting business coaching, which integrates the work of many adjacent disciplines, including neuroscience, psychology, behavioral science, ethnography, among others.
WABC applies the highest possible standards to business coaching. Extensive research on the topics currently shaping both coaching and business more broadly enhances our knowledge on subjects influencing business coaching standards, programs and practices.
As part of our goal to apply the highest standards, WABC constantly seeks robust research to enhance our evidence base on “what works” or “what is promising” in contemporary business coaching worldwide, while also considering the professional expertise/expert opinion of business coaching professionals.
We invite experts and researchers worldwide to apply their expertise to the subjects impacting business coaching, which integrates the work of many adjacent disciplines, including neuroscience, psychology, behavioral science, ethnography, among others.
Organizations and businesses of all kinds have new challenges to face in our quickly changing global environments. Success today requires advancing on many fronts simultaneously, including facing new industry entrants and disruptors, adapting to customer demands, competing to attract and retain top talent, and establishing clarity of vision through tumultuous times. Leading organizations know business coaching is essential to support the alignment between organizational goals and the leaders, teams and individuals responsible for driving their success.
Organizations have new challenges to face in our quickly changing global environments. Success today requires advancing on many fronts simultaneously, including facing new industry entrants and disruptors, adapting to customer demands, competing to attract and retain top talent, and establishing clarity of vision through tumultuous times.
As these challenges grow increasingly intertwined, traditional siloed thinking lacks the relevance to operate effectively in this new context. It takes enduring commitment to continuously focus on the right business initiatives at the right time, find the precise balance of objectives, resources and timing, and build transparency and accountability at all levels of an organization to realize sustained success.
This shift requires new knowledge and skills. Developing a learning mindset, building resilience and adopting adaptability are key to driving growth, innovation and peak performance from leaders, teams and individuals alike. Achieving organizational goals requires alignment and accountability at every level of an organization.
As organizations rise to meet these demands and realize their strategic intents, business coaching can support the alignment between organizational goals and the leaders, teams and individuals responsible for driving their success.
Business coaching impacts individuals, teams and the organizations they work within. A business coach will leverage their expertise to build on the current state of both the organization and the individuals within it, to enhance performance and leadership potential. It is a role that is, by nature, supportive, disruptive and progressive.
Business coaching is distinct in that it addresses the needs of both the individual and the organization they work within. This distinction makes business coaching a unique discipline within the world of coaching more broadly. Business coaches can go by many names—including executive coach, organizational coach, leadership coach, or corporate coach—yet each one focuses on the shared business goals and objectives of both the client and the organization. This dual focus separates business coaching as a distinct practice from all other kinds of coaching.
Business coaches support organizational goals and objectives, at an individual or team level, by identifying opportunities and supporting clients in their actions to achieve results. The business coach’s role can take on many forms—it can be supportive, disruptive and progressive to encourage insights, development, change and growth.
Business coaching is industry agnostic, meaning the competencies of an effective business coach can be applied to any sectors or industries. Some business coaches may choose to specialize and offer their services in a particular industry. This is especially true with WABC business coaches, as they are required to have business and organizational experience before earning their WABC credentials.
Business coaches are strategic partners who build your business and operational success. Among the broad array of service offerings, business coaches may help:
Business coaching engagements can be initiated for many reasons—ultimately, the goal is to remove roadblocks or challenges or to stimulate new insights or pathways so a business, company or organization can achieve its full potential and sustain or grow its market position.
Business coaching helps leaders, individuals and teams respond more effectively to change and accept greater accountability. It is often used to help high-performers reach even greater success as they engage with new opportunities for growth, at both a professional and organizational level.
An internal manager is taking over a new team and wants to understand how to integrate into an existing dynamic and build trust.
A business coach can help facilitate a smooth transition and provide the leader with clarity on how to build a vision and engage their team effectively.
An organization is going through a business transformation related to their goals, processes or technologies.
A business coach can help manage change effectively by implementing strategies to support the transition and adoption of the new priorities.
A president or CEO is ready to step down and is looking to build a succession plan to ready the organization for a significant leadership change.
A business coach can help the leader transition their expertise and knowledge effectively, and build clarity of vision while navigating a complex leadership handover.
If a team isn’t working well together, performance challenges and missed targets are common symptoms of underlying tension and lack of trust.
Business coaches can work with both individuals and teams to improve their dynamic, build trust with one another and find new ways to collaborate to increase productivity.
Supporting mental health is instrumental in retaining top performers and building an optimal, innovative work environment.
A business coach can improve employees’ understanding of how they contribute to an organization’s priorities, how to maintain an appropriate work/life balance, and how to be more authentic and open within the workplace.
The Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC) leads the business coaching industry in identifying the qualities, actions and skills you need to drive leading business outcomes and harness emerging opportunities.
As the industry leader since 1997, WABC has elevated business coaching practices worldwide and helped countless coaches, clients and companies successfully navigate complexity and achieve tangible business results.
Our global community spans more than 125 countries, and includes business coaches who work with entrepreneurs, managers, CEOs, presidents and professionals from all industries, all sectors, and all organizational sizes.
Enhance your customer service experience and build trust and loyalty with clients. Business coaching can help improve relationships and align individuals’ actions more closely with performance goals.
Drive performance with your team by strengthening internal engagement to drive greater innovation and more insightful decision-making. Improve the confidence, emotional intelligence and communication skills to motivate team members towards better performance.
Improve your organization’s ability to more effectively deliver on your mission to the communities you serve. Boost creativity, innovation and accountability for your programs, and more clearly articulate the need in ways that resonate with the public.
Increase the efficacy of your program delivery by thinking more strategically and spotting opportunities that drive greater results. Build support more effectively, both within your organization and with external partners and stakeholders.
Gather the right information from clients by asking more insightful questions and tailoring your approach more effectively. Guide your clients towards clarity by offering clear, strategic intent.
Build trusted partnerships founded on advice, authenticity and a sense of being in your client’s corner. Enhance your strategic deliverables with solutions that address clients’ challenges realistically and effectively.
Strengthen the ability to identify client needs and get to the root cause of operational challenges more effectively. Gain a wider strategic view on how technology infrastructure supports business and operational strategy.
Build organizational roadmaps that take into account the diverse requirements across departments. Equip teams with the relationship-building skills and empathy needed to drive stakeholder satisfaction.
Increase employee focus by fostering a positive working environment through setting clear expectations of organizational priorities and safety. Align business objectives and team priorities more closely by equipping leaders with the skills to manage their teams more effectively.
Improve your customer service experience with increased loyalty and customer satisfaction. Build a supportive and respectful culture that takes into account the importance of a team member’s overall wellbeing, including their mental health.
Business coaching offers many ways to achieve your business objectives and build a business coaching culture within your organization. Take the next step towards achieving sustainable performance improvement with WABC.
Search the WABC Business Coach Locator to find your qualified coaching partner in accelerating your professional or organizational achievement.
Are you a champion of business coaching within your organization and want to introduce WABC to your employer to see what’s possible?
Whether your organization has a business coaching program or is interested in building one, WABC accredits in-house programs to ensure that your employees are trained to coach using the latest research-informed best practice and global standards.
Many organizations see the value in using business coaching to unlock the potential within their organization, but don’t know where to start.
WABC offers a range of consulting and business services to identify opportunities and improve business coaching within organizations.
Whether you are a business coach, leader-as-coach, client, training provider or member of the public, WABC enhances coaching confidence by delivering relevant, robust and reliable academic and professional principles and standards. Our best-in-class benchmarks reward excellence and build discipline in the business coaching industry and its subspecialties towards research and sound practice.
The Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC) drives business coaching excellence as the global leader in robust, evidence-based practices. We support leaders, coaches, clients and companies with the knowledge, skills and resources to successfully navigate complexity and improve individual and operational performance alike. Our global community elevates all types of organizations, industries, and sectors using business coaching to achieve their strategic organizational and business objectives.
WABC is a self-regulating body that behaves as though it is regulated. We set professional standards, a code of ethics and integrity, definitions and competencies that our organization, representatives, members and providers are committed to upholding.
A consistent global standard for business coaching as a distinct discipline is critical to the evolution of our profession and industry.
As the first organization to create evidence-based business coaching standards, we strive to build public trust in WABC business coaches as a reliable and ethical community, committed to upholding rigorous standards and acting in our clients’ best interests.
Our purpose is the ambition underpinning why we exist. As the core philosophy to who we are and why our work matters, our purpose is the foundation that grounds and guides the broader impact we strive to achieve.
WABC understands that to lead is not simply to act, but that the intention of our actions matters most. Leaders must be accountable to those we serve, and our values, ethics and integrity must align with the impact we want to create—for people, for the planet and for the common good.
At WABC, we are committed to unifying business leadership by establishing the highest global standards for business coaches and business coaching training providers available today.
Our purpose is brought to life through our values, which guide how we remain actively committed and accountable to our clients, to one another and to ourselves.
We adapt to key stakeholder and market demands by developing great business coaching services and products. We stay on the leading edge by continually seeking feedback and improving practical value to business coaches, clients, members, providers and other key stakeholders.
We lead the business coaching market with new services and products by actively experimenting and researching new approaches. We continually set bold, new goals that are both strategic and evolutionary to nurture renewal, innovation and high quality.
We celebrate the diverse skills, talents, experiences and cultures of our global community, including business coaches, clients, members, program providers, committees, partners, alliances, executives, advisers and support team. We nurture, develop and grow socially responsible leaders at every level of our association to help realize our purpose in action.
We believe that our business coaching community can achieve anything with the right support behind them. We challenge ourselves to deliver service that is:
We believe that business is a potent force for solving social problems, and that leading with intention demands broad and deep corporate integrity. We strive to conduct our business in ethically, socially and environmentally responsible ways.
Our achievements are only possible when we commit to see them through together. We are loyal partners who commit with respect and gratitude. We stay true to our purpose and values, and do what is right to uphold these values as we navigate both adversity and success.
At WABC, our mission and vision focus our core philosophies of purpose and values into what we aim to achieve, for the business coaches we serve and the distinct industry we represent.
Our mission is to develop, advance and promote the business coaching profession worldwide.
We are committed to enhancing business coaching as a distinct discipline and building awareness, credibility and trust in business coaches everywhere.
We envision a world with a business coach working within every organization, business and government worldwide.
We believe business coaching makes for better leadership, strategic thinking and organizational management. Our goal is to raise the profile of business coaching to become standard best practice for high-performing businesses and organizations.
At WABC, we believe that business is a potent force for solving social problems, and we are committed to building public trust and credibility in business coaching as a global industry.
Business coaches often work with those in a position of leadership, who can greatly influence the business decisions and culture of the organizations they represent. Especially when facing complex dilemmas, business coaches must have the courage to challenge their clients’ perspective and guide them towards ethical choices. Business coaches also need to know when they themselves may be encountering ethical dilemmas and how to reconcile competing interests and agendas.
The unique nature of our role makes it clear that each of us needs to possess a strong ethical orientation as we carry out this important work. It is for this very reason that WABC invested in developing a Code that could match to the challenges we, and our clients, can sometimes face.
The current WABC Code of Business Coaching Ethics and Integrity embodies the highest ethical standards and includes our Principles and our Safe Harbor Conciliation and Adjudication Process. It’s one of the most advanced and comprehensive codes of its kind in the world today, and is one of the key differences that set WABC business coaches apart from other kinds of coaches.
Our Code is reviewed regularly to be relevant to the latest in best practice. It serves to guide not only our day-to-day business interactions and decision making, but also provides direction during uncertain times to help us think deeply about how to conduct all our coaching across business contexts and cultures.
WABC is committed to unifying continued excellence—of bringing business coaches, members, providers, and partners together to share expertise and support colleagues, clients and organizations across the world.
We work alongside businesses and organizations both big and small, and WABC business coaches are united by the principles, philosophies and ideas that give us a common foundation and elevate our practice
Our members represent everything from Fortune 100s to not-for-profits, entrepreneurs and enterprises, start-ups and small businesses. WABC business coaches drive transformations, both big and small, in organizations across sectors, industries and business size, and can support the success of your business too.
Our WABC Accredited program providers voluntarily hold themselves up for ongoing scrutiny against the highest business coaching standards in the world. Fewer than 1% of the world’s business coaching programs have met our standard of accreditation.
inception as a
global leader
countries in our
global community
of credential
holders globally
At the heart of WABC is a team of passionate individuals who commit their breadth and depth of their experience and expertise to supporting this vibrant association. We are also supported by committees, task forces and other working groups as needed to further our organizational goals and objectives.
“At WABC, we lead the best by committing to be the best—the best in high standards, quality service, and evidence-based thinking.”
Wendy Johnson is guided by an ethics-based ambitious vision: to have a business coach working within every organization, business and government worldwide.
Leading WABC is the ideal way for Johnson to leverage her passion and precision for the benefit of business coaches worldwide. Since 2002, WABC has become the leading global voice for business coaches, their training providers and their clients.
Under Johnson’s leadership, WABC has:
As a global thought leader in business coaching, Johnson continuously contributes to our community through a wide range of activities including coaching, mentoring, supervising, speaking, writing and reviewing of business coaching books and articles.
Johnson’s background is diverse, with expertise in business coaching, human dynamics, behavioral science and criminal justice. Before building her successful business coaching practice, Johnson ExeC Group, she served as a high-profile investigator, a law enforcement officer and a mental health therapist. These positions deepened Johnson’s commitment to public service, social responsibility and ethical behavior, traits that have defined her work at WABC.
Johnson holds several academic degrees including an MA in Counseling Psychology from the Adler School of Professional Psychology, as well as certifications in mediation, negotiation, conflict analysis, management, interrogation and investigation and business coaching.
“WABC’s steadfast commitment to business coaches, corporate ethics, integrity and evidence-based standards/practices is exactly what organizations worldwide need today.”
Doug Abrahamson brings broad and deep strategic management skills gleaned over decades of experience across multiple organizations and fields of practice.
For over 25 years, Doug has passionately championed the need to improve strategic management and planning skills within the field of public safety and security in Canada, the United States, Australia and the United Arab Emirates. Simultaneously, he has conducted research, authored numerous articles and book chapters, and presented on the need for evidence-based policy and practice, stakeholder engagement, good governance and business coaching within both the public and private sectors.
Doug’s work has given him an opportunity to collaborate with organizations such as Charles Sturt University (AU), the Justice Institute of British Columbia (CA), Rabdan Academy (AE), Saskatchewan Global Transportation Hub Authority (CA), Police Executive Research Forum (US) and the Victoria Police Department (CA).
Doug has an MBA from Royal Roads University (RRU) and a Doctorate of Public Policy from Charles Sturt University (CSU). He maintains his academic standing through his continued role as adjunct faculty with CSU, Honorary Research Associate with the Justice Institute of British Columbia, journal and book/chapter authorship and role as independent peer reviewer for three international academic journals.
“Excellence in business coaching is essential in today’s rapidly evolving landscape. WABC’s best-in-class professional standards ensure that businesses and leaders receive coaching that is rigorous, evidence-based, ethical and transformative.“
Caroline Assalian is an internationally respected performance expert whose career spans elite sport, corporate leadership, executive coaching and leadership development training. As the Founder of KasKor Business Coaching, she leverages her expertise in high-performance leadership to empower leaders and organizations to achieve enduring success by focusing on the human side of performance.
For over 25 years, Caroline held senior executive roles in complex, high-stakes environments, transforming organizations and leading high-performing teams in globally competitive settings. Her relentless pursuit of excellence, paired with an unwavering commitment to people and performance, has established her as a trusted advisor to leaders navigating change, complexity and breaking barriers to success.
Caroline is a WABC Certified Master Business Coach® who believes every leader benefits from working with a business coach equipped with training and expertise tailored to the complexities of business leadership.
“WABC’s content is developed from a deep understanding of the business coaching domain, the evolving needs of members, and its deep commitment to standards. WABC is positioned to be the go-to source for business coaches around the world.”
Michele Ann Jenkins has been working in web content management since people first realized web content should be managed. She got her start programming medical vocabulary management tools, then joined the San Francisco dotcom frenzy to work on Open Source web content management systems for the burgeoning online publication industry.
With 20 years of web development experience and a strong background in information science, Michele quickly analyzes client and user needs to translate them into actionable strategies that drive user engagement. Focusing in information architecture (IA), usability and content strategy, she finds creative ways to apply IA best practice and builds frameworks that are useful, solid and beautiful.
After many years of travel and working for UN organizations in Europe, she settled down in Montreal, Quebec to focus on information architecture and taxonomy.
Michele has a BA and an MLIS from McGill University, where she has taught courses in Online Community Development and Knowledge Taxonomies.
Steve Lanning and Hal Wright of the United States founded the National Association of Business Coaches (NABC) in 1997. NABC experienced steady growth within the first five years while the business coaching industry became one of the fastest growing professions in North America. NABC was positioned as “the association of choice” for business-focused coaches and the international business market.
To further global growth, NABC sought out a visionary leader to elevate the organization into a prestigious international association. Wendy Johnson of Canada shared the same vision—of an organization who could elevate excellence in business coaching, and unify business leadership throughout the world.
On May 31, 2002, Wendy Johnson transformed NABC into a new privately held federal corporation in Canada, and became WABC Coaches Inc.
WABC Coaches Inc. conducts business as the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC), and serves and develops business coaching markets around the world.
Monday–Friday
8am–5pm PT (UTC-8)
WABC’s working language is English, therefore membership benefits and assistance is offered in English. Select programs may be available in various languages, and will be identified in the listing.
Worldwide Association of Business Coaches
c/o WABC Coaches Inc.
Box 215
Saanichton, BC V8M 2C3 Canada
In 2026, our offices will be closed on the following dates:
