"Using [coaching] instead of sending executives and managers to seminars two or three times a year can be more beneficial to ongoing career development, not to mention less expensive…" – PC Week

Do you ever wonder about the effectiveness of coaching in your personal or professional life? Coaching is a relatively new industry. However, its effectiveness has been proven time and again. Below is a sample of some interesting coaching statistics.

• According to the Hay Group, between 25% and 40% of Fortune 500 companies use executive coaches.

• A Metrix Global Study of a Fortune 500 company determined that coaching produced a return on investment (ROI) of 529%.

• Manchester, Inc. study reported a return of $6 for every dollar spent on coaching. Improvement was made in bottom-line profitability, productivity, quality, organizational strength, customer service, reducing company complaints, retaining executives, and cost reductions.

If you’re an executive or management professional in corporate America, a small business entrepreneur, a career employee or student – are you operating at your peak full potential? I hope so – you should be!

When the economy gets tight, and competition intensifies all around you, what do the high achievers and peak performers do to get that secret edge? It may not be much of a secret, but here are a few clues…

"I absolutely believe that people, unless coached, never reach their full potential." – Bob Nardelli, CEO, Home Depot

"I never cease to be amazed at the power of the coaching process to draw out the skills or talent that was previously hidden within an individual, and which invariably finds a way to solve a problem previously thought unsolvable." – John Russell, Managing Director, Harley-Davidson Europe Ltd.

"Companies are increasingly turning to coaching for leadership development, style issues and talent retention, so it makes sense that 55% of respondents said that their organization uses coaching as a one-on-one process intended to maximize management and leadership potential and 54% do so to change behaviors." – Lee Hecht Harrison survey.

According to the Harvard Business Review, "The goal of coaching is the goal of good management: to make the most of an organization’s valuable resources."

So what are YOU doing to get a return on you? The most valuable and prized asset you have is you! You are in charge of your life; you make the important decisions; and you are in the "driver’s seat of your own life" personally and professionally. Knowing you’re in control (not other people, circumstances or situations) should make you feel great.

If you’re not where you want to be with regards to your life situation or your business / career, then make a move today to get a better R.O.U. The most expensive and worthy investment an organization makes is on human capital and personnel. (That’s YOU!)

57% of Fortune 500’s Most Admired Companies use 1 to 1 Coaching for their most valuable people, and according to Investor’s Business Daily, "Across corporate America, coaching sessions at many companies have become as routine for executives as budget forecasts and quota meetings." If that’s their secret for moving ahead from the pack, what’s your solution?

If the current path you’re taking is not (and has not) been bringing you…

Increased self-awareness

Lower stress levels

Better goal achievement

Renewed self-discovery

More integrated life

Increased self-confidence

…then it may be time to increase your R.O.U. and apply the secret advantage that so many other individuals have already found out!