n/
DA
U
ca
Eri
“...the demand for coaching has multiplied,
with the percentage of key leaders
who express an interest in coaching ...
climbing from 10 percent to between 20
and 35 percent.”
e
br
Ko
qualified, coaches
are required
to complete
eight hours
of continuous
learning annually
and maintain a
roster of at least
one active client
per year.
To date, more than 49 DAU
faculty members have
completed the training. Through
one-on-one and team coaching
engagements, they have reached
more than 225 key defense
acquisition leaders. Additionally,
more than 4,400 mid- and
senior-grade leaders have
benefited from DAU’s portfolio of
leadership-development courses
developed with the ICF Core
Competencies in mind. These
four courses—Leader as Coach,
Leading in the Acquisition
Environment, Integrated
Acquisition for Decision Makers
and Forging Stakeholder
Relationships—have extended
the understanding and use of
coaching skills throughout the
defense acquisition workforce.
DAU’s coaching program is
designed to ensure 100-percent
confidentiality around the
coaching engagement. Although
the clients who partner with
DAU coaches value the program’s
confidentiality provisions, the
growth of a coaching culture
in the defense acquisition
workforce means the absence
of a stigma around coaching. As
key military and civilian leaders
have touted the individual and
business impacts of partnering
with a DAU coach, the demand
for coaching has multiplied, with
the percentage of key leaders
who express an interest in
coaching during their executive
management courses climbing
from 10 percent to between 20
and 35 percent.
DAU coaching clients have
reported a high return
on expectations in areas
including organizational
change, networking, strategic
thought and leadership,
leadership confidence, and time
management. End-of-coaching
surveys collecting Kirkpatrick
Level IV data illustrate positive
impacts at all four levels:
reaction (positive 92.5 percent
value), learning (positive 90
percent value), application (top
four impacts: improved strategic
communication, better change
implementation, enhanced
stakeholder relationships and
enriched leadership/people
interactions) and business
impact (top four impacts:
increased self/group productivity,
increased customer satisfaction,
increased resources and reduced
cycle time).
With an annual acquisition
budget of $350 billion, the
defense acquisition operating
environment demands a high
return on every investment.
DAU’s initiative has met this
demand, with a reported nonfinancial ROI of 330 percent and
a reported financial ROI of 743
percent. DAU’s ROI measurement
techniques and findings were
documented in a doctoral
dissertation and subsequent
monograph, “Coaching ROI:
Delivering Strategic Value
Employing Executive Coaching
in Defense Acquisition” (Xlibris,
2011), by former DAU coach
Alphronzo Moseley.
As they look to the future, the
program’s leaders are striving
to advance a coaching culture
in the acquisition, technology
and logistics enterprise while
providing an example for other
governmental organizations.
In addition to building a
community of practice around
governmental coaching, DAU is
working to form partnerships
with other government coaching
programs that will provide the
foundation for a common ICFaccredited training program for
government professionals.
Coaching World 13