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COACHING AND PHILANTHROPY PROJECT

REPORT

Submitted by

A Hand UP Coaching

September 30, 2005

Sponsored by

The Kellogg Foundation

Background

About A Hand UP Coaching:

The mission of A Hand UP Coaching (AHUC) is to impart lifelong career skills via career coaching to economically disadvantaged individuals. AHUC is committed to the vision of ending the cycle of poverty through guiding clients to self-sufficient resourcefulness that enables them to make meaningful contributions to their family, their workplace, and their community. Career coaching can effect permanent career and life changes to create long-term economic self-sufficiency among the participants it serves.

AHUC establishes affiliate partnerships with government agencies, other nonprofit organizations, and educational institutions which provide services to economically disadvantaged individuals. Clients are referred to AHUC for career coaching from these affiliate partners. AHUC selects clients who are most ready to capitalize on the coaching experience, who are positioned to move forward with regard to goals, and who have demonstrated responsibility and commitment. Selected clients are then matched with volunteer coaches.

AHUC relies entirely on volunteer coaches to fulfill its mission. Coaches from all over the world have volunteered to work with AHUC. All coaches are required to meet three criteria: (1) have graduated from, or near graduation from, a coach training program which has been accredited by the International Coach Federation (ICF); (2) be a member of the ICF or agree to abide by the Ethics Guidelines established by the ICF; and (3) have some coaching experience.

AHUC’s projects and operations are managed and conducted virtually using the telephone and Internet. AHUC is committed to using technology to operate as efficiently and effectively as possible to keep operating costs to a minimum. AHUC’s database streamlines its operations, allowing it to receive and review applications from coaches, enter coaching applications from clients and match them to coaches, monitor the progress of the coaching program for each client, and collect assessments from coaches and clients following completion of the program. A portion of the Kellogg Foundation Grant was used to add a statistical accumulation module to its database. This statistical documentation significantly supports AHUC’s commitment to utilize technology and minimize operating costs.

Project Purpose:

This report contains the results of a three-month project in which professional coaches worked one-on-one with low-income individuals from several cities in the United States and Canada.

The purpose of this project was to:

Assess the impact of the program on participants’ behavior and employment success.
Determine the strengths and areas for improvement of the program.

Methodology:

All coaching was conducted via telephone (teleconference). The coaches were from geographical locations throughout the United States and Canada. The pairing of coach and client was not determined by geographic proximity. Rather coaches were matched with clients in consideration of hours of availability and time zones.

Executive Summary

Hypothesis:

One-on-one coaching helps individuals achieve higher employment goals including increased income, greater vision, and an improved sense of self-confidence.

How the study was conducted:

For this project, between May and August 2005, AHUC provided one-on-one coaching services to low-income individuals who were referred from four affiliate partner organizations. AHUC then conducted interviews with potential clients during which applications and pre-coaching assessments were completed. All coaching applicants participated in this project voluntarily. The four affiliate partners from which these applicants were referred are:

§ Connections to Success (CFS)

§ Dress for Success (DFS)

§ Olympic College (OC)

§ Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA)

These organizations are described in greater detail below.

The AHUC coaching program consisted of a total of nine coaching sessions over a period of three months. As noted above, a pre-coaching assessment was taken prior to the commencement of coaching. At the conclusion of coaching, a post-coaching assessment was taken from each of the clients. A variety of questions were asked on each assessment to determine whether the participants had achieved higher employment goals along with an improved sense of self-confidence at the completion of the coaching program. The two assessments consisted of 25 questions with 5 answer choices for each. A numerical value was assigned to each of the 5 answer choices so that statistical data could be easily collected showing in what areas changes occurred. Both the pre- and post-coaching assessments were identical with one exception. The pre-coaching assessment did not include any narrative questions. The post-coaching assessment included two narrative questions in addition to the same 25 questions contained in the pre-coaching assessment.

Statistical observations:

§ Initially 61 individuals were referred to and interviewed by AHUC for this coaching program. Of that 61, 3 failed to return signed applications and did not participate; 4 never started coaching because they could not be reached; 4 requested to drop from the program for personal reasons before coaching started; 1 moved from the country after 4 sessions and was unable to complete coaching; and 6 were dropped from the program for failure to show up for coaching sessions.

§ Of the remaining 43 participants, coaching was delayed for 6 participants either because the coach and client agreed to alter their schedules or because the client was reassigned to another coach. Of those 6, 5 will be finishing the coaching by early October and 1 has been evicted and may not be able to complete coaching.

§ Of the 50 participants who started the coaching program, 37 completed their coaching by the end of August and are included in this report.

§ Approximately 75% of coaching participants included in this report were not married.

§ Of the DFS households with dependent children, 42.8% had single parents heading the household. This percentage increased to 50% of the CFS households with dependent children and 100% of the YWCA households with dependent children. One of the 3 (33.3%) participants in the OC group had dependent children and was a single parent head of household.

§ The number of working participants increased from 83.3% of all participants at the beginning of the project to 91.7% at the conclusion of this project.

§ Both the average hourly wage and the average monthly earnings increased for all groups. The average monthly earnings increased $201 per month, while the average hourly wage increased from $11.32 to $12.92 by the end of the project.

§ All groups increased the average number of hours they worked each week.

§ All groups indicated they felt better about themselves at the end of the coaching project than they did in the beginning. The YWCA participants showed the greatest change in this area. In fact, by the end of this project, the YWCA group had a higher score in this area than the average of all groups combined.

§ Many participants asked what “networking” was when questioned about their networking skills. Based on responses during the post assessment, every group showed an increase in how they felt about their networking skills.

§ Of the 25 questions asked on the pre-coaching and post-coaching assessments, there were overall improved responses from the group for 24 questions. Only one question did not show improvement. This question (1) had to do with having reliable childcare in order to go to work or school. Participants responded in both assessments that childcare is never or rarely an issue for them, which did not show any change.

§ Question 23 related to how participants felt as to whether they had the power to change things in their lives that they did not want. All groups showed an overall improvement in how they felt in response to this question. A larger percentage of CFS and YWCA participants provided answers reflecting an improvement in this area.

§ As noted earlier, the post-coaching assessment included two additional open-ended questions. The first question asked how coaching had helped them. The responses, summarized later in this report, were overwhelmingly positive. Many participants provided similar answers explaining that coaching had helped them to set and achieve goals that they would not have set on their own. Participants consistently indicated that coaching had helped them to gain confidence in planning and to feel that their lives now had direction. The last open-ended question asked how the program could be improved and for feedback as to what they did not receive. A majority of the participants responded that they would have liked the program to last longer, and one person added that she would have liked to also have had email correspondence with her coach. One participant wanted to meet her coach and another felt it was too challenging to have to come up with the agenda for the coaching session. Only one person said the coaching sessions were too long for her. A couple of participants wanted more advice and tips from their coaches.

General conclusion:

An analysis of the results of the pre- and post-coaching assessments revealed that there were substantial and positive changes with regard to achieving higher employment goals and improved self confidence for a majority of the participants.

Results

Project Scope:

AHUC chose to work with four different affiliate partners in order to increase the number of participants in the study and to compare the differences in results among the four groups. Those affiliate partners are described below.

Connections to Success (CFS): This non-profit agency has offices located in St. Louis, MO and Kansas City, MO. and works with a variety of economically disadvantaged individuals. The group from which CFS made referrals for this program was men and women returning to society after incarceration. The individuals from this group resided in Illinois and Missouri.

Fourteen women and one man completed a pre-assessment with the intention of participating in this project. Six women and one man dropped the program and one participant is still in her three-month coaching relationship. Seven women completed the three months of one-on-one coaching and are reflected in this report.

Dress for Success (DFS): Women are referred to Dress for Success through social services programs including homeless shelters, immigration services, job training programs and domestic violence shelters. Dress for Success has affiliate locations throughout the world. For the purposes of this study, participants came from four Dress for Success affiliate locations: Portland, OR; Louisville, KY; Vancouver, BC, CA; and Los Angeles, CA.

Thirty-four women completed a pre-assessment with the intention of participating in this project. Eight women dropped the program and four participants are still in their three-month coaching relationship. Twenty-two women completed the three-months of one-on-one coaching and are reflected in this report.

Olympic College (OC): Olympic College is located along the southern edge of Puget Sound in Shelton, Washington. OC partners with local agencies to provide educational services to displaced homemakers and low-income women transitioning off of public assistance into the work force.

Six women completed a pre-assessment with the intention of participating in this project. Two women were dropped from the program and one participant is still in her three-month coaching relationship. Three women completed the three months of one-on-one coaching and are reflected in this report.

Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA): The mission of this organization is to eliminate racism and empower women. They provide safe places for women and girls, build strong women leaders, and advocate for women’s rights and civil rights in Congress. Women go to the YWCA in times of crisis, as survivors of rape or domestic violence. They go for job training and career counseling and for a variety of other reasons. The YWCA strives to ensure that these women leave with a renewed spirit, new skills and stronger lives.

Six women completed a pre-assessment with the intention of participating in this project. One woman was dropped from the program. Five women completed the three-months of one-on-one coaching and are reflected in this report

Sample Size:

Sixty females and one male completed applications and the pre-coaching assessment and agreed to the terms and conditions of this project. Seventeen women and the one male participant were dropped from the project either prior to the commencement of coaching or during the coaching process. Coaching was delayed for six of the participants for various reasons, so they are not included in this report. The results of the pre-coaching and post-coaching assessments of the remaining 37 female participants are reflected in this report.

This report represents the results of pre-coaching assessments and post-coaching assessments of 37 participants who completed nine coaching sessions.

Description of Assessment Instruments:

In the pre-coaching assessment, participants were asked several preliminary questions concerning employment and demographics such as ethnicity, marital status, number of dependents living with them, etc. The assessment also included 25 questions with 5 answer choices for each, “always”, “often”, “sometimes”, “rarely”, and “never”. All but one of the 25 questions began with the phrase “these days”. This phrase was used so the participant would reflect how she/he was feeling at the time of the actual interview for the assessment. The participant was told to answer each question to reflect how she felt at the time of the assessment, not how she felt in the past or how she wanted the answer to be. For the statistical purposes of measuring the participants’ answers, each response later was assigned a number value, e.g., Always = 5, Often = 4, Sometimes = 3, Rarely = 2, Never = 1.

The post-coaching assessment also queried for demographical and employment information which may have changed since the pre-coaching assessment was taken. This information included questions about marital status, number of dependent children, and whether they lived in an urban or rural area. The post-coaching assessment also included the same 25 assessment questions, with 5 answer choices for each question, as those asked during the pre-coaching assessment. In addition, the post-coaching assessment asked open-ended questions concerning the participant’s assessment of the coaching experience. Those responses have been added at the end of this document.

All information reflected in this report, including demographics, is self-reported by each of the participants. We found that this caused a variation in figures. There were also some limited instances in which a participant failed to answer a question on either the pre-coaching or post-coaching assessment.

Where appropriate, all data is weighted.

Demographics:

Average age of coaching participants

Age is self-reported and is reflected based on the participant’s response at the pre-assessment.

	Average Age (n=37)
Connections for Success (CFS)	39.6
Dress For Success (DFS)	45
Olympic College (OC)	43.7
YWCA	49.2
All Groups	44.4
Total Responses	37

There was nearly a ten-year difference in the average age of CFS participants and YWCA participants, the YWCA participants being older.

Sex

100% of the participants reflected in this report are female. As indicated earlier in this report, CFS referred one male participant for coaching. This individual requested to be dropped from the project before his coaching began. This was the only male referred for coaching from any of the affiliate partners.

Ethnicity

	African –American		Asian		White European American		Other
CFS	7	100%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
DFS	2	9.1%	3	13.6%	16	72.7%	1	4.6%
OC	0	0%	0	0%	3	100%	0	0%
YWCA	0	0%	0	0%	5	100%	0	0%
All Groups	9	24.3%	3	8.1%	24	64.9%	1	2.7%

The assessment instrument requested that the participants indicate the ethnic group applicable to them. The five choices were: African-American, American Indian, Asian, Latino, White/European American, or Other. There were no participants who identified themselves as American Indian or Latino.

Of the four groups of participants, the DFS group was the only group which had any ethnic diversity. There was no ethnic diversity within the other three group—CFS, OC, YWCA. All of the CFS participants were African-American and all of the OC and YWCA participants were White/European American. Of the 37 participants studied, 2/3 identified themselves as White/European American and ¼ identified themselves as African-American.

Marital Status

Each participant was asked to indicate her marital status. The choices were: married, divorced, single, single and living with significant other. One participant failed to provide a response to this question.

	Married		Divorced		Single		Single, Living w/ significant Other
	Pre	Post	Pre	Post	Pre	Post	Pre	Post
CFS	3	3	2	2	2	2	0	0
DFS***	5	4	3	4	13	12	1	1
OC	1	1	2	2	0	0	0	0
YWCA	1	1	3	3	1	1	0	0
All Groups	10	9	10	11	16	15	1	1
% All Groups	27%	25%	%27%	29.7%	43.2%	41.7%	2.7%	2.8%

***One participant from DFS did not answer this in the post assessment.

Roughly one quarter of all participants were married for the duration of this project, leaving nearly 75% of total participants as unmarried.

Total Number of Participants with Dependent Children Living at Home

	Pre	Post
CFS	6 or 7 (85.7%)	6 of 7 (85.7%)
DFS***	7 of 22 (31.8%)	7 of 21 (33.3%)
OC	1 of 3 (33.3%)	2 of 3 (66.7%)
YWCA	3 of 5 (60.0%)	3 of 5 (60%)
Average All Groups	17 of 37 (46%)	18 of 36 (50%)

***One participant did not answer this in the post assessment.

When looking at age versus number of dependents living in the household, the YWCA participants ranked second of all groups in the number of households with dependent children. The YWCA also had the second highest number of dependents per participant (1.0 average, versus 2.3 for CFS during the pre assessment and 1.0 versus 2.6 for the post assessment).

Average Number of Dependents Living with Participant

	Pre	Post
CFS	2.3	2.6
DFS	0.5	0.5
OC	0.7	1.0
YWCA	1.0	1.0
Average All Groups	.86	1.0

Of the 7 CFS clients, 6 had dependent children living at home. Three of the 6 participants with dependent children living at home were married, and the remaining 50% were either single or divorced heads of households. The one CFS client without dependent children was divorced.

The DFS participants were less likely to have dependent children. Of the 7 participants from DFS who reported having dependent children, only 3 were married. This means that 42.8% of the DFS households with dependents had single parents as heads of households.

One hundred percent of the YWCA participants who had dependent children were single parents during this project.

Geographic Location

Participants were asked whether they considered where they lived to be urban or rural. Urban was defined as “somewhat to very populated, with lots of businesses nearby” and rural was defined as “not very populated and/or very remote”. The following chart reflects participants’ answers to that query.

	Urban		Rural
	Pre	Post	Pre	Post
CFS	5	7	2	0
DFS***	22	20	0	1
OC	3	2	0	1
YWCA	2	3	3	2
All Groups	32	32	5	4

***One participant in the DFS group did not answer this in the post assessment.

The majority of participants in this project lived in an urban area throughout the duration of the project.

Employment Status

	Working		Not Working
	Pre	Post	Pre	Post
CFS	6	6	1	1
DFS***	18	20	4	1
OC	2	2	1	1
YWCA	5	5	0	0
All Groups	31	33	6	3

***One participant in the DFS group did not answer this question on the post-assessment.

83.8% of participants were working at the time of the pre assessment. This increased to 91.7% during the post assessment.

Income

Information used for this section is self-reported by the participants. Participants varied in how they reported earnings during the pre-coaching assessment and post-coaching assessment. For example, some reported hourly wages in the pre-coaching assessment and annual income in the post-coaching assessment. Others reported their earnings on a monthly basis. In order to be able to compare the results from pre- and post-coaching assessments, as well as to compare income within a group and for the overall sample group, earnings were calculated on an hourly and monthly basis for each individual.

One participant refused to share her earnings, so her earnings are not reflected in this report. Other participants worked on commission or by-the-job. Because those participants were unable to provide the actual hours worked for earnings, their annual earnings also could not be included in this report.

Seventeen of the DFS participants are from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Because of the difference in value between US and Canadian dollars, an exchange rate of .8453[1] Canadian to 1 US dollar was used to more accurately reflect the comparisons between individuals and groups.

	Mean			Median		Range
	Hourly	Monthly		Hourly	Monthly	Hourly	Monthly
Connections For Success (CFS)
Pre	$9.22	$1237		$8.98	$1244	$6.85 - $11.06	$491 - $1917
Post	$9.76	$1654		$9.44	$1637	$6.79 - $13.85	$1161 - $2400
Dress For Success (DFS)
Pre	$12.19	$1825		$12.93	$2148	$0 - $29.26	$0 - $5086
Post	$14.73	$1836		$12.90	$2113	$0 - $29.26	$0 - $5072
Olympic College (OC)
Pre	$9.87	$1016		$9.87	$1016	$7.35 - $12.38	$637 - $1395
Post	$22.21	$2885		$22.21	$2885	$6.41 - $38.00	$500 - $5269
YWCA
Pre	$14.89		$2252	$15.16	$2468	$10 - $19.23	$1500 - $2789
Post	$13.07		$2158	$13.21	$2290	$10 - $15.86	$1300 - $2750
All Groups
Pre	$11.32		$1700	$12.29	$1833	$0 – 29.26	$0 - $5086
Post	$12.92		$1910	$12.19	$1917	$0 – 38.00	$0 - $5269

Overall, participants from the CFS group were paid less per hour than participants from the other three groups. The mean monthly earnings for participants from OC were lower than all other groups during the pre-coaching assessment. During the post-coaching assessment, the mean monthly earnings for OC participants were the highest. This dramatic change is explained by the fact there were only two OC participants who were working at the time of the pre- and post-coaching assessments. Of those two, the earnings of one participant changed from $12.38/hour at the time of the pre-coaching assessment to $38.00/hour at the time of the post-coaching assessment.

The YWCA was the only group with a decrease in the average hourly and monthly earnings over the course of the project. This may be explained in part by the fact that during the pre-coaching assessment five women were working, but two were on commission or had varied salaries. At the time of the post-coaching assessment, the same five women were still working; but one of the women who previously had erratic employment and fluctuating pay had secured a position which was stable but which had a lower hourly rate of pay.

The calculations for All Groups showed that both the average hourly wage rate and the average monthly earnings increased. The average monthly earnings increased $201 per month.

Hours Worked Each Week

Many participants self-reported that while they actually may work over 40 hours in a week, they were only paid for 40 hours. For purposes of this report, all figures are calculated based on a 40-hour workweek.

Instrument	Mean	Median	Range	Mode
Connections for Success (CFS)
Pre (n=6)	31.2	32.5	12 – 40	40
Post (n=6)	38.9	40	33.5 – 40	40
Dress For Success (DFS)
Pre (n=21)	28.8	40	0 – 40	40
Post (n=21)	31.9	40	0 – 40	40
Olympic College (OC)
Pre (n=2)	23	23	20 – 26	N/A
Post (n=2)	25	25	18 - 32	N/A
YWCA
Pre (n=4)***	34.5	40	18 - 40	40
Post (n=5)	38	40	30 – 40	40
All Groups
Pre (n=33)	29.6	37.5	0 – 40	40
Post (n=34)	32.7	40	0 – 40	40

***One client from YWCA was working at the time of the pre assessment, however her hours varied from week to week and she was unable to give an average to use for these purposes.

The two participants from OC were employed fewer hours per week than any of the other groups, although they experienced a slight increase in hours worked.

It is important to note that all groups increased the number of hours worked, on average, each week from the time of the pre-coaching assessment to when the post-coaching assessment was administered. All groups were working more than half time (20 hours per week) throughout the course of this project. Using 35 hours per week as a standard for full-time employment, over half of all participants worked full-time (37.5 hours per week) for the duration of this project.

Assessment Questions:

The following tables have been prepared for each of the 25 questions. The five answer choices have been assigned a numerical value as follows:

Because not all questions were applicable to every participant, the number of total responses for each question may vary.

1. “These days, securing reliable childcare to go to work and/or school is a serious issue for me.”

Childcare did not seem to be a significant problem for participants during this project.

2. These days, having reliable transportation to go to work and/or school is a serious issue for me.”

For participants from the DFS group, transportation posed more of a challenge than for the other groups. While the post-coaching assessments revealed no change for the DFS participants, transportation became less of a problem for the YWCA group, dropping from an average of 2.4 to an average of 1.6. Of the total responses, the group collectively responded that transportation was sometimes to rarely an issue for them getting to work or school.

3. “These days, I feel my life has a real direction that will lead to better things for me.”

Collectively, all groups showed a significant improvement in feeling that the direction their lives were headed would lead to better things. The participants from the YWCA showed the greatest change in this area. Overall, most clients gave high marks indicating they felt that their lives had real direction leading to better things.

The most dramatic change with regard to this question came from the participants from the YWCA. The YWCA participants started the project with the lowest cumulative score and ended the project with an overall score which was higher than the average for all groups of participants. A note about the clients coming from the YWCA—many of these clients are dealing with abusive partners, poverty, etc.

All participants answered this question based on their own definition of happiness. Both the CFS and YWCA participants saw a large increase in their happiness. By the end of this project, the group collectively responded that they were “often” happy with their lives.

Every group indicated that by the end of their coaching experience, they had a higher likelihood of looking forward to going to work or school each day than they did at the beginning of the coaching project.

The participants from OC showed the greatest change, from an average of 3.4 to 4.3, in their perception of themselves as leaders. For all groups, the change was not dramatic.

Coaching seemed to benefit the OC group participants more in dealing with frustrations at work and/or school than it did the other groups. The responses to this question for the CFS group participants showed no change and in the case of the YWCA participants, there was a slight decrease in positive responses.

9. “These days, I feel as if I am a hard worker and want to succeed at work and/or school.”

All groups saw themselves as hard workers and wanting to succeed at work. Every group showed an increase in their overall scores.

When asked this question during the pre-coaching assessment phase of this project, many participants had difficulty with this question. Networking appears to have been a concept with which they were less familiar or for which they did not have a clear understanding. As evidenced by the post-coaching assessment responses, every group showed an increased score.

11. “These days, I am willing to speak up and take an active part in team activities at work and/or school.”

The pre-coaching assessments showed that DFS participants saw themselves as less willing than the other groups to speak up and actively participate in team activities. Between the pre- and post-coaching assessments, this group experienced the greatest change, along with the YWCA participants. The post-coaching assessment results for all groups were very similar.

12. “These days, I feel as if I am reasonably good at planning and goal setting.”

There were significantly positive changes for every group in their responses to this question.

13. “These days, I feel as if I am reasonably good at managing my time effectively.”

Responses indicate there was an overall improvement of participants’ perceptions in this area. The YWCA group responses revealed the most dramatic change of any group.

14. “These days, I’m sure I know what stops me from being able to support myself.”

While there was no change in the responses of participants from the OC group, there were substantial and positive changes in the responses from CFS and YWCA.

No change was seen from the YWCA group participants. All other groups indicated they felt they were better at communicating well with others after they had completed their coaching.

16. “These days, I value cooperation at work and think of myself as a team player.”

The results of both the pre- and post-coaching assessments indicated that participants felt strongly about the value of cooperation at work and being a team player. The overall results for every group demonstrated an even greater increased value from the time of the pre- to the time of the post-coaching assessment.

This question was not as relevant to those individuals who were single and lived alone. Unlike the other groups, the participants from DFS showed a light decline in whether they felt respected at home.

The participants from Olympic College responded that they felt strongly that they were respected at work and/or school in both the pre-coaching and post-coaching assessments. Every group showed an improved response to this question from the time of the pre-coaching assessment until they had completed coaching.

19. “These days, I feel as if I am able to ask for what I need at work and/or school.”

All groups of participants showed substantial changes between the pre- and post-coaching assessments indicating they felt more able to ask for what they needed at work and/or school.

20. “These days, I feel as if I get along well with my co-workers and/or fellow students.”

Although there was no change in the overall results for the YWCA participants, the results from the post-coaching assessments for the other three groups showed that participants felt better about getting along with co-workers and/or fellow students.

21. “These days, I respect the rules of my workplace and/or at school and follow them carefully.”

For both the pre- and post-coaching assessments all groups gave high marks to respecting and obeying the rules of their workplace and/or school, with very little change between the two assessments.

22. “These days, I feel like I make a difference - in my community or in the world.”

Every group of participants showed an increased feeling that they made a difference in their community or in the world, a high measure of how they perceive themselves.

23. “I feel as if I have power to change things in my life that I currently don’t want.”

The most dramatic changes occurred with the YWCA and CFS participants. The responses for every group showed a substantially improved perspective concerning their power to change things in their lives.

24. “These days, I am trying to take advantage of training opportunities to stay competitive in the workplace.”

The responses within three of the groups showed that participants were taking the initiative to take advantage of training opportunities. The greatest difference was for the YWCA participants. The results of the post-coaching assessments for DFS participants were very slightly lower than from the pre-coaching assessment for that group.

25. “These days, I am actively planning personal and career strategies for the future and enjoy reviewing these strategies for getting there.”

With the exception of the Olympic College participants, there was an improvement with all other groups that they were actively planning personal and career strategies for the future and that they were enjoying reviewing those strategies.

During the post-coaching assessment phase of this project, each participant was asked two additional questions intended to invite the participants to share their thoughts and feedback. Below are the responses in their entirety of all participants who answered the last two questions.

26. Describe how the coaching you received these three months has helped you. Please feel free to comment on any part of the coaching that you feel may have been especially helpful, such as your relationship with your coach, the way your coach communicated with you, suggestions your coach made to you, fieldwork your coach gave to you. Also, please describe how you feel about yourself as a result of coaching, what changes you have made in your life, what you learned, etc.

§ The coach was phenomenal. She was a very good listener, gave me a lot of ideas and helped me to understand and to know it is okay to say “no” and to take charge of me. I was in some living arrangements that had become old and were uncomfortable for me and I was able to walk away from that and still communicate with the individuals involved. She helped me to become a more self-sufficient person. She helped give me knowledge, which will help with me now and in the future. She helped me to know when I have outgrown something and when it is time to move on.

She helped me be at peace and happy with myself and able to smile when I got up in the morning no matter how little I had. I am now starting to go out and feed the homeless. I learned a lot in more than one way.

§ Since I had to be accountable to my coach, it made me accountable for what we discussed. One thing I did was to make a list of people who were toxic – I wanted to say “no” to them. I put my foot down and have kept it down and I am still holding it down.

§ The coach was beneficial – It was a great benefit to me. I did not benefit in a positive way like I should have. When I come to think about what I really wanted to do, I got discouraged about it. I researched it a little bit more and since she was encouraging me about the position. I kind of looked at it a little bit better than I ever had and now I don’t want to do it. The coach was real good, but I just did not benefit like I could have. I was geared up about it, it was positive. I wasn’t focused on it at first and then when I did focus on it, I decided it wasn’t for me.

I communicated with her really well. I have a good attitude now better than before. I try to talk positive and be positive about the goals I try to accomplish.

§ She talked to me on a regular basis and she listened to me. It helped me set my goals and deal with a lot of personal and business issues I was having at the time. She listened to me and that made a big difference. Since talking with Sue, I set goals and reached goals. I was excited about this summer and I don’t think I could have set those goals without someone talking to me and listening to me as well. I feel like we became friends and built a lot of trust. She gave me open advice.

Each and every day of my life is a challenge but it is a wonderful challenge. I thank my coach from the bottom of my heart.

§ I felt my coach was very genuine, very concerned, a listener, and gave me a lot of feedback on some issues I was having. I felt that it pretty much put me back on track and focused on what I am needing to better myself in the workforce.

§ When I first started I was working as a child care worker and I wasn’t very excited about work. I had goals and dreams and explained them to her. She helped bring them out and helped me to focus in on my ideas and to define them more. Then I received a job as a secretary and we were together through it all – when I did not have a job also.

She helped me think more in depth about my goals, my plans for the future, my position as a mother. Feeling positive about myself and finding the positive in everything.

§ My coach was awesome. She helped me objectively look at tough situations, think outside of the box. I am not afraid to try new things. I will miss the phone calls.

§ It has been so good to have someone actually see that I reached the goals I set for the week. Things on my job have been going a lot better and they are talking about promoting me the first of the year. My coach helped me with money management. My children are able to see me more and now I don’t do anything that I don’t plan for.

I have tended to sabotage myself at times. I learned not to sabotage myself and I used this coaching opportunity to put my desires into action.

§ My coach gave me ways and means of how to go about finding solutions. She helped me build my resume. We worked on interview skills. I made a list of items I thought I needed to prepare for interviews. My coach and I discussed those.

§ This definitely helped in not making a big deal out of things beyond my control. I spend energy on what I can change. I have learned a different way of dealing with frustrations.

§ We did a lot of brainstorming which was helpful. It is a shame it was not for a longer period of time. I felt like the 30 minutes just flew by. It was very much like teamwork and respect in the relationship. I learned to become more selfish and learned to prioritize things.

§ I enjoyed being able to check in with my coach once a week. My coach really helped with planning strategies and around these two contracts that I now have. My coach pointed out when I used language that was self-sabotaging. Once she pointed it out, I was really aware when I did that and I stopped doing that.

It was a really good experience and I was quite sad that it was over, but we agreed to stay in touch by e-mail.

§ It made me really think about how I am spending every hour of my day and how I can organize that better to accomplish the things that I want to so I can feel I am using my time more wisely. The coaching has helped me in making my plan and sticking to it.

§ My coach helped me to find me again – Helped me to become more centered. I organized myself better. It allowed me to realize I go off track a lot and it helped me to stay on track. I think I got valuable information and input from the coach. I feel better about me, which is the bottom line. I am getting better at handling the conflicts in the workplace with upper management. Last week I asked my boss to stop yelling at me and just give me instructions. My boss gave me a complement on Friday and apologized for having yelled at me and complemented me for taking all of this on.

§ I think the coaching is relatively only mildly effective simply because there are only 9 sessions and frankly when you come from a painful background, it takes a little more than that. I felt good about myself before the coaching and I feel good about myself now. I don’t feel I am the problem. It is those outside circumstances. There are minor things I learned such as time management skills, but it would have taken more time to seriously investigate what jobs there are at a livable wage.

§ It was a wonderful, fantastic and positive experience. When I used go for a job interview I would practically be going into panic mode and very negative, although I would go for an interview well prepared. My coach and I prepared for interviews and how I was going to answer the questions. I went for an interview this morning and yesterday I reviewed all of my notes from my coaching and I felt very comfortable going into the interview because I felt very comfortable with my responses and I felt they were honest and positive answers. I felt good when I left, whereas before I would have an interview and I would leave thinking they are not going to give me the job. I think I have a higher possibility to get a job now when I go for an interview. I am being called for interviews, so my resume is great.

§ I have nothing but good things to say about my coach. I appreciated her input, ideas, and encouragement and found her creative and supportive. I had help in particular with goal setting and prioritizing. I personally thought I had a problem with remembering things and having things all over the place. My coach was very helpful and encouraging with organizing things in my room and ideas, etc.

§ There was a line of work that I had been planning to go into and when I got this job I let my dream go a bit. The coaching brought it back and reminded me what I really wanted to do. Instead of jumping ship I am making the job I have into my dream job. I was accountable to my coach and that helped me. As a result, I approached my immediate supervisor with some suggestions of how I could make a difference in the company and he was very supportive of that. I have always wanted to do some volunteering, but never got around to it. Again, setting a timeframe and some specific goals helped me get into a volunteer opportunity, which is related to what I would like to do in my career.

§ Coaching had a positive impact for me. I realize things that I did not know were part of me. Instead of the coach giving me answers, I had to think about them and pull them out of myself. I had the answers inside me – I just did not know how to articulate it or wasn’t aware of it. The coach helped show me where I had a passion to be with my career. I realized if I wanted to change things, it was up to me.

§ My coach helped me identify an entirely new career. I enrolled in and passed the first course that I needed to start entering this new career. My coach helped me clarify what I really want. I worked through and actualized my dream by taking the first concrete steps.

§ My coach helped me work on communication weaknesses. I learned to maneuver my thoughts to react and express myself better. I enjoyed thinking up topics to work on. My goal is to be self-confident. When my boss wasn’t nice to me, I learned not to take it personally.

§ At the time this opportunity came along I was expecting to go to training for a new job. I had some doubts about dealing with customers and dealing with people. I realized it is not a problem to do this training and I feel more sure about myself and that I can do it and that I’ll succeed for sure because I am not afraid. Now that I know what it’s all about and after my coaching I can see that I will be doing this job and thinking of going to the next level of dealing with people after that. I have more confidence.

§ The coaching was very helpful. I was lost and wandering. Through coaching I gained focus and direction. I set goals and have made progress toward those goals. I am de-stressing myself at work and have become healthier and more fit. I liked the accountability to my coach. I feel a lot better about myself. I am proud of myself for committing to the program and following through and challenging myself.

§ The best thing my coach helped me to understand is that we all have to deal with frustrations. My coach taught me to use a series of tools and resources to keep looking at the big picture and stay calm and point me in the right direction. My coach kept me focused on objectives and helped me to overcome obstacles.

§ I feel I am goal oriented right now. I have started a few projects with the help of my coach. My coach would guide me to thought patterns and challenge me to change my perceptions. I feel much more positive about the future.

§ Coaching helped me feel better about the way I am. I thought I had to change who I was to be more successful. Coaching helped me find answers on how to be more successful within my own style and the way I am. The coach did not give me the common advice but helped me find my own answers.

§ The coaching was wonderful. The coach was demonstrative in her communication. It was about me and my needs. I had a bunch of goals. Health was my highest priority in order to achieve the rest of my goals. My coach and I were relentless on setting intentions toward achieving these goals. As a result of coaching, I have become more calm and less panic stricken. I walk with a lot more confidence. I now have a sense of “who” I’d like to be.

§ I have increased self-confidence in decisions I make. I am learning to let go of others’ mistakes that have held me back. I am also learning self-forgiveness which has held me back. My coach gave me some great meditation ideas for stress relief. We brainstormed some networking ideas. Coaching helped me focus on goal setting.

§ My coach helped me see things in myself that I haven’t seen. She helped me figure out what direction to go with my career and continuing education. We developed great ideas on opportunities to gain experience. I have more self-confidence. I have signed up to volunteer at a local domestic violence shelter and have signed up for classes to meet my career goals.

§ My focus has changed as a result of coaching. I used to be in survival mode. I felt like I didn’t have a right to be happy. Now I do. I’ve learned to dream again and to have bigger dreams. I became aware of how I enable my grown children to use me. I have established boundaries to protect myself from this.

§ It is good to have someone to check in with. My coach gave me good fieldwork. It was good to be accountable too. I used my coach for interview practice, which was great. My coach gave me encouragement. I was doing good before, but now feel more organized and prepared professionally.

§ I have increased confidence and gained good tips from my coach. I’ve improved my organizational skills, which has saved me energy. I also learned where to look for useful information when I need it.

§ I don’t know where to start. My life has changed completely. I have learned so many skills, skills for the future and not just today. I have become more organized and have begun to fully realize my potential. I feel like a completely different person. I have set goals that work for me. I look forward to sharing some of these coaching techniques I have learned with my children. Because of coaching, I have decided to go back to therapy and on medication. I also got rid of some toxic people in my life.

§ Coaching brought out the positive things in me. In the past I was in an abusive relationship, which destroyed my self-confidence. Now I have that self-confidence back and no more self-doubt. I feel like my old self again. I joined a weight loss group and won’t beat myself up for being overweight. I also won’t beat myself up for not being perfect. I have registered for college!! I am now my highest priority.

§ Coaching helped me beyond my wildest expectations. I have gone from clueless to a goal-oriented daily task doer. I feel I have a very concrete direction for my business.

§ I have a different perspective on how to look at things. I am now focusing on a job that I am truly passionate about instead of working 3 different jobs. I have been able to focus on my professional life in the past, but now I am also focusing on things that are important to me personally. I have increased self-confidence in many areas where I lacked it previously.

27. If you are not getting the help you need at this time, describe what sort of coaching support would be useful for you, such as a different relationship with your coach, more helpful suggestions from your coach about your job or career issues, other subjects that you wanted to discuss with your coach, or ANYTHING ELSE that you may need or expect from your coach.

§ Coaching sessions were too long for me due to working 3 separate jobs. I don’t know what would have worked better. I would have given this opportunity to another person over myself since I had more than so many others.

§ Absolutely nothing could have made this experience better, except making it longer than 3 months.

§ Summertime is kind of slow due to the nature of my job. A different time of year for coaching may have been better, but other than that I wouldn’t change anything.

§ I see a value for younger clients with coaching. I am about to retire and would like to be able to protect my personal time. Coaching would help with that. I would like to see this available to younger kids.

§ I wish I would have figured out earlier in the coaching process what I ended up doing. I would like to have more than 3 months and I really would have liked to have met my coach in person.

§ I would have liked more coaching. I would love to be able to attend live coaching (self improvement) seminars in my area.

§ I would like to see the program longer and meet every other week rather than each week. I would like longer sessions. I would also like more advice and tips that fit my specific line of sales like cold calling, etc. It would also be helpful if the coach could stay in touch with e-mails as well.

§ I cannot think of anything that I would need that I did not get from my coach.

§ I was very happy with the service. I would have loved for it to be extended another 3 months. Please thank everyone involved for me.

§ I needed a transitional period to let go of the coaching. I don’t know what that looks like, but I grieved the end of the sessions. I felt a loss.

§ I got more than I expected from my coach. I don’t know if I want something else. I think I will be okay with what I got for the rest of my life.

§ I don’t think this applies, as I was very satisfied and grateful with the help I received.

§ I think what I needed was for more sessions. I have clear career goals, but we could not get to them because I had to do any job in order to get some money.

§ I would like to have more knowledge and information about coaching for my own use in coaching other people with the professional women’s group I belong to. I am not getting help in being able to ask for things I need at work and a better chair and computer that will help me with my data entry skills. I need more help in being more confident and being able to ask for certain things. I am saying this because I think I need more coaching help – not that what I received was not helpful – rather that the coaching was not long enough. I would be interested in communication and spiritual coaching.

§ The one thing I found difficult with the coaching situation is that I had a difficult time coming up with an issue to discuss every week or two. I was not aware that I was supposed to come up with issues each time. It would have been easier for me to wait until something came up and then schedule a session with a coach rather than having to have a coaching session when I did not have a specific issue to discuss.

§ I did not know what I needed, but I think I got everything I needed. Even though it was only 3 months, it gave me help so I could work on these things over the next several months. I would like to have access to another coach when my business gets going.

§ The only thing different would be to have more time per session and more coaching sessions.

§ I would like to meet my coach in person. Other than that I cannot elaborate on anything that I did not get or anything else I wanted and did not get.

§ I took a survival job earlier. I feel better about my current job, but am not sure if this is where I am meant to be long-term. I am asking myself what I would be good at and how I can use my skills and gifts.

§ I felt I got what I needed out of it, so I do not know what else I would need.

§ I think I got everything and more from this than I ever would have thought. I would love to keep it going. I would like to have more coaching.

§ I got everything I need from my coach. She helped me a lot and I got everything I expected. I think we did everything I wanted and expected to do.

§ My coach always asked me if there was anything else I might want to talk about – anything else that I might want to do.

The purpose of this project was to assess the impact of the AHUC program on the behavior and employment success of participants and determine the strengths and areas for improvement for the program. The results of the assessments revealed that the overall impact of the coaching program was positive.

With few exceptions, the responses of participants showed that they had improved perspectives of themselves, how they embraced their work and/or school, and how they interacted with and contributed to the world around them. Statistical information concerning employment showed an increase across the board for all groups of participants. There was an overall increase in wages earned and in the number of participants employed.

While further studies would be needed to gain a clearer vision of the strengths and areas for improvement for the AHUC career coaching program, responses to the final question of the post-coaching survey did reveal a distinct area for program improvement which AHUC should consider. Participants overwhelmingly felt that the coaching program should be extended. Several commented that the coaching sessions were too short and most commented that they felt the coaching sessions needed to be longer and the program needed to last more than three months. One person wanted a combination of email and telephone coaching, and one person felt the coaching sessions were too long.

[1] This was the exchange rate as of 9/18/05, the date on which this report was prepared.

	Pre	Post
CFS	2.0	2.0
DFS	1.6	1.4
OC	1.3	1.3
YWCA	1.2	1.8
Average All Groups	1.6	1.6
Total Responses	37	37

	Pre	Post
CFS	4.0	4.7
DFS	3.5	4.3
OC	5.0	5.0
YWCA	3.6	5.0
Average All Groups	3.7	4.5
Total Responses	37	37

	Pre	Post
CFS	4.3	4.7
DFS	3.5	4.0
OC	4.0	4.3
YWCA	3.0	4.4
Average All Groups	3.6	4.2
Total Responses	37	37

	Pre	Post
CFS	3.7	4.6
DFS	3.6	3.9
OC	4.3	5.0
YWCA	3.0	4.0
Average All Groups	3.6	4.1
Total Responses	34	35

Married

Average Number of Dependents Living with Participant

Urban

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YWCA

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All Groups

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Instrument

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Post (n=6)

All Groups

Assessment Questions:

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Pre

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3.4

Pre

3.7

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Pre