1. 28 Acquisition International - June 2016
Set up in 2007 by a group of former HR directors from a global automotive
manufacturer, Protostar has weathered the economic crisis that saw so many
smaller management consultancies fail.
Our company didn’t get off to an easy start. When we
started up, the multibillion global executive coaching
industry was unregulated and to many, was simply a
staff development spin off and an easy second career
for any manager who found themselves redundant.
Since then, the industry has tried very hard to set
up accreditation schemes through organisations
such as the “Association For Coaching” who also
drive academic research, in the same way as the
medical professions. Clients, particularly the large
international corporations, latched on to this and
started to question the return on investment they
were getting from coaching and for the first time
demanded that coaches be accredited in some way.
As you can also imagine, setting up a business in
2007 was quite a daunting task. I remember being
in in discussion with a global petrochemical firm who
at the time, were spending £1 million per year on
coaching, but before the ink was dry on our contract,
all coaching around the world was stopped, as they
suddenly realised they had no idea what they were
getting for this investment.
When the economic crisis hit, the global market for
executive coaching crashed with it, but those of us
who drove forward through that difficult period were
able to highlight that challenging times are exactly
when most value can be added by a coach. Managers
are under pressure, they need to achieve more with
less, they are often in crisis mode and typically they
have no boss to talk to or their boss is no better able
to deal with it than they are. That’s where an effective
coach can really help to steer a manager through
a difficult time and in turn help that organisation to
come out the other side, stronger than before.
As such, we took the opportunity to design a
360-degree questionnaire, for which we won an
innovation award, to help managers identify if
they are displaying the right behaviours during a
challenging period. It is this approach that has
helped Protostar and the coaching industry to
renew our importance, and prove that we are a
cost effective solution for achieving higher levels of
business performance.
In the aftermath of the recession, clients are quite
understandably still cautious when it comes to
coaching. However, this greater client awareness
has helped to polarise the industry in to those who
say they are a coach (they have a business card that
says so) and those who have a proven track record
of adding value. Fast forward to 2016 and we are
consistently asked by clients for our accreditation and
for testimonials, something that never used to happen.
Over the years, we have developed a strong
reputation in diagnosing people issues within
organisations, or behavioural issues with individual
managers, and then providing solutions. Support
can range from assisting with re-structuring an
organisation, hiring in new talent or coaching the
existing leaders and it’s the executive coaching area
that has particularly grown.
While there are no set requirements that make a
‘great coach’, intelligence and communication skills,
and increasingly technology helps to make the
coaching more effective. At Protostar, our coaches
utilise a range of award winning online tools such
as employee engagement surveys, 360 degree
questionnaires and psychometrics, to better identify
what the managers should be addressing.
Furthermore, our team all come from business
management backgrounds and understand how
companies may be in two minds about the concept
of coaching. In our former roles, we all used to baulk
at paying the fees of a typical consultancy firm, so
we have deliberately kept our overheads very low
in order to pass on those savings. We also made
a conscious decision not to aim at one particular
industry, because we tend to find that managers
Company: Protostar Leadership
Development Ltd
Name: Michael Coates
Position – Managing Director
Email: Michael@protostar-uk.com
Web: www.protostar-uk.com
Address: Portland House,
Belmont Business Park,
Durham, DH1 1TW
Phone: +44 (0) 191 3855455
1605EA20
Executive Coaching:
The Secret to
Sustained Success

2. Acquisition International - June 2016 29
Executive Coaching: The Secret to Sustained Success
in any sector face similar people issues, such as
communication or dealing with poor performers.
That has allowed us to build up a portfolio of clients
that includes a range of well-known global brands,
UK universities and more recently, SMEs.
The bulk of our clients were typically in the £100m+
turnover bracket, but over the last few years far more
SME business owners have been approaching us for
a combination of executive coaching for their leaders
(often they have never had any form of management
training or support). We also assist with that critical
transition from being a medium sized business to a
large one, as their systems, processes and people
were still behaving as if the company was far smaller.
This is particularly rewarding work, as by working
closely with the leaders to restructure, implement
new systems, hire experienced talent and implement
lean techniques, you can see the positive changes all
around you.
In addition, as so many managers now travel
extensively, video conferencing, online team rooms
and cloud based project management tools have
allowed us to successfully support them around the
world. For instance, recently, I was in our Mexico
office, helping a client based in Australia to set up a
UK operation, something that would have been nigh
on impossible a few years ago.
Looking further down the road, there are still many
obstacles we need to overcome in order to make
coaching a standard practice for businesses. Potential
clients often still don’t understand what a coach
does and why such support can more than pay for
itself. In addition, clients are increasingly wanting to
reduce down their supplier base so are demanding
that as well as executive coaching you deliver other
development solutions such as training, eLearning and
consultancy support, which fortunately we have been
providing for 8 years, so have been well placed for
this change in demand. However, as a company who
thrived during the financial crisis, we are confident
that we will be able to combat any headwinds ahead
and move towards even greater success.