With a little help...

COACHING: Despite the recession, executive coaches are still in demand in the US. Both corporate and individual clients are retaining their services, recognizing the need for strong management skills in difficult economic times.

“In a down economy, it’s particularly important to have someone on your side,” says lawyer Eric Chaffin, 38. “Instead of ten client opportunities this year, there might be five,” Chaffin told The Wall Street Journal. “You have to make each one count.”

Chaffin, a partner at the New York law firm Bernstein Liebhard LLP , is regularly coached by Dr Dee Soder of the CEO Perspective Group . He says Soder helps him because she looks at things differently from his colleagues. “Most lawyers think alike,” Chaffin explains. “She’s helped me understand some of the characteristics of my clients and their motivations.”

"Our fundamental belief is that you have to develop your people," says Colleen Abdoulah.

Coaches say that since, the recession, they are getting more business from individuals. This is helping to offset a drop in corporate clients. Wendy Alfus-Rothman, of Wenroth Consulting Inc. in New York, says individuals are scheduling more frequent coaching sessions than before the recession — with monthly, rather than quarterly appointments.

Some companies are finding other ways to save money, while continuing to spend on executive coaching sessions for their top managers. One of these is Wide Open West Inc. , a telecommunications firm based in Denver, Colorado. The firm cancelled merit raises earlier this year as well as company contributions to employee pension plans. But it is retaining coaching services for three managers. “Our fundamental belief is that you have to develop your greatest assets, which are your people,” says chief executive Colleen Abdoulah.

A 2007 study by the International Coach Federation estimated global annual revenues for the coaching industry at $1.5 billion. About half of the study’s participants worked in the US.