Let’s get the obvious reason for adopting a coaching program out of the way first.
The past few years have been full of volatility, tumult, and change. Talent shortages. Evolving employee expectations. Changing business models. Hybrid work environments. This is the short list. The only constant has been workdays full of all kinds of delicious complexity for leaders to manage.

In our work with executives and leaders at all levels, we consistently find that leadership coaching is an efficient and effective solution for mastering these changing tides. And for the fourth year in a row, we have the data to prove it. Earlier this fall, we conducted our annual coaching effectiveness survey, inviting more than 100 leaders—managers, directors, vice presidents, and C-level executives—who participated in one of our coaching programs to discuss the impact coaching on their performance, confidence, well-being, and intention to stay with their organization. And for the fourth year in a row, the survey results overwhelmingly proved that coaching programs deliver extraordinary benefits to both leaders and organizations.

These are top 6 reasons why:

1. Coaching Improves Performance

A stunning 95% of the participants reported that leadership coaching provides them insights to better perform in their roles. 95%. The lion’s share also reported greater awareness of their strengths and development areas and how to utilize and grow them more effectively. Participants spoke of their improved ability to communicate, particularly regarding their capacity to listen and ask powerful questions. The positive ripple effect of this many people excelling in their roles is a game changer in any workplace culture.

In addition to this, 93% reported that they are now better equipped to utilize new behaviors asked of them at work. This is evidence of people growing in their roles and taking ownership of their career development within an organization. I’ve seen this happen firsthand with one of our clients, a large insurance company. Out of one coaching program that included 15 coachees, participants reported notable improvements regarding their ability to allocate decision-making and delegate to their direct reports, as well as set clear expectations and bring more optimism into their role as a leader. As a result, they are now experiencing a greater camaraderie within and among their teams—so much that they’ve noticed a collective shift in their language from using “you” to “we” more frequently. Additionally, the participants’ leaders have reported a noticeable increase in their self-awareness and engagement levels.

2. Coaching Boosts Confidence

In working with a coach, participants spoke of the empowerment they feel after receiving coaching. This impacts how they show up at work every day. This empowerment is nuanced and often situational. For example, many spoke of how much better prepared they are to have a courageous conversation or share a less conventional point of view. They also spoke of their ability to manage up more effectively, handle conflict with more aplomb and agility, and lead change with focus and grace.

Overall, 84% of participants reported a significant boost in their confidence. And this was not a fleeting, “today feels okay” kind of ephemeral pick-me-up, but a lasting, sustainable shift in the way they now see and carry themselves.

3. Coaching Improves Well-being

Simply put, our data shows that health, focus, stress, and burnout (to name a few) all improve after coaching. Participants consistently report an improved balance between work and home, a greater understanding of emotional intelligence and their ability to regulate and manage their emotions, and a clearer, more manageable, and accountable pathway toward a healthier lifestyle and self-care. As a result, coachees often report how much more present they are in their day-to-day decision-making, activities, and relationships.

In my ten-plus years as a coach, I remember one specific executive who worked for a large credit card company. With small children at home, he noticed that he consistently brought his work to the kitchen and dinner table (literally) and that it was very hard for him to disconnect. In our work together, we focused on several overlapping skills, including calendar and time management, strategic planning, goal setting, and exercise. He focused on building very specific habits and loved the accountability that working with a coach provided him in staying true to his commitments. As a result, he was able to foster a greater balance between work and home. He also increased his ability to be more present in both places.

Healthy, balanced human beings are the very essence of thriving workplace communities, and organizations only benefit from doing their part to sustain this.

4. Coaching Helps Retain Top Talent

Looking beyond the survey results, in our experience building out coaching programs over the years, we have observed three ways coaching helps with retention.

1. 1. The investment of time and money signals how much the company values the coachee. This value does not go unnoticed by the coachee. It often fosters a greater sense of commitment and loyalty.
   2. Coaching consistently improves the communication channel between the coachee and leader, building greater rapport and alignment between both parties. This often improves clarity regarding role expectations, delegation, and the successful achievement of outcomes.
   3. Coaching helps raise the coachee’s awareness around their own thinking and behavior. It helps them cultivate a growth mindset and take a more productive, proactive approach to situations, which is often empowering, motivating, and engaging. It comes as no surprise, then, that an engaged, vested leader is much less likely to leave.

Retention is a key factor in today’s tight labor market, making this point worthy of a summary: when a leader feels valued by their organization, is confident their communication channels are healthy and vital (particularly with their manager), and are aware of how they can show up and effect positive change in their organization, the likelihood that they will stay with their organization greatly increases.

5. Coaching Fills the Talent Pipeline

Similar to retention, coaching is a catalyst for leaders to feel supported and successful within their organization and creates cultures where they can see a viable future for themselves. In other words, coaching is a support system for optimizing an employee’s ambition for a promotion. To this point, our survey found that 24% of participants were promoted. Coaching also paves the way for coachees to take on desirable increases of responsibilities within their roles. This includes stretch opportunities that interest them, assignments that intrigue them, and projects that offer them greater visibility within the organization. Lastly, coachees continually report an improved ability to change parts of their roles to better fit their interests. The latter has proven to be instrumental in leaders feeling visible and heard within their organizations as well as confident that they have the agency to adapt their roles in vital ways.

I once worked with a HR executive from a tier-one automotive supplier. In our work together, we tackled how they could cultivate a growth mindset, manage imposter syndrome and limited thinking, and communicate the strengths, accomplishments, and overall value they brought to the table in a way that felt honest, genuine, and confident. They worked diligently on this process, and as a result, their confidence grew exponentially. This hard work paid off when they were promoted within their HR vertical.

6. Coaching Helps Performance in a Hybrid Work Environment

It’s safe to say that hybrid work environments are here to stay, and in our experience, coaching plays an instrumental role in making this transition better for everyone. We have found coachees consistently report these specific ways in which coaching has benefited their transition to a hybrid workspace:

1. 1. They manage time and their calendars better.
   2. They can focus with more intention and deliberation.
   3. They understand how to plan strategically in more effective and efficient ways than before.
   4. They can lead, motivate, and engage others better in a virtual space, as well as delegate and hold people accountable more effectively.
   5. They are confident in their ability to have intentional conversations with others, even when not in the same room.

Once more, our virtual work environments are not only the way of the future. They already exist in the present. Time and again, coaching has proven to be a crucially effective solution in navigating this space.

It’s not a newsflash, but it deserves saying: leaders have complex, challenging jobs. They are increasingly credited with the success or failure of sustaining productive, engaged workplace communities. Supporting and developing these leaders and communities is not just a floating priority for high-performing organizations—it’s a must. In our years of experience to date, coaching continually shines as one of the most effective methods of doing just this. It is a priceless investment.

To learn more about our coaching programs and the 2023 Coaching Effectiveness Study, please check out our coaching page.

Read Next