The never-ending quest for optimized organizational performance represents the primary reason for nurturing and selecting the best leaders, hiring the most prestigious consulting firms, engaging with industry thought leaders, and experimenting with novel operating models and organization structures. At the same time, in an era marked by substantial market volatility and widespread corporate cutbacks, the pressure on leaders and managers to drive performance across teams and individuals has grown exponentially. Consider global research from DDI that found 71% of leaders reported substantially higher stress levels in their current roles. Add to that the findings from Challenger, Gray, and Christmas of nearly a million jobs cut, which is the 5th-highest level in 36 years, and middle management roles have disappeared at a disproportionate rate. Leaders, managers, and their teams need more support and attention than ever, and corporate coaching is perhaps the most targeted and valuable source of that support. Corporate coaching can be leveraged not only to develop more effective leaders and productive employees, but also to build a sustainable, personally tailored support system for all of them.

How corporate coaching addresses the unique needs of today’s leaders

Corporate coaching has been used in some form since the 1940s, when psychologists were engaged to work with top executives on their leadership effectiveness. It expanded in the late 20th century through the development and promotion of more humanistic management methods, followed by pioneering work in individual coaching methods that were ultimately codified and standardized in the mid-1990s. These have since been widely adopted and expanded upon across corporations worldwide as an essential leadership development practice. The reason? Consider research from The Corporate Executive Board and SHL, which found that organizations with stronger leadership teams achieve twice (2X) the revenue and profit growth of their competitors.

The purpose of coaching is to expand human performance potential and build self-reliance on a broader set of technical skills, operational perspectives, and interpersonal capabilities. This development is personalized to each individual's needs, making it significantly more meaningful and lasting than other methods. At the executive level, such personalization contrasts with traditional leadership development methods, in which only 23% of companies rate their programs as “high quality”. From the perspective of improving employee performance, research reported in Harvard Business Review (HBR) found that only 10% of the $200 billion in annual U.S. corporate spending delivers concrete results.

Shrinking tenures and increasing failure rates among corporate executives, coupled with leader and manager burnout, suggest that their ability to succeed, much less to provide the guidance and direction their direct reports require (and crave), is significantly compromised. When considering that DDI reports that only 32% of leaders and middle managers have confidence in their senior leaders, and that employees' trust in their immediate managers has dropped from 46% to 29%, a significant gap in human relationships becomes apparent. The reason for concern stems from Daniel Goleman’s research finding that 85% of a leader’s success is based on their emotional (intelligence) quotient (EQ), vs. only 15% attributable to their IQ and technical skills.

Corporate coaching offers a solid solution and pathway forward, with multiple studies supporting its effectiveness and value proposition. Examples of significant returns on investment (ROI) range from 500%+ (financial and talent) to almost 800% (productivity and employee retention). Others included a 70% increase in individual performance, a 50% increase in team performance, and a 48% increase in organizational performance.

Corporate coaching offers a uniquely powerful, performance-enhancing, and developmental approach through personally tailored, highly targeted tactics that drive employee, team, and organizational performance and productivity.

The key elements and types of corporate coaching

Corporate coaching is a guidance and developmental partnership designed to maximize an individual’s performance through joint needs assessment, goal-setting, self-insight, and skills enhancement. It centers on shared, trusted accountability for identifying each individual’s strengths and growth needs, understanding how to refine and leverage those strengths, and addressing shortcomings in the context of current role requirements and future aspirations. The trust element is key and is driven by the coach or manager asking questions as much as they answer them, using the method to help the employee learn to analyze and resolve their own issues, rather than being directed to the “right answer.” This empowers the worker with the self-confidence to be more autonomous, solve problems, and overcome barriers by using new methods and tools.

In corporate coaching, two distinct types share some, but not all, elements, based primarily on whether the coaching is delivered or received and by whom.

Executive and leadership coaching

Trained and certified external coaches or consultants often deliver an essential element of leadership development, executive or leadership coaching. The employees receiving this type of coaching are most frequently top executives, senior leaders, and high-potential (HiPo) managers and employees. It is designed to build and enhance the essential skills and capabilities required for leadership, often identified in structured competency models that guide talent assessments coming from performance evaluations, succession plans, and talent calibration sessions.

The coaching is delivered as a relationship with one or more coaches who work with the leader over a 6-12 month period to identify and develop skills related to 1) filling gaps in weak or blind spots, or 2) supporting transitions to new roles with higher-level or different responsibilities. Targeted areas for growth vary on an individual level, but often include a number of the following:

• Executive presence
• Decision making
• Network building, peer relationships, and cross-functional collaboration
• People leadership, management, and delegation
• Communications and listening skills
• Strategic vision, thinking, and planning
• Relationship building, influencing skills, and interpersonal effectiveness
• Leading and managing change
• Managing conflict
• Time and work demand management 
• Transition planning and ramp-up

Given how many of these topics relate to personal and interpersonal effectiveness, it should come as no surprise that a common focus of corporate coaching is emotional intelligence. Research on this has found that leaders who demonstrate and apply empathy and self-awareness achieve effectiveness scores that are over 40% higher in coaching, engaging others, and decision-making. At the same time, HBR reported that while 95% of leaders consider themselves self-aware, only 10-15% actually are.

Performance Coaching

This type of coaching is delivered primarily by managers and supervisors, which changes its nature somewhat, given managers' dual role as both coaches and supervisors. As a coach, the manager’s job is to motivate employee performance and guide their skill and interpersonal development. As a supervisor, the job requires oversight of each individual's (and the team’s) task completion, timeliness, quality, and effective collaboration. As a result, every manager (from executives to supervisors) is expected to simultaneously guide and develop their subordinates to boost productivity and career growth, empowering them to think, process, and make decisions in their daily work that optimize their efforts. The balancing act can be challenging for some, as the coaching role is considered more developmental and inquisitive, while the supervisory role often requires directive and instructional behaviors. 

The reality is that modern management requires a more collaborative approach, where performance coaching relies more on asking for clarity and guiding employee thinking and issue processing, rather than managers giving advice and solving problems. The newer generation of workers prefers this kind of management, being coached to develop their skills and competence. As spans of control have increased, managers can no longer be experts in every aspect of their work. In times of rapid technological change, ambiguity, and uncertainty, building, guiding, and managing teams requires more interpersonal problem-solving and guidance, and less directive management of work details.

The fundamentals of implementing corporate coaching

Making corporate coaching an enterprise capability is best achieved by establishing a design and implementation strategy, setting standards, creating or engaging external training, and building a culture that supports it. Once established, coaching should focus on the employee's needs and the coach's or manager's skills and behaviors. For the employee, their skill levels, performance, development needs, motivations, and aspirations are the primary focus for shared consideration and development. For the coach (or leader or manager), the focus of the relationship is on building rapport and trust, deeply understanding the individual and the barriers to optimal performance and growth they face. Those require them to leverage skills related to exhibiting curiosity, active listening, minimizing instruction, providing constructive feedback, advocating for self-awareness and self-reliance, and promoting learning (through successes and failures). 

The corporate coaching process is built on trust, confidentiality, and the (critically important) belief that the client already possesses the capabilities required to find their own solutions. It is future- and goal-oriented, and focuses on sustainable development over short-term “fixes”.

The process of establishing a solid, developmental relationship between the coach and employee occurs in every session, typically on a weekly or bi-weekly cadence, with executive coaching engagements scheduled as hour-long sessions and performance coaching relying primarily on “check-in” meetings of 15-30 minutes. In each case, these collaborative sessions follow a consistent flow.

Executive and leadership coaching

1. Name the topic and agenda 

The executive is expected to bring a topic for discussion and coaching in each session. As the Coaches Training Institute explains, it should represent an authentic, current issue, occurrence, or challenge for which the employee is motivated to change. As such, it can be a new issue or challenge, a continuation of discussions from previous sessions, a follow-up on progress on development-related goals, or an update on experiences with commitments related to behavior change. In any case, the executive must “own” the topic as something meaningfully attached to the development of a skill shortcoming that they acknowledge as such. 

2. Set goals

This involves defining specific, measurable objectives tied to performance improvements, informed by performance evaluations, peer or team feedback, identified skill gaps (for current or future roles), and any developmental areas aligned with aspirational management or personal capabilities. These form the basis of shared accountability, where the coach serves as a motivator, sounding board, and guide to drive real progress on the goals the executive has decided to pursue.

3. Evaluate and understand reality

Analyzing the current circumstances as they objectively exist requires a trusted, nonjudgmental relationship and access to data and facts. The use of validated assessments (e.g., emotional intelligence, leadership style, 360-degree surveys) and observational reports (from meetings, interactions, presentations, and emails) is an essential tool for helping the executive understand and interpret their strengths and challenges. The coach and executive explore these experiences and their perceptions, using them as examples and data to establish a “true” picture of the current state and identify areas for improvement.

4. Identify perspectives and options

The coach guides the executive through brainstorming possibilities related to why something is occurring or might be perceived, as well as a range of solution options to consider. The goal is to open the aperture on how the coachee views the problem or opportunity and which solutions resonate most with them. The coach’s role is to guide the discovery process and help them align their final decision with their personal values, professional goals, and the business's requirements and standards.

5. Plan actions and support commitment

As an “accountability partner”, the coach supports the executive in developing clear, measurable steps toward the goal, while fostering their commitment and boosting their confidence in their ability to achieve it within a reasonable timeframe. Unlike other learning and development methods, coaching is structured with a clear timetable and is focused on specific, performance-related, and actionable goals.

Performance coaching

This type of coaching is designed for every supervisor-direct report relationship, from the C-suite down to line workers. It is characterized by its frequency, brevity, and topics. Performance coaching is an essential element of a modern performance management process, emphasizing frequent discussions (referred to as “check-ins”) between a manager and direct report, with the goal of building a closer and mutually beneficial relationship where the employee receives feedback, guidance, and motivation, and in turn, the manager generates more refined and aligned performance across their team. When combined with quality record-keeping (brief post-discussion notes on accomplishments, challenges, and goals), this type of corporate coaching significantly improves annual evaluations. It also builds greater depth and trust in the relationship, and a manager’s understanding of the employee’s motivations, strengths, challenges, and aspirations, supporting tailored development planning and discussions of career development options.

The brief, recurring sessions center on a few questions that elicit insights and counsel to support the employee’s ongoing work assignments. Commonly used queries that managers use and employees should be prepared to answer and discuss include:

1. How are you progressing towards your goals? 
2. Are there any accomplishments you want to share with me?
3. Where are you getting stuck? Are there any barriers to timely, quality, and task completion that you are facing?
4. Where and how can I support or help you?
5. Are you motivated by the work and satisfied with your contributions? How so or how not?
   
   

Because this type of corporate coaching is intended as a foundational element of a robust performance management process, it is often separated from formal skill and career development discussions. However, it provides essential inputs to each of those processes, as data collected and discussed throughout the performance period are directly relevant to longer-term planning and action. The integration of those is considered a timing issue—with (again) quality note-taking throughout the year aggregated and summarized as input for individual development plan (IDP) actions needed to improve current role contributions, and skills presence and proficiency levels that overlap with future roles.

Comparing the types of corporate coaching types

Understanding corporate coaching and how it adds value to people development and enterprise objectives is critical to gaining its acceptance and adoption. What is interesting is that many executives view (their own) coaching only as a perk or a status signal, without considering how performance coaching can drive significant improvement in meeting or exceeding business, financial, operational, and talent objectives throughout their own organizations. As a result, communications and change management methods should be leveraged to build a “culture of coaching” where it is practiced at all levels and valued as both a people and an organizational goal management method. With that in mind, consider how they overlap to broaden the conversation on the value of performance coaching in particular:

What is similar:

• “Sparks self-awareness, stretches thinking, and encourages follow-through” (per the Center for Creative Leadership).
• Leverages performance and behavioral data to generate a more objective self-awareness and direction for the coaching.
• Develops greater self-sufficiency and confidence in the ability to handle increasingly complex challenges.
• Broadens the employee’s view of their work, processes, and ecosystems through a wider lens, enabling them to consider more solution possibilities.
• Encourages experimentation and innovation while operating within the decision-making guardrails appropriate to their job level and responsibilities.
• Acts as a sounding board and guides the coachee's assessment of how options map to the job requirements and business objectives, as well as to the coachee's personal values and aspirations.
  
  

How they differ:

• Performance coaching includes providing feedback, whether solicited or not; Executive coaching reviews feedback that was specifically targeted and generated with express permission.
• Performance coaching can include advice and direction based on their expertise and understanding of the larger team or organizational objectives; Executive coaching guides the leader to generate their own insights.
• Performance coaching can involve task and behavioral corrections, as well as the redirection of tasks and interpersonal interactions, decisions, and actions. Executive coaching guides the leader to explore the “hows” and “whys” of these and to generate and select changes from their own options. 
• Performance coaching allows for evaluating how and how well an employee accomplished their tasks and the relative value of their contributions. Executive coaching is non-judgmental and relies on data and feedback to guide the leader in self-evaluation of the objective realities.
  
  

The benefits of implementing a sustainable corporate coaching process and culture

Tailored, personalized development is designed to meet the demands of leaders and employees in today’s digitally driven consumer world, who are accustomed to shopping, finding news and information, and accessing development and support resources suited to their preferences and needs. Corporate coaching is designed similarly, with their professional development customized to identify and address skill and capability gaps and to provide guidance and direction, enabling them to jointly interpret, influence, and select with their coach or manager. That empowerment provides a sense of control over their work life and environment, increasing their engagement and self-reliance.

With regular, open discussions and shared responsibility and accountability for performance and development, manager-employee trust can increase significantly, helping overcome a major source of degradation in engagement and retention worldwide. When aggregated across a team, business unit, or function, enterprise performance can be enhanced, as research shows that 51% of companies with a strong coaching culture report higher revenue than their peers in the same industry.

The interpersonal skills that are emerging as most critical for success as work is increasingly impacted by advancing AI and automation adoption can be improved in a disproportionately effective manner through corporate coaching. The International Coaching Federation (ICF) found that 70-90% of coachees report significant gains in self-confidence, relationships, communication skills, and overall work performance. Results reported by Dion Leadership included substantial increases in retention, role advancements, ability to manage remote and hybrid environments, and overall well-being (stress, burnout, health, and focus).

And finally, the focus on building self-awareness through data and feedback, combined with trusted, open coach-employee relationships, creates a culture and environment that supports corporate coaching to increase emotional intelligence (EI), a key driver of success for executives, managers, and individual contributors alike. Consider the value of workers at all levels interacting and collaborating with their bosses, peers, subordinates, as well as external partners and customers, learning how to master empathy and emotional regulation by enhancing their:

• Self-awareness
• Self-management
• Social awareness
• Relationship management
  
  

Relevant Practices & Tools

Core Coaching and Mentoring Practices that Create a Base Internal Capability for Employee Enrichment. >

Core Coaching and Mentoring involves creating an interpersonal relationship-based form of employee development focused on providing highly tailored guidance to individual learners... more »

Incorporating Coaching and Mentoring into Performance Management to Better Engage Employees in their Own Performance. >

Enhancing managerial feedback and coaching is a process informed and driven in part by training and development, in part through feedback, and in part by reinforcement or rewards tied to excellence as a coach... more »

Measuring the Development Process and Outcomes for Impact and Accountability. >

Given the extensive (career-long) timeframe and multiple activities involved over a period of years for leadership development, measurement of outcomes and impact is often neglected... more »

Targeting Critical Skills Employees for Coaching and Mentoring to Enhance Business Results. >

Coaching and mentoring are best used for the development of key role-holding employees, as evidenced in part by their widest use with top executives in corporations... more »

The Manager Coaching Feedback Survey Tool: Define and Apply Basic Questions for Employees Providing Feedback on Managers' Coaching Prowess. >

This tool functions as a guide to developing questions to assess the extent to which a line manager is providing quality coaching during regular performance check-in or formal discussions... more »