Executive coaching has rapidly become a key developmental tool for organisational leaders. The growing popularity of coaching is evidenced by the surge in coaching programmes, certifications, and professional foundations. The International Coaching Federation’s (ICF) 2023 Global Coaching Study, which surveyed 14,000 respondents across 157 countries, reports an estimated annual revenue of £3.6 billion for the coaching industry – marking a 60% increase since 2019.

However, the effectiveness of executive coaching remains a subject of rigorous scrutiny and for many businesses it is imperative to determine whether this widely adopted practice yields measurable outcomes.

This blog examines current research and evaluation metrics to help better understand how executive coaching benefits both individuals, and organisations and outlines how we can measure the impact and success of coaching interventions.

Understanding executive coaching

At its core, executive coaching is a tailored, one-on-one process that helps leaders achieve self-awareness, behavioural change, and professional growth. This process aims to support not just individual development but also the organisation’s success by enhancing leadership skills and strategic decision-making (Khalique et al., 2024).

Key benefits of executive coaching

Executive coaching offers several well-documented benefits, as evidenced by research in this field. These include:

Behavioural and attitudinal changes

Executive coaching has a strong impact on modifying behaviours and attitudes, as confirmed by numerous studies. For example, Nicolau et al. (2023) conducted a meta-analysis showing how executive coaching contributes to significant positive changes in personal characteristics, behaviours, and attitudes, making it an effective tool for leadership development​.

Increased self-awareness and emotional intelligence

Coaching has been shown to enhance self-awareness by creating a supportive environment for leaders to:

  • reflect on real-life experiences;
  • gain deeper understanding of their personality and leadership traits;
  • identify growth opportunities;
  • leverage their strengths.

Coaching has also been found to increase emotional intelligence, helping leaders better understand and manage their own emotions and those of others. The coaching relationship, specifically the dynamic between coach and coachee, are critical for creating lasting change in this area (Payne et al., 2023).

Burnout reduction and engagement improvement

Coaching also plays a crucial role in reducing burnout and increasing engagement among executives. Brooks et al. (2023) highlighted the favourable effects coaching has on fostering leadership engagement and mitigating the harmful effects of stress​.

Long-term impact on learning

Executive coaching is not only about short-term gains. Fulmore et al. (2022) found that it also has long-term benefits, especially in academic settings like executive MBA programs. These findings suggest that coaching enhances the application of learned skills over time, ensuring sustained professional growth.

The difficulty of evaluating coaching impact

Despite the acknowledged benefits, evaluating the effectiveness of executive coaching is challenging for a number of reasons, including:

  • Complexity and uniqueness: every coaching engagement is unique, tailored to the individual’s personality, professional context, and specific goals. This variability makes it challenging to isolate the impact of coaching from other influences, such as organisational changes, team dynamics, or external factors.
  • Ethical and confidentiality issues: coaching frequently involves discussing sensitive or personal topics. Collecting and sharing this information for evaluation purposes can raise ethical concerns and may breach confidentiality agreements between the coach and the client.
  • Diverse stakeholder perspectives: different stakeholders may have varying definitions of success. For example, some may prioritise measurable performance improvements, while others may focus on behavioural or cultural shifts. These differing perspectives can complicate the evaluation process.
  • Evolving goals and objectives: one hallmark of coaching is its flexibility. Goals and objectives often evolve as the client gains clarity or as circumstances change. While this adaptability is a strength of coaching, it can make it difficult to measure success against original benchmarks.
  • Tangible versus intangible changes: coaching frequently targets intangible factors like mindsets, beliefs, and attitudes. While these underlie long-term behavioural change, they are less visible and harder to measure than more tangible metrics.

Measuring the impact: evaluation methods

Whilst measuring coaching impact may not be an exact science, and many organisations struggle to implement systematic evaluations, there are several established models that can help bridge this gap:

  • Kirkpatrick/Phillips model: This widely used framework is an important tool for assessing the effectiveness of training and coach interventions. The model evaluates coaching through five levels:
    1. Reaction: measuring the basic reactions of the coachee to the coaching programme.
    2. Learning: measuring what the coachee has learned through coaching.
    3. Behaviour: measuring behavioural changes of the coachee.
    4. Results: measuring progress on established performance indicators.
    5. Return on investment (ROI): the addition of ROI helps organisations measure the financial benefits of coaching, offering a tangible way to assess its impact. Measuring ROI in executive coaching involves calculating the financial returns relative to the costs of coaching interventions. The formula, as described by Boysen et al. (2018), takes into account improvements in productivity, decision-making speed, and leadership capabilities. Many organisations that apply this model report significant returns, ranging between £160,000 and £400,000; this figure is derived using a variety of methodologies, encompassing the costs related to executive replacement, productivity losses, and the benefits gained from enhanced employee engagement.
  • 360 degree feedback: 360 degree feedback can be a fundamental metric in measuring the success of executive coaching​ (Nicolau et al., 2023) and feeds into the Kirkpatrick/Phillips Model at level 3; measuring the behavioural change of a coachee. Using a 360 tool to measure the impact of coaching can be beneficial for a number of reasons:
  1. Baseline for progress: 360-degree feedback can be used to establish a baseline for measuring progress over time
  2. Holistic perspective: a 360 provides a comprehensive view of a coachee’s performance from multiple perspectives, gathering insights from peers, subordinates, and supervisors to evaluate the coachee’s progress.
  3. Data-driven approach: 360-degree feedback can be used to track behavioural changes, measure performance metrics, and recalibrate coaching strategies.

While the benefits of coaching are well-established, evaluating its impact and determining its effectiveness within your organisation can sometimes be challenging. At Edgecumbe, we leverage the science of business psychology to help you design and assess the optimal coaching strategy tailored to your organisation’s needs. Contact us to learn more about how we can support your coaching initiatives.

References

Boysen, S., Cherry, M., Amerie, W., & Takagawa, M. (2018). Organisational Coaching Outcomes: A Comparison of a Practitioner Survey and Key Findings from the Literature. International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, 16, 159-166. https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/items/26dfd471-5f0c-4aee-b445-4f739f530a3d/1/

Brooks, P. J., Ripoll, P., Sánchez, C., & Torres, M. (2023). Coaching Leaders toward Favorable Trajectories of Burnout and Engagement. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 125-132. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1259672

Fulmore, J. A., Olson, J., & LaCoste, L. (2022). The Long-Term Impact of Coaching in an Executive MBA Program. Organization Management Journal, 19, 200-213. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/omj-08-2021-1331/full/html

International Coaching Federation (2023). Global Coaching Study. 2023 Executive Sum mary. https://coachingfederation.org/app/uploads/2023/04/2023ICFGlobalCoachingStudy ExecutiveSummary.pdf

Khalique, F., Khan, N., & Saini, K. (2024). Executive Coaching for Organizational Success: A Critical Review. In A. J. Wefald (Ed.), Navigating the Coaching and Leadership Landscape: Strategies and Insights for Success (pp. 78-95). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-5242-7.ch005

Nicolau, A., Candel, O., Constantin, T., & Kleingeld, A. (2023). The Effects of Executive Coaching on Behaviors, Attitudes, and Personal Characteristics: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Control Trial Studies. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, Article ID: 1089797. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1089797/full

Payne, R., Lai, Y.-L., & McBride, K. (2023). How Does Executive Coaching Work? An Investigation of the Coach-Coachee Dyad. International Coaching Psychology Review, 18, 34-44. https://doi.org/10.53841/bpsicpr.2023.18.1.34