Let’s be clear—we’re not a coaching company. For us, coaching is a strategic tool, not the ultimate goal.
That’s not to say coaching isn’t valuable. In the right context, with the right leader, it can be a powerful way to sharpen skills and elevate performance. But coaching alone isn’t sufficient. Not even close.
It’s become a catch-all solution. Some organizations offer coaching en masse, assuming that simply making it available will lead to better results. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.
The coaching industry has exploded—some estimates suggest it’s grown by 60% in just five years. Online coaching alone is projected to hit $11 billion by 2032. That’s a lot of investment. But is it delivering?
Sometimes, coaching is exactly what a leader needs. More often, though, it’s deployed without clear intent—disconnected from the behaviors and outcomes it’s meant to influence. Coaching should be targeted, helping leaders solve real problems through better leadership. Unfortunately, the ROI on leadership coaching is often elusive.
Global CEO surveys consistently show that leadership performance is critical to business success. Yet, confidence in leadership capabilities and performance is declining. So how did we end up with more coaching and less impact?
Recently, I stumbled across an ad inviting people to become certified leadership coaches. The program was pricey, multi-week, and open to anyone “interested in adopting a coaching mindset and helping others reach their potential.”
One line stood out: “Get certified from the comfort of your own home.”
Sure, it’s possible to learn coaching remotely. But my experience as a business performance consultant tells me that this approach may not be the most effective.
The surge in certification programs and virtual coaching platforms has made coaching more accessible—but often at the expense of strategic planning. As costs dropped and access widened, the thoughtful design needed to make coaching truly impactful was left behind.
It feels like we embraced coaching before we defined what success should look like.
At a leadership conference a few years ago, a session on coaching sparked a lively debate.
Half the room saw coaching as emotional support for leaders, helping them manage stress and maintain wellness. The other half argued that coaching should drive business outcomes by improving leadership performance and team engagement.
Then a senior executive from a major pharmaceutical company weighed in:
“If you’re pitching coaching to me, you better show how it impacts my bottom line.”
That’s the crux. Effective coaching should support leaders’ work through issues and drive results. Leadership skills are only valuable if they help leaders achieve better outcomes—through their people. And by “through their people,” I mean in a way that fosters growth, engagement, and development—not results at any cost.
Great coaches don’t just focus on leadership traits. They dig into the work leaders and teams are doing, identify performance gaps, and help leaders spark the behavior changes needed to close those gaps.
When I work with leaders, we start with a business challenge or goal. We identify the key influencers on the team, pinpoint the behaviors that need to shift, and then equip the leader to support those changes—through time, opportunity, skill-building, clear expectations, and reinforcement.
In short, we activate leaders to coach their teams.
Years of working with senior leaders have taught me that the best way to reduce stress and boost confidence is to help leaders succeed.
Give a leader coaching, and they’ll feel supported for a day. Teach them how to use coaching to drive performance, and they’ll thrive for a lifetime.