Among the resources that help leaders excel—including training, mentorship, and on-the-job experiences—performance coaching is a standout. Its collaborative approach to leadership skill mastery fosters a mindset of continuous improvement, helping leaders overcome a variety of new and ongoing business challenges.
Given its benefits, few would deny the value of leadership coaching, and many organizations already offer it to senior executives. Now, you can affordably bring the benefits of coaching to leaders at every level in your organization, including new and middle managers.
Performance Coaching: From Learning to Leadership Mastery
Every organization requires capable leaders, but they can be challenging to find and develop from within. In fact, a recent IMPACT Group study found that HR and L&D leaders’ number one pain point was the shortage of adequately trained leaders ready for the next level. Thankfully, performance coaching—whereby coaches work with leaders to maximize their potential—directly addresses this pain point.
Performance coaching provides leaders with personalized guidance from an experienced coach. The coach equips them with new strategies for refining their skills, performing at their best, and bringing out the best in others. In one-on-one coaching sessions, leaders learn to identify and solve their everyday leadership challenges. As they convert their learning into practice, they quickly master core skills such as:
- Active listening: Not just hearing others, but being attentive to the underlying message in their words
- Emotional intelligence: Sensing others’ emotions and considering them in decision-making and team communications
- Coaching: Adopting a manager-as-coach approach when communicating performance expectations and feedback
- Motivating others: Inspiring team members to perform to their potential
What You Can Achieve with Performance Coaching
The ultimate goal of coaching is lasting behavior change that results in more effective and productive teams. And research has found that it delivers on this goal. According to the International Coaching Federation, organizations that develop a coaching culture see greater profitability, productivity, and retention than other organizations.
Other benefits of leadership coaching include:
- More engaged leaders: Tailored coaching encourages leaders to be fully invested in their progress and continued success.
- Strong individual performance: The personalized nature of performance coaching helps each individual address their development areas and build on their strengths. Our research found that 70% of those who worked with a leadership coach reported improved work performance.
- Enhanced change management: With expert guidance, leaders learn effective ways to guide their teams through change and uncertainty.
- Continuous improvement: As managers incorporate the lessons learned in coaching, they enhance their strengths and steadily improve their overall management skills.
Performance Coaching as a Scalable Solution for Leader Development
Given the advantages of coaching, offering it to more leaders is a smart move. After all, limiting coaching to executive leaders often overlooks less experienced managers who need real-time guidance for navigating leadership challenges. Our research confirms this reality. In a recent survey, 76% of HR and L&D leaders told us they wanted to scale their leadership development offerings to reach more new and rising leaders.
By expanding coaching to managers at all leadership levels, you can influence individual and team performance throughout the entire organization, not just at the top. Besides being an exceptional learning tool for any leader, coaching is also a highly adaptable method of leadership development. For example, you can incorporate it into your existing leadership development program as a standalone solution or in combination with other learning formats, including online training and instructor-led sessions. Even your most successful leaders can level up their capabilities with the support of a dedicated coaching partnership.
Bring the Power of Coaching to Every Leader
Performance coaching can take many forms in your organization, from longer-term executive coaching engagements to shorter microcoaching programs for emerging leaders. Whether delivered individually or in employee cohorts, effective coaching meets each leader where they are and provides expert guidance where they need it most.
When your goal is to elevate performance and develop your organization’s next generation of leaders, coaching is a powerful solution worth exploring. IMPACT Group offers affordable and scalable solutions to extend the power of coaching across your entire organization. To learn more, explore our comprehensive suite of programs. Or book a call with us below.
