Leadership development has consistently been an important area of talent development investment for most organizations. In 2024, 61 percent of organizations prioritized investment in leadership development, more than any other area of talent development.[i] Yet, despite significant investment, Gallup research shows that 70 percent of U.S. employees feel disengaged at work, and poor management is a significant cause of disengagement. Research from the Corporate Executive Board found that about 60 percent of new managers fail within their first 24 months in leadership roles.
The problem with manager development programs
This suggests that existing programs are not adequately preparing managers for the demands of their positions. Part of the issue is that most manager development programs try to cover too much ground. It’s common to see manager development programs that train over 25 competencies. When too many competencies are addressed, the depth of focus on any single area diminishes, leading to superficial training outcomes. When managers are expected to master too many competencies, they fail to achieve true mastery. Manager development programs should instead prioritize the select few competencies most crucial to the organization’s strategic objectives. Concentrating on the most impactful competencies offers greater assurance that development efforts will translate into meaningful performance improvements, thereby driving organizational success.
And what if there were one area of managerial competency that has a proven ability to drive organizational success by increasing employee development and organizational commitment? It turns out that competency is a manager’s ability to coach. Many studies over the years have proposed potential favorable outcomes of managerial coaching. In those studies, two significant outcomes have been linked to managerial coaching: employee learning and development and organizational commitment. It’s intuitive that when a manager invests time and energy in coaching an employee, the employee will learn more and improve their skills. It’s also not hard to link managerial coaching and organizational commitment. When employees perceive that they receive support from their managers in their development, they are more likely to be engaged with the organization. Several studies have gone further and provided empirical evidence to support these correlations. One study that measured the outcomes of managerial coaching found that 46 percent of the variance in employees’ learning and development and 36 percent in organizational commitment is directly explained by managers’ managerial coaching skills.[ii] The main implications of this finding for investment in manager development are two-fold. They affirm the importance of committing time and financial resources toward developing manager coaching capability. They also suggest that in cases when investment resources for manager development are constrained, development of a manager’s coaching capability should be prioritized over other manager development areas/competencies.
What constitutes capability?
Given the importance of managerial coaching, what constitutes capability in managerial coaching? There are five competency areas that managers should be trained in to enhance their coaching capability.[iii] These are: communicating openly, fostering a team approach, valuing the employee, encouraging expansive thinking, and facilitating development. As illustrated in the table below, specific skills, practices, and behaviors can be trained in each of these areas.
| Coaching Capability | Example Behaviors |
| communicating openly | · Actively solicit their direct reports’ opinions, ideas, and concerns
· Explain the reasons behind decisions and be honest about challenges or setbacks · Show understanding and consideration for employees’ feelings and perspectives. |
| fostering a team approach | · Involve team members in setting goals, solving problems, and making decisions
· Define common objectives that everyone on the team works toward · Celebrate milestones to build team morale and a sense of shared purpose. |
| valuing the employee | · Give specific praise for accomplishments, skills, or behaviors that contribute to the team’s success
· Ensure that the employee is treated fairly in terms of workload and opportunities · Acknowledge not just work accomplishments, but also important life events |
| encouraging expansive thinking | · View differences of opinion as constructive, create a space where all ideas are welcomed, and employees feel comfortable sharing unconventional thoughts without fear of criticism
· Encourage employees to think beyond current constraints by asking questions that stimulate creative problem-solving · Support taking calculated risks and trying new approaches, even if they might fail |
| facilitating development | · Provide opportunities for employees to take on more responsibility
· Give regular, specific feedback · Offer stretch assignments that challenge employees to develop new skills · Ensure employees access the materials, tools, and technology needed for learning and development.
|
Once a curriculum has been developed that covers the five dimensions, a few essential elements should be incorporated into any manager coaching development program. One critical aspect of assessing the effectiveness of any manager development program is a pre- and post-assessment. Managers should do a self-assessment before the training begins, and each direct report should also complete an assessment of the manager’s coaching capability. A simple survey instrument of 25 questions that scores a manager on the five essential dimensions of managerial coaching can help any organization track progress on managerial coaching capability.[iv] Managers and direct reports should be given the same survey to complete six months after completion of the coaching development program to assess effectiveness. In addition to providing formal training across the five coaching dimensions, managers should be given opportunities to role-play scenarios that challenge training participants to apply what they’ve learned in a risk-free context. Finally, a nudging or reinforcement component is essential. Studies suggest that up to 80 percent of what is learned in leadership development programs is lost within 30 days without ongoing reinforcement.[v] This highlights the need for continuous learning and support rather than one-off formal training sessions.
Organizations that seek to develop their managers as effective coaches can use these recommendations to create managerial coaching capabilities. Organizations need to build managerial coaching capability in frontline and first-time managers. The benefits of development managers’ coaching capabilities will result in significant advantages for the organization, for employee learning and organizational commitment, ultimately impacting the bottom line.
References
[i] Forrester Q2 2024 US HR Decision-Maker Survey
[ii] Park, S., McLean, G.N., & Yang, B. (2020). Impact of Managerial Coaching Skills on Employee Commitment: The Role of Personal Learning. European Journal of Training and Development, 45(8/9), 814.
[iii] Ibid.
[iv] Survey questions can be downloaded from this URL (to be created)
[v] Murre, J. M. J., & Dros, J. (2015). Replication and Analysis of Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve. PLOS ONE, 10(7), e0120644. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0120644
