How coaching speeds up learning and breaks down personal barriers
Written by Dan Parry • 26 June, 2025
L&D Article
There’s more to executive coaching than you might think. On the surface, it might seem that one-on-one sessions simply offer advice and encouragement. In fact coaching is a two-way street, a chance to offload and explain as well listen and learn. Coaching gives someone a chance to be heard. It’s not counselling. But it does help with peace of mind. So how does it work in practice?
Executive coaching is the opportunity to talk alone with an experienced coach, whether in person or online. Coaching can involve a single session, run for weeks or months, or even stretch into years.
Executive coaching is not confined to C-suite executives. Any leader or manager may find that no-one else in the business does a similar job or even knows in detail what they do. Leaders can’t easily talk to those above them without fear of being evaluated. Nor can they openly talk to peers who are competing against them. And the people below them expect to see leadership and confidence, not a human with flaws and vulnerabilities.
When you can’t find someone who understands the pressures at stake, leadership can be an isolating experience. Unresolved tensions and overlooked emotions may simmer away unseen, which can lead to shortfalls in performance or provoke difficult situations. Executive coaches are skilled at listening with empathy – understanding as well as advising and guiding.
A good executive coach is someone who’s able to help people explore objectives in open discussion, while quietly noticing personal challenges that might have been brushed under the carpet. According to Magda Mook, CEO of the International Coaching Federation, “Credentialed coaches undergo specialised training, demonstrate key coaching competencies, and comply with a strict set of professional ethics.”
A coach needs to be skilled in listening to the participant’s perceptions of how they perform at work – perceptions that may need to be assessed against what’s happening in practice, based on information from the participant’s employer.
A good coach equips people with the skills and techniques they need to meet personal goals, such as breaking out of their current role or even their current mindset. By helping someone understand plateaus and issues they aren’t able to identify alone, a coach may support them in their current job, prepare them for the next one, or even manage issues they have known throughout their career.
Tom Cassidy, who oversees executive coaching at Working Voices, has in the past been asked to support individuals who were seeking to develop a specific skill – only to discover long-term underlying challenges which were then worked through in regular sessions over a period of years.
Actively listening to someone, and responding with what Tom Cassidy describes “as unconditional positive regard”, leads to an essential depth of trust. Trust and empathy at this level enables a coach to be open and honest in their comments and advice.
Critical breakthroughs don’t necessarily come during a session but can pop into someone’s mind at any moment, for example when trying out new skills or clearly seeing longstanding personal barriers for the first time.
Tom explains that “the productive element at the heart of my model of coaching involves giving someone an opportunity to actually hear themselves aloud.”
“When someone actually hears what they need”, says Tom, “they are better able to objectively consider their needs and responsibilities.” This highlights personal accountability and exposes emotions and concerns that might otherwise go unheard.
Executive coaching can take different forms. A ‘horizontal learning’ approach helps someone acquire new knowledge, skills, or methods. Alternatively, ‘vertical learning’ probes more deeply, developing an individual’s ability to recognise complex patterns, and identify and address workplace challenges that might have evolved over time.
The four fundamental types of executive coaching are:
Skills improvement: at its most basic form, executive coaching can support professional skills, either as one-to-one training or as a follow-up session at the end of a wider training programme. Either way, it typically involves fewer sessions than other types of coaching, and focuses on enhancing core competencies in the participant’s role, such as communication, presentation, and active listening.
Performance coaching: Rather than coaching a number of individuals in one core skill, this type of coaching takes a broader view of many specific skills needed in one participant’s current role. Performance coaching supports effectiveness and efficiency in existing responsibilities, for example it’s ideally suited to someone new to a leadership position.
Development coaching: This approach prepares individuals for future roles by expanding their awareness of new skills and responsibilities. Tailored to an individual’s capabilities, this type of coaching can take a less structured approach than other forms, focusing on identifying existing strengths that a participant can use as a springboard to develop their potential.
Transformational coaching: Facilitating a shift in mindset and behaviours, this approach can potentially deliver greater impact than other forms of coaching. Delivered over time – perhaps six months or more – it relies on a readiness to examine personal barriers as well as strengths, giving participants the ability to think differently even when end goals might not be clearly identified.
Executive coaching is like an onion, involving multi-layered complexities leading to breakthrough moments that may moisten the eyes. Tom Cassidy explains that it can sometimes be an unpredictable experience due to hidden truths such as:
1. Coaching in a workplace setting is actually a relationship between three people: the coach, the participant, and their boss. The boss– and the budget – usually determine how many sessions there will be. Senior leaders may hire a coach to provide the emotional support to others that they themselves are not in a position to offer.
2. Sessions can quickly veer away from the direction expected by both participant and coach. A shortfall in skills, or difficulty in certain situations, may in fact be symptomatic of underlying issues that the participant might not be aware of and that may need to be worked through.
3. Coaching is not for everyone. People may sit through a coaching session out of duty more than desire. For Tom Cassidy, “a coach is only as good as the coachee’s interest in being coached.” Even though someone may recognise the value of personal development at work, they may struggle to talk openly about specifics.
Organisations that integrate coaching effectively see improvements in:
– Leadership development
– Transition management
– Diversity and inclusion
– Decision-making under pressure
– Employee engagement and performance
– Navigating industry and economic changes
By supporting the development of key individuals, coaching can be regarded as a strategic investment that strengthens business resilience, innovation, and long-term success. Research suggests executive coaching can have a significant positive ROI, with potential gains in productivity, employee retention, and overall business performance.
At Working Voices, our training course on executive coaching helps people find their potential, either by focusing on new skills or unlocking old barriers to personal development. We offer both short-term skills coaching and long-term transformational sessions, giving people the confidence to reach personal objectives, whether in their current role or in their next one
As an investment in leadership development, executive coaching offers substantial benefits for both leaders and their organisations. A short-cut to long-term behavioural change, coaching represents the strongest way to ensure that your best people are able to be the best of themselves at work.
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