Executive Leaders’ Perception of Coaching: Assessing the Value and Impact of Organizational Success
Executive Leaders’ Perception of Coaching: Assessing the Value and Impact of Organizational Success
Mylira Cary | 2026
Abstract
Within contemporary organizations, tools utilized for leadership development remain a priority in strategic planning; yet the (a) perceived value, (b) return on investment (ROI), and measurable impact within organizations resulting from the implementation of executive coaching remain uncertain (Day et al., 2014; Gurdjian et al., 2014; Theeboom et al., 2014). Although existing literature has initiated a correlation between coaching and the improvement of organizational stakeholders’ performance, engagement, and well-being (Bozer & Jones, 2018; Halliwell et al., 2023), limited studies have focused on the lived perceptions of coaching’s benefit from executives responsible for investing in coaching within organizations. This qualitative phenomenological study aimed to understand how the perception of executive leaders related to the effectiveness of coaching as a leadership tool influences how leaders make investment decisions, ultimately affecting organizational outcomes. The theoretical frameworks underpinning this investigation were transformational leadership theory (Bass, 1985; Bass & Riggio, 2006; Burns, 1978) and self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2020). The purposeful participants were 10 executive leaders who had participated in a professional coaching relationship for at least 6 months within the 3 years preceding the interview. Data were acquired through 1-hour semistructured Zoom interviews guided by eight prestructured questions. Interviews were thematically categorized through the two-cycle coding process. The first cycle used process coding to reveal actions and behaviors systematically; the second cycle thematically coded the information gathered to capture the recurring patterns and overarching themes (Braun & Clarke, 2021). Results demonstrated that executive coaching functioned as an effective transformational leadership development tool, leveraging the increase in self-awareness, emotional regulation, reflective decision making, and relational effectiveness. Executives perceived ROI as a strategic element of multidimensional benefits, transcending beyond financial metrics to include an increase in communication skills, personal accountability, engagement, collaboration with other stakeholders, and sustainability of organizational performance (Grant, 2017; Theeboom et al., 2014). Results yielded a contribution to scholarly and practitioner understanding by revealing how the executive coaching structures the identity of leaders and improves the effectiveness of system-level tasks within the complexities of organizational environments.
Keywords: Employee Engagement, Executive Coaching, Leadership Development, Organizational Effectiveness, Return on Investment (ROI), Transformational Leadership