Industry Research:
     Leadership
     Coaching Report
     2021
                       Industry Research:
                       Leadership
                       Coaching Report
                       2021
                       Organizations around the world invest in leadership development to ensure their 
                       employees have the critical knowledge, skills and experience to remain competitive. 
                       Industry estimates suggest the global investment in leadership development exceeds 
                       $3.5 billion dollars. Measuring the business impact and the return on this investment is 
                       a challenge for most organizations. Leadership capabilities such as strategic thinking, 
                       collaboration and decision making are hard to quantify - and measuring growth and 
                       improvement can be difficult. The challenges, however, are not insurmountable. 
                       Some organizations have overcome these challenges and they’re measuring leader 
                       development at the individual and organizational level.
                       The latest research study from Sounding Board Inc. and Chief Learning Officer set out 
                       to explore how companies are using professional coaching for leadership development, 
                       and how they’re measuring the business impact. 
                       The 2021 Leadership Coaching report explored the following questions:
                       ●  Why are companies investing in leadership coaching?
                       ●  How are companies measuring the business impact of leadership coaching?
                       ●  What are the most important capabilities for business leaders?
                       ●  What are the most difficult leadership capabilities to develop in an organization?
                       ●  What are the challenges companies face in providing leadership coaching?
                       Invitations to participate in the online survey were sent to Chief Learning Officer Magazine subscribers be-
                       tween late June and mid-July 2021. A total of 458 HR professionals participated in the survey, with a 65% 
                       survey completion rate. 
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                      Organizations Are Offering Leadership Coaching
                      The 2021 Leadership Coaching survey shows that 72% of organizations offer some type of 
                      leadership coaching for talent development. Nearly one quarter (22.5%) of respondents said 
                      they do not offer leadership coaching but would like to. Only 5.7% of respondents said they do 
                      not offer leadership coaching and they are not interested in doing so. Among the organizations 
                      offering leadership coaching, 28% of respondents said they offer formal, internal coaching to 
                      their employees. 19 percent said they offer informal, internal coaching, and 24% said they offer 
                      coaching through an external partner.
                      These findings track closely with other survey findings. The 2020 CLO Learning State of 
                      the Industry report, for example, found that nearly 60% of organizations offer coaching for 
                      leadership development. That survey also found that coaching is one of the top three delivery 
                      methods organizations use for learning and development.
                      The majority of organizations, 67%, use a mix of internal and external coaches for leadership 
                      development. 23 percent report that they rely on internal coaches and 10% rely entirely on 
                      external coaches.
                      In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global economic downturn and the rapid shift to 
                      a more remote, distributed workforce, many organizations are increasing their investment in 
                      leadership coaching. 
                      Q. Does your organization currently use leadership coaching for talent 
                                development?
                      30%
                      20%
                      10%
                        0%
                                  Yes, we have formal      Yes, we have informal     Yes, we partner with an     No, we do not offer        No, we do not offer 
                                   internal coaching          internal coaching     external coaching partner  leadership coaching, but  leadership coaching and 
                                       programs                  programs                                      we would like to offer it  we are not interested in 
                                                                                                                                                offering it
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                      41 percent of organizations say their spending on leadership coaching has increased from 
                      2020 to 2021, and 45% reported no change. Less than 15% of organizations report a decrease 
                      in spending on leadership coaching.
                      Why Organizations Invest in Leadership Coaching
                      Organizations report using leadership coaching to address a variety of talent development 
                      needs. Nearly 80% of respondents said the principal need for coaching is to improve leadership 
                      skills for specific individuals, followed closely with developing leadership bench strength (69%). 
                      51 percent of survey respondents said they offered leadership coaching to increase employee 
                      engagement, and 49% of survey respondents said it was to retain key talent.
                     Q. What is the principle need for leadership at your organization?
                      80%
                      60%
                      40%
                      20%
                        0%
                                    Improving            Developing       Increasing employee    Retaining key talent     Supporting       Gaining a competitive 
                                 leadership skills     leadership bench       engagement                                  diversity &            advantage
                                    for specific           strength                                                        inclusion
                                    individuals
                      Respondents identified a number of positive outcomes as a result of leadership coaching:
                      ●  67 percent said leadership coaching increased employee engagement and satisfaction.
                      ●  60 percent said it improved employees’ perceptions of the quality of leadership.
                      ●  54 percent said it improved leadership bench strength. 
                      ●  50 percent said it improved productivity.
                      ●  44 percent said leadership coaching improved the quality of work. 
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