Coaching for Managers: Essential Skills for Developing High-Performing Teams

As organizations increasingly focus on developing their talent internally, executive coaching and coaching for managers have become essential components of comprehensive leadership development strategies. 

Studies now show that companies with the best training and development programs can achieve a 415% annualized ROI. With stats like these, the business case is clear: coaching skills are essential for modern managers to develop high-performing teams and drive organizational success.

"Rapid, constant, and disruptive change is now the norm, and what succeeded in the past is no longer a guide to what will succeed in the future. Twenty-first-century managers simply don't (and can't!) have all the right answers… The role of the manager, in short, is becoming that of a coach." - Herminia Ibarra and Anne Scoular for Harvard Business Review (HBR)

The statistics on manager coaching in the workplace are also compelling:

• Over 70% of employees who receive coaching see improvements in their work performance and communication skills, and 80% report increased self-confidence
• Highly engaged teams show 21% greater profitability within companies
• 86% of companies report recouping their investment in corporate coaching and more

Yet many organizations struggle with a fundamental challenge: managers barely receive adequate training on moving from individual contributors to management itself—how are they supposed to develop coaching and leadership skills simultaneously?

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What is manager coaching?

Manager coaching represents a significant shift from traditional management approaches. Unlike the directive "boss" model of the past, coaching as a management approach focuses on developing employees through guidance, support, and inquiry rather than instruction and control.

"An effective manager-as-coach asks questions instead of providing answers, supports employees instead of judging them, and facilitates their development," write Ibarra and Scoular.

In practice, this means managers help team members identify their own solutions, develop critical thinking skills, and take ownership of their professional growth. (If you’ve ever read a gentle parenting book, you’ll see similarities between these approaches.) The manager-as-coach creates an environment where learning and improvement are continuous, collaborative processes, instead of top-down mandates.

Why coaching skills matter for today's leaders and managers

A supportive “manager-as-coach” can help many parties simultaneously: the manager, the employee, and the company margins (which will undoubtedly make leadership happy, too). The impact of a coaching approach to management extends beyond individual growth to create:

• Enhanced employee engagement and retention: A BlessingWhite study (unsurprisingly) found that 83% of employees said that career support positively impacts their engagement. Plus, employers with strong coaching cultures report 60% higher employee engagement scores than those without.
• Fewer turnover costs: According to Gallup, US businesses lose up to $1 trillion per year on employee turnover—and it’s proven that more engaged employees are 20% more likely to stay at the organization!
• Accelerated skill development and performance: For employees who have gone through a coaching program, 65% say coaching has improved one or more of their professional skills (nevermind the soft skills like conflict resolution). This translates directly to performance improvements, with studies showing productivity gains of 20-40% in companies with effective coaching programs.
• Greater innovation and problem-solving: Leaders who effectively coach their teams through coaching and development programs also excel at managing up, as they develop the communication and influence skills critical for success at all organizational levels.
• Stronger manager-employee relationships: Coaching conversations build trust and psychological safety, creating stronger working relationships. These improved relationships correlate with higher team performance and reduced turnover.

The essential coaching skill checklist for managers

Developing strong coaching skills requires intentional practice and development—just like any other skill managers learn. "Essential coaching competencies consist of establishing trust and a working alliance, active listening, powerful questioning, direct communication, designing actions and goal setting, and managing progress," according to the International Coaching Federation's Core Competency Model.

The most effective manager-coaches excel in these key areas:

1. Active listening and powerful questioning

"What I've really come to understand is that [employee] development is a relationship between the manager and the individual. And it's a relationship that plays out through conversation," according to Julie Winkle Giulioni, leadership development expert and co-author of "Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go." 

That coach-coachee relationship starts with: 

Active listening involves giving full attention without interruption, demonstrating understanding through reflection, and observing non-verbal cues and emotional undertones.

Powerful questioning techniques include open-ended questions that encourage exploration, forward-focused questions that drive action, and clarifying questions that deepen understanding.

2. Constructive feedback delivery

The ability to deliver feedback effectively is crucial for coaching success. Effective manager-coaches provide feedback that is:

• Specific and behavior-focused feedback rather than personality-focused
• Balanced between recognition and areas for development 
• Timely and delivered in a way that maintains dignity (for example, GitLab advocates for providing difficult feedback in private to preserve employee’s dignity.)

3. Goal-setting and accountability frameworks

Setting clear, challenging goals has been shown to increase performance by up to 25% compared to vague directives, according to research by Locke and Latham. Coaching managers excel at:

• Collaboratively establishing meaningful, challenging goals
• Breaking larger objectives into manageable action steps
• Creating accountability structures that support progress, like check-ins

4. Emotional intelligence

Research from Goleman's work on emotional intelligence in leadership has found that emotional intelligence accounts for nearly 90% of what distinguishes high performers from peers with similar technical skills. The ability to recognize and manage emotions—both one's own and others'—underlies effective coaching conversations. Superior coaching requires high emotional intelligence, including:

• Self-awareness of one's own triggers and biases
• Empathy for different perspectives and experiences
• Effective regulation of emotions during difficult conversations

The 5 C's of coaching for managers

An effective framework for manager coaching follows what practitioners call the "5 C's of Coaching"—which all need to be present in order to be effective.

1. Connection

Nobody wants to hear from a stranger about why they’re doing a bad job, so establishing psychological safety and trust is the foundation of effective coaching. Managers must create genuine connections with team members before developmental conversations can be productive. 

2. Curiosity

Approaching coaching conversations with authentic curiosity enables discovery instead of judgement and resentment. Rather than presuming to know the answers, coaching managers remain open to learning and exploring alongside their team members.

3. Clarity

Effective coaches help employees gain clarity about their goals, challenges, and potential solutions through a variety of techniques. This often involves helping team members articulate what they already know but haven't fully recognized.

4. Commitment

Once they’ve gotten more clarity, coaching managers help secure commitment to specific actions, and break down bigger projects into more manageable tasks. This includes establishing clear next steps and timeframes for progress.

5. Completion

The coaching cycle completes with follow-through on commitments. Managers create structures for accountability and progress review, ensuring developmental momentum continues.

This 5C framework is similar to the Center of Creative Leadership’s “LACE” technique, which stands for: 

• Listen to Understand
• Ask Powerful Questions
• Challenge and Support
• Establish Next Steps and Accountability

How to implement coaching training for managers

Organizations looking to develop coaching capabilities should consider implementing a structured coaching plan template that provides managers with a framework for consistent development conversations.

Assessment of current coaching capabilities

Before launching training initiatives, assess the current state of coaching skills across the management team. This provides a baseline for measuring progress and helps customize training to specific needs.

Comprehensive training approaches

Effective coaching training for managers typically includes:

• Formal training workshops on core coaching competencies
• Ongoing practice opportunities with structured feedback
• Peer coaching arrangements to reinforce learning
• Access to coaching supervision or mentoring

Cultural integration

For coaching to become embedded in organizational practice:

• Senior leaders must model coaching behaviors
• Performance management systems should recognize and reward coaching
• Regular forums for sharing coaching successes and challenges should be established

Measuring effectiveness

Organizations should track both the implementation of coaching practices and their outcomes:

• Manager self-assessments of coaching confidence
• Employee feedback on coaching quality
• Team performance metrics
• Retention and engagement data

💡 Want to implement a coaching program in your organization? Download our comprehensive guide on running an employee coaching program to learn about program structure, coach-to-coachee ratios, and proven best practices from successful companies.

Three practical manager coaching scenarios

Understanding how coaching works in practice helps managers apply these skills in real-world situations:

Performance improvement conversations

When an employee constantly misses deadlines, a coaching approach might include:

• Exploration of underlying causes without assumption
• Collaborative problem-solving rather than directive solutions
• Development of self-monitoring techniques
• Regular check-ins focused on progress and learning

"Coaching helps employees who aren't performing well to improve, those doing well to do even better, and high achievers to sustain excellent performance," note Ibarra and Scoular for HBR.

Career development discussions

To support employees with effective career growth coaching, consider:

• Helping employees articulate their aspirations and values
• Identifying development experiences aligned with those goals
• Creating opportunities for stretch assignments
• Connecting employees to mentorship programs

Effective employee onboarding

During onboarding periods and transitions, coaching managers help team members:

• Process adaptation to new environments
• Identify learning opportunities and development paths
• Develop connections within the organization
• Establish clear performance expectations

While performance coaching addresses specific work outputs, effective human resources coaching helps address underlying factors like motivation, engagement, and workplace satisfaction.

Using technology to support coaching initiatives

Mentorship software solutions like corporate coaching platforms offer scalable infrastructure to support company-wide coaching initiatives, making leadership development accessible to all employees rather than just senior leaders. Depending on where you are in your programming, you could use:

• Digital platforms for coaching management: Purpose-built software (like Together) can help organizations structure and document coaching conversations, track progress on development goals, provide templates for effective discussions, and analyze coaching patterns across teams.
• Advanced analytics for measuring program success: Modern coaching platforms offer comprehensive reporting dashboards that provide real-time insights into program effectiveness. These tools help program administrators generate reports on critical metrics (participation rates, goal completions, session feedback), monitor match health, analyze data across HR fields, collect targeted feedback, and calculate ROI by connecting developmental activities to business outcomes.

Measuring the impact of manager coaching

Demonstrating the value of coaching investments requires thoughtful measurement—since it’s not always a simple return on investment calculation. Key performance indicators for manager coaching could be: 

• Employee engagement scores
• Internal promotion rates
• Performance rating improvements
• Innovation metrics
• Retention statistics

A 2019 study from the Association for Talent Development found that running first-time managers through a leadership development program offered a 29% ROI in the first 3 months, and a 415% annualized ROI. This means that the business made $4.15 for every $1 spent on training. 

Research surveying 752 leadership experts from 2023 has updated this stat to an average return of $7 for every $1 invested.

Case study: Transformational impact

A case study on IAG New Zealand, the country's largest insurer, found that after implementing a coaching culture initiative, the company experienced:

• 50% increase in employee engagement
• 50% reduction in staff turnover
• 94% of people managers reported using coaching skills weekly
• the company transitioned from a 5% operating loss to a 7.6% profit

IAG's experience demonstrates that when managers develop strong coaching skills, the benefits cascade through multiple dimensions of organizational performance. 

Creating a sustainable coaching culture

For coaching to become embedded in organizational DNA rather than just another initiative, companies must focus on sustainability in the long term:

Integration into daily management practices

Coaching shouldn't exist as a separate initiative but should be woven into everyday management. Effective managers incorporate coaching questions into one-on-ones, bring coaching techniques into team meetings, and apply coaching frameworks during problem-solving sessions. 

Developing internal coaching champions

Organizations with sustainable coaching cultures develop internal champions who spread coaching practices throughout the company. These champions model coaching excellence, support peers in developing their skills, and advocate for coaching approaches in leadership forums. McKinsey research shows that companies with coaching champions networks saw coaching behaviors spread company-wide and employee experience scores improve significantly within just six months.

Multi-level coaching networks

The most effective organizations integrate both executive coaching for senior leaders and peer-to-peer coaching models for all employees to create a comprehensive development ecosystem. Managers coach their teams, team members coach each other through peer partnerships, and cross-functional coaching relationships flourish across departments.

How to start building a coaching culture in your organization today

As workplace dynamics continue to evolve, the manager's role increasingly centers on developing talent rather than directing activity. Workplaces that invest in developing leaders through collaborative learning and coaching capabilities across their management ranks position themselves for sustainable competitive advantage through higher performance, greater innovation, and stronger talent retention.

The research is clear: coaching skills represent a critical competency for modern managers. Organizations looking to enhance their leadership development programs should prioritize coaching as a core managerial capability.

“Train people well enough so they can leave. Treat them well enough so they don’t have to.” — Sir Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin Group

Ready to transform your company through coaching? Our comprehensive guide shares examples from successful coaching programs at companies like Amazon, Marriott, Macy's, and Wells Fargo. Download the e-book to see how these organizations implemented coaching at scale.