LEADERSHIP COACHING THAT WORKS

Building a culture of excellence, appreciation and ethical leadership

Introduction

If you’re an HR professional, L&D specialist, executive, or senior leader, you already know the stakes are high, business is complex and they ever-shifting: leadership capability has never mattered more.

In times of change and rising employee expectations around meaning, inclusion, and a culture of appreciation, we are being asked not only to lead effectively—but also ethically, authentically, and sustainably. And yet, many organisations are promoting leaders based on merit rather than leadership competence, and they fail to offer the development and support leaders need to stay on top of their game. Herein lies the essence of the somewhat satirical, though alarmingly relevant notion of the Peter Principal

This is where leadership coaching, done well, becomes not just essential—but potentially game-changing (culture-changing?).

In this article, I’ll guide you through what distinguishes high-impact leadership coaching from the rest. Drawing on academic research from Weihrauch, L., Kugler, S., Mausz, I. & Frey, D. (2022) from the International Handbook of Evidence-Based Coaching.

I’ll highlight how leadership coaching can help your organisation shape a culture of excellence, grounded in authenticity, ethical leadership, and deep personal development.

And I’ll do so not in abstract terms, but through the lens of real-world application—so you can walk away with clarity, not theory.

Current State of Research of Leadership Coaching

The evidence for leadership coaching is compelling. Leadership coaching improves:

• Leadership development (Kampa-Kokesch & Anderson, 2001)

• Interpersonal and intrapersonal development (Day et al., 2014)

• Self-awareness of strengths and areas of development (Ely et al., 2010; Feldman & Lankau ,2005)

• Leadership identity & style development (Boning, 2015)

  • Including dealing with employees and team conflicts

Leadership coaching, then, is a clear cut way to support individuals to grow in their self-awareness, focus on goal attainment, improve performance and take more overall responsibility for their professional development.

Notably, however, these outcomes aren’t limited to individual benefit, they cascade. When leaders evolve, teams, culture and organisations often follow. The organisational climate shifts. Coaching, when applied systemically, becomes a catalyst for a culture of accountability, higher engagement, and inclusivity. Something I have seen, and continue to see first hand through the work done by Neurodynamiqs.

Consider this: A 2021 study from the International Coaching Federation (ICF) found that 86% of companies reported a positive ROI from coaching, and 70% observed improved performance, communication, and relationships. But those numbers climb when coaching is tailored to the leadership context—not simply applied generically.

Where the Gaps Are

Despite these encouraging findings, research shows two significant challenges:

Sustainability of Change – Coaching interventions often yield powerful shifts in the short term, but without reinforcement, identity-level change may not stick. This calls for integrated approaches, not just one-off sessions. Great coaching that is transformative happens over time.

Context Mismatch – Coaching that doesn’t consider the organisational culture, values, or leadership pressures often fails to deliver its full impact. A brilliant coaching experience can be undone by a toxic culture—or reinforced by a healthy one. To that extent, we won't deliver leadership or executive development coaching without insight into the company values that those leaders are responsibility for embedding in their teams, then we can hold your people to account for doing so day in and day out.

Special Features of Leadership Coaching

So, what makes leadership coaching leadership coaching, and not just personal development in disguise?

Leadership Context as a Framework Condition

Unlike general coaching or mentoring, leadership coaching operates within complex, high-stakes environments. The leaders we coach through Neurodynamiqs are often balancing competing demands: delivery vs. development, performance vs. people, short-term wins vs. long-term vision.

Practical Insight: Culture is a Lever, Not a Backdrop

Imagine an unsupported or untrained leader in a fast-scaling creative company. They’re brilliant, talented and driven, but struggling with burnout on their team. Coaching them solely on time management misses the point. The issue isn’t just them; it’s the culture they are individually creating either consciously or blindly. There may be an implicit “always-on” norm, success in this situation is defined by hustle, not sustainability. It's not good for people, business or the leader in the long run.

In this case, the coaching conversation needs to zoom out:

• What kind of culture are you unintentionally reinforcing?

• How does your leadership identity align with what the team actually needs?

• Where do you model ethical leadership—and where do you compromise it?

• How can you role-model best practices to others?

• What does slowing down to speed up mean to you? How important is that to your team?

When context is explicitly brought into coaching, leaders begin making decisions not just based on performance metrics—but on meaning, values, and long-term impact.

Beyond Context

Something many leaders often miss out on is reliable and constructive feedback on their performance, style, character and so on... Their team members might not have the psychological safety to share what they see in their leader, through fear of punitive or negative consequence. This same leader can't get reliable data from other areas of the business because they don't operate day-to-day in view of people partners, peers, leadership etc. Again, this is where leadership coaching becomes invaluable... Enter,

The Johari's Window: valuable observations and sometimes challenging feedback that forces learning, growth and development. A great leadership coach becomes a mirror for their clients to point out their blind spots and explore the unknown together.

What is Good Leadership and How Does Coaching Enable It?

Let’s get practical for a moment.

When I coach senior leaders, one of the earliest pivot points is the moment we shift the conversation from “how do I lead better?” to “what is leadership for me?”

Because the truth is, leadership isn’t one-size-fits-all.

Leadership identity refers to the way a person integrates leadership into their sense of self. It’s the difference between “I have a leadership job” and “I am a leader.” That distinction matters.

When leadership becomes part of someone’s identity, they stop mimicking others’ styles and start acting from their own values. That’s where authenticity enters—and where trust, clarity, and courage become visible.

Authenticity and Meaning as Drivers

Authentic leaders create clarity in chaos. They don’t pretend to know it all—they ask powerful questions, admit uncertainty, and act from principle.

Meaning is the fuel. Without it, leaders burn out or become cynical. With it, they lead not just with excellence—but with resonance.

In practice, I ask clients to reflect on questions like:

What defines you in leadership?

When do you feel most connected with who you want to be as a leader?

What is the legacy you’re quietly (or not-so-quietly) building?

When you give leaders time and space to answer those questions, they begin showing up differently in the room, in their own minds, and on the balance sheet.

Conclusion

If you’re considering investing in leadership coaching—whether for yourself, your execs, or your wider organisation—here’s what I invite you to reflect on:

Are you/is your organisation settling for surface-level coaching? Look for coaches who understand your context, can hold strategic and psychological complexity, and have a clear philosophy about leadership identity, authenticity, and ethical impact. We provide coaches who are not only in-tune with themselves as coaches, but are deeply passionate about the industries we are working in. This level of buy-in (a.k.a enrolment) matters, because we never coach without a passion for making an impact.

Next, are you embedding coaching in culture or looking only get your leaders up-to-speed, or, one step further, to level up? The greatest gains come not from isolated interventions, but from coaching that aligns with a culture of appreciation, a culture of excellence, and the organisation’s stated (and lived) values.

Measure what matters. Yes, track behavioural changes and KPIs—but also track shifts in meaning, alignment, psychological safety, and ethical leadership practices. These are what sustain performance.

As someone who’s worked globally across industries—from tech startups to legacy corporates—I’ve seen how leadership coaching, when done thoughtfully, creates change that ripples far beyond the individual. It builds leaders who can hold paradoxes, embrace complexity and endure uncertainty. Who stay anchored in authenticity. Who inspire cultures where people bring their best because they feel trusted, valued, and aligned with a shared purpose. These leaders become highly effective and, in some instances, unstoppable.

So if you're considering coaching, let’s have a conversation. Not just about goals, but about who you want your leaders to become, what kind of culture you’re building, and how coaching can become a quiet, powerful lever in that journey.

Because leadership isn’t just about better decisions. It’s about creating meaning, shaping culture, and leaving behind a system better than you found it.

REFERENCES

Boning, U., & Kegel, C. (2015). Ergebnisse der Coaching-Forschung: Aktulle Studien-ausgewertet fur die coaching-praxis. Springer-Verlag

Day, D. V., Fleenor, J. W., Atwater, L. E., Sturn, R. E. & McKee, R. A. (2014). Advances in leader and leadership development: A review of 25 years of research and theory. The Leadership quarterly. 25(1), 63-82.

Ely, K., Boyce, L. A., Nelson, J. K., Zaccaro, S. J., Hernez-Broome, G., & Whyman, W. (2010). Evaluating leadership coaching: A review and integrated framework. The Leadership quarterly. 21, 585-599.

Kampa-Kokesch, S., & Anderson, M. Z. (2001). Executive Coaching: A comprehensive review of the literature. Consulting psychology journal: Practice and research, 53, 205-228.

Weihrauch, L., Kugler, S., Mausz, I. & Frey, D. (2022). Leadership Coaching. In S.Greif et al. (eds.) International Handbook of Evidence-Based Coaching. Springer Nature. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81938-5_42