But What Makes a Coaching Culture Successful?
For the past decade, ICF and the Human Capital Institute (HCI) have partnered to investigate the fundamental tenets of coaching cultures within organizations. We set out to discover commonalities, barriers, and strategies for success. In that time, we have established a set of benchmarks for creating robust coaching environments, exploring various themes such as:
- Coaching and employee engagement.
- Professional development training for managers and leaders utilizing coaching skills.
- Coaching’s role in leadership development for millennials and first-time people managers.
- The impact of coaching on change management.
Our joint research has examined a global workplace transformed by a pandemic, an increasingly remote workforce, and clients who are looking for the most effective way to blend their coaching needs while acknowledging yearly turnover and burnout. This comprehensive view of the coaching landscape by ICF and HCI seeks to shed light on what a robust coaching culture looks like.
What Is Coaching Culture?
A coaching culture begins and ends with the strength of its people. It values open communication, developing new skills, advancing one’s knowledge and career, and authentic connection. Today’s changing business landscape demands flexibility. As workers continue to navigate what the workplace looks like for them, it’s important they feel connected, included, and valued.
In response to this need, coaching has emerged as a vital tool. Our research with HCI has generated six key components to coaching cultures, and organizations with strong coaching cultures meet at least five of the components:
- Strongly/somewhat agree that employees value coaching.
- Strongly/somewhat agree that senior executives value coaching.
- Managers/leaders and/or internal coaches received accredited coach-specific training.
- All three coaching modalities (internal coach practitioners, external coach practitioners, and managers/leaders using coaching skills) are present at their organization.
- Coaching is a fixture in the organization with a dedicated line item in the budget.
- All employees in the organization have an equal opportunity to receive coaching from a professional coach practitioner.
Key Findings From Our Research
In our most recent study of 470 participants — including professionals from human resources, learning and development, and talent management fields — we learned that coaching cultures have stood strong amidst pandemic-induced obstacles. In fact, about half of organizations surveyed said they have used coaching to sharpen the focus on increasingly important societal issues like well-being and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
Respondents are also finding more cost-efficient solutions to make coaching more accessible within their organizations, and some are embracing emerging technologies to do so. They are finding that technology is not just as a tool for simplification or automation, but it is also as a strategic ally to amplify the reach, quality, and impact of coaching.
2023 Research Report: Defining New Coaching Cultures
This research comes at a pivotal moment, following a period of immense workplace transformation triggered by the global pandemic, and sheds light on critical trends affecting coaching cultures. While revisiting many of the subjects from previous reports between ICF and HCI, this one also focuses on barriers such as burnout and employee turnover, the influence of technology advancements like digital coaching platforms, and the prospect of coaching an increasingly remote workforce. Additionally, it looks at the impact of coaching on trending initiatives such as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), upskilling, and employee well-being.
The final report is free for ICF members and $30 USD for non-members.
Please Note: Once you have completed the Shopping Cart transaction, you can access the report by clicking the “Download” button to the left of the report title. You may also access it anytime via the My Downloads page
Past ICF and HCI Reports
Since 2014, ICF and HCI have explored how key organizational challenges intersect with coaching cultures. Our past Building a Coaching Culture reports cover a wide array of topics, including change management, employee engagement, and leadership development.
2019 — Building Strong Coaching Cultures for the Future
In an era where retaining high-performing talent and maintaining bench strength are strategic imperatives for HR and talent development, the value of a strong coaching culture is undeniable. This report explores factors of success like program design and implementation, professional development opportunities, and evaluation of coaching impact.
ICF Members: FREE
Non-Members: $30 USD
2018 — Building a Coaching Culture for Change Management
Seventy-seven percent of HR practitioners and leaders report that their organization is in a state of constant change, with priorities and strategies continuously shifting. This research study explores how coaching strategies can be used to build change management capabilities.
ICF Members: FREE
Non-Members: $40 USD
2017 — Building a Coaching Culture with Millennial Leaders
Building a Coaching Culture with Millennial Leaders explores how organizations of all sizes are developing new leaders and supporting first-time people managers — many of whom are millennials — by building strong coaching cultures.
ICF Members: FREE
Non-Members: $45 USD
2016 — Building a Coaching Culture with Managers and Leaders
Building a Coaching Culture with Managers and Leaders examines the ways in which companies and leaders establish and support a coaching culture, with a focus on training for managers/leaders using coaching skills.
ICF Members: FREE
Non-Members: $45 USD
2015 — Building a Coaching Culture for Increased Employee Engagement
Building a Coaching Culture for Increased Employee Engagement explores the relationship between strong organizational coaching cultures and increased employee engagement.
ICF Members: FREE
Non-Members: $25 USD
2014 — Building a Coaching Culture
Building a Coaching Culture is a benchmarking research study from ICF and HCI on the building blocks of strong organizational coaching cultures.
ICF Members: FREE
Non-Members: $45 USD
How to Foster a Coaching Culture
Strong coaching cultures thrive with involvement from everyone. From obtaining buy-in for coaching programs from the C-suite to engaging new employees just entering their roles, every step of the development process needs to provide equity and inclusion.
Furthermore, organizations should strategically incorporate recognized industry practices during the planning phase in a way that prioritizes coaching for all employees. Getting proactive about goals and timelines before engaging a coach is critical, and delivering coaching education to benefit remote and hybrid workers with the same rigor as face-to-face employees goes a long way toward fostering the culture you want.
Join the ICF Organizations Community
Building a high-performing coaching culture takes motivated people and committed coaches. ICF Coaching in Organizations aims to inspire and enable organizations to create meaningful change by growing or establishing a coaching culture.
We’ll work together with you to build a high-performing organization, improving your organization's bench strength, boosting team and employee performance, maximizing retention, and increasing overall team satisfaction.
As a member, you will gain access to:
- A community of like-minded individuals within coaching-centric organizations who are ready to share best practices and work together to empower the world through coaching.
- Exclusive resources and regular programming to bolster your existing coaching culture or just help you get started. Think toolkits, forums, webinars, and so much more.
- Leading-industry research that can help you better understand why coaching cultures work, how to build a successful coaching culture, and the global outlook for coaching.
