Research claims impact of coaching in business can spread far beyond individuals
Teams and entire organizations can benefit from a "ripple effect," which in turn creates a cycle of positive behavior change.
New research indicates that coaching creates positive behavior change — not only in the individuals coached but also their wider teams and organizations.
San Francisco-based “people development” company, Torch, calls it the “coaching ripple effect” and links it to skills development and such ROI indicators as improved retention, increased performance, and promotions.
“Behavior change starts from within. But when we change, we signal to others around us to do the same,” Cameron Yarbrough, Torch’s chief operating officer, said in a statement. “The ripple effect is the process by which we not only change ourselves, but whole teams and eventually organizations. While coaching is an investment in an individual’s progress, it also yields big dividends for others around them. Managers won’t necessarily try to become better at listening or delivering feedback if those behaviors aren’t rewarded or valued organizationally.”
Specifically, the research (based on a quantitative and qualitative Torch study of 85 U.S. workers who had been coached) found the following:
- When managers change as a result of coaching, direct reports change, too.
Nine in 10 employees reported developing new skills as a result of their manager being coached, and 51% of respondents shared that their manager has helped encourage them to learn continuously by encouraging a growth mindset.
- More time spent in coaching drives an even stronger ripple effect.
The longer that a manager spent in coaching, the stronger the ripple effect was on that person’s direct reports, according to the research. Compared to managers who had shorter coaching engagements, managers who were coached for seven months or more had (on average) a stronger impact on direct reports’ work satisfaction, organizational commitment, positive attitude at work, and sense of “psychological safety.”
- The coaching ripple effect can impact organization-level metrics.
Retention, promotion, and performance of direct reports are the measures most likely to be positively influenced by the ripple effect of coaching.
The analysis also suggested that when managers adopt more positive attitudes as a result of coaching, those emotions can spread to other workers through emotional contagion — a theory that describes how one individual’s emotions inspire similar emotions in other people.
Additionally, study respondents reported improved managerial communication as a result of coaching. Better communication can motivate employees by making them feel seen and heard, Torch researchers said. Overall, when managers become better leaders, they inspire changes in the workers around them — making those workers feel more valued and recognized.
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Torch’s new report builds on other research that has found culture is the key to unlocking the positive benefits of coaching.
That said, Torch officials admitted that their research sample is small. “A true experimental study may only be possible if researchers (a) can provide the coaching for free and (b) have the resources to track participants over a multi-year period,” they wrote.