From Awareness to Insight to Impact: The Promise of Executive Coaching for Organizations

Executive Coaching
Written By Ehsan S.

Executive coaching has grown into a professionalized, multibillion-dollar global industry. As investment in coaching continues to grow, HR and organizational leaders face increasing pressure to demonstrate evidence-based outcomes and return on investment.

This article suggests that coaching effectiveness follows a developmental progression:

  • Awareness – building a leader’s capacity to understand self and context.

  • Insight – translating awareness into deeper reflection and actionable meaning.

  • Impact – observable changes in behavior, team dynamics, culture, and organizational performance.

Recent scholarship supports this trajectory. For example, a 2024 study of US federal government supervisors emphasized coaching’s role in developing self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and communication in hybrid workplaces (Aridi, 2024). Likewise, a 2025 Frontiers in Psychology editorial highlighted that executive coaching has its strongest effects on behavioral outcomes, as shown in a meta-analysis of 20 experimental studies, while cognitive and attitudinal outcomes showed more modest effects (Kim & Ghosh, 2025). Additionally, coaching can also meaningfully boost self-belief and resilience (Nicolau et al., 2023).

For HR executives, this threefold lens of awareness, insight, and impact offers a clear, research-backed framework for evaluating the promise of executive coaching.

Awareness: Building the Foundation for Leadership Effectiveness

Awareness is the first stage of development in coaching, enabling leaders to examine their behaviors, assumptions, and impact on others.

Psychological Awareness

Randomized controlled studies confirm coaching’s role in enhancing leaders’ self-efficacy and openness to behavioral change (Finn, Mason, & Bradley, 2007). These findings highlight coaching as a psychological support mechanism, vital for leaders navigating volatile, uncertain, and complex environments.

Somatic and Embodied Awareness

Awareness extends beyond cognition. Recent research highlights the value of embodied approaches to coaching, which integrate body-based practices with personality and self-regulation. Attan, Whitelaw, and Ferguson (2018) developed and psychometrically validated a practical model of embodied coaching that links four movement patterns to distinct psychological states. Their research demonstrated that shifting movement patterns can reliably evoke new psychological states, thereby supporting behavioral change and leadership adaptability. These results provide empirical evidence that embodied awareness can deepen coaching outcomes by fostering authentic, sustainable behavioral shifts.

Insight: The Bridge Between Awareness and Meaningful Action

Awareness creates recognition; insight can transform recognition into meaning and action.

Insight as a Catalyst

Executives often describe “aha” moments—cognitive-emotional turning points that reshape how they interpret leadership challenges. Ménard (2016) found that such insights drive more adaptive leadership practices, positioning coaching as a catalyst for leadership agility.

The Dyadic Relationship

The quality of the coach–coachee relationship is pivotal. Payne, Lai, and McBride (2023) show that trust, dialogue, and collaboration enable leaders to turn self-awareness into actionable insight, reinforcing the importance of coaching as a relationship-based intervention. 

Impact: From Individual Growth to Organizational ROI

Impact is where coaching outcomes become externalized at both individual and organizational levels.

Individual Performance and Well-being

Grant, Curtayne, and Burton (2009) found that coaching improved goal attainment, resilience, and well-being, while reducing stress. For HR executives, these outcomes directly connect to productivity and talent retention.

Strategic and ROI-Level Outcomes

Coaching also contributes to measurable ROI. Newman et al. (2014) reported that coaching interventions enhanced managerial competencies and aligned leadership with strategy, thereby delivering bottom-line value.

Sustained Change and Renewal

Evidence suggests coaching outcomes persist over time. De Souza and Emeterio (2024) demonstrated that coaching supports not only individual renewal but also long-term cultural transformation, offering HR leaders a lever for sustained organizational resilience.

Ripple Effects Across Systems

The “ripple effect” extends benefits beyond coached executives. Doherty and Papworth (2024) found positive spillovers on employee well-being, particularly among hybrid workers and older employees, underscoring coaching’s role in shaping healthier workplace climates.

Moderators of Coaching Effectiveness

Coaching impact is not automatic. Effectiveness depends on:

  • Coachee characteristics – motivation and receptivity to feedback (Bozer, Sarros, & Santora, 2013).

  • Organizational context – alignment with strategic priorities and culture.

  • Coaching methodology – evidence shows solution-focused and cognitive-behavioral approaches are particularly effective (Knowles, 2021).

For HR executives, this reinforces the need for strategic alignment, careful coach selection, and organizational readiness to maximize outcomes. 

Conclusion

Unlike traditional training, which transfers knowledge, coaching facilitates personal transformation that cascades into organizational systems. Leaders who gain awareness and insight generate impact through improved decision-making, stronger relationships, and healthier cultures. Recent studies underscore coaching’s role in helping organizations remain adaptive, strategically aligned, and resilient.

For HR executives, the evidence is strong. By guiding leaders from awareness to insight to impact, coaching catalyzes transformation that enhances performance, culture, and ROI. As the evidence base expands, organizations should view coaching not as an optional development tool but as a strategic investment in leadership capacity, workforce sustainability, and organizational performance.

 

References

  • Aridi, A. (2024). Exploring Innovative Leadership Development Through Executive Coaching in the U.S. Federal Government. Int. J. Smart Educ. Urban Soc., 14, 1-33. https://doi.org/10.4018/ijseus.346820.

  • Attan, A., Whitelaw, G., & Ferguson, E. (2018). A practical model for embodied coaching. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 11(1), 16-29. https://doi.org/10.1080/17521882.2017.1351460

  • Bozer, G., Sarros, J., & Santora, J. (2013). The role of coachee characteristics in executive coaching for effective sustainability. Journal of Management Development, 32, 277-294. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621711311318319.  

  • Cox, R. (2015). A description of executive coachees’ experiences of working with the body, as part of transformative coaching.

  • De Souza, E., & Emeterio, M. (2024). Sustainability of changes in executive coaching: managing partner’s perspective. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 17, 226 - 247. https://doi.org/10.1080/17521882.2024.2304812.

  • Doherty, M., & Papworth, J. (2024). The ripple effect of executive coaching on employee wellbeing. The Coaching Psychologist. https://doi.org/10.53841/bpstcp.2024.20.1.83.

  • Finn, F., Mason, C., & Bradley, L. (2007). Doing Well with Executive Coaching: Psychological and Behavioral Impacts.

  • Grant, A., Curtayne, L., & Burton, G. (2009). Executive coaching enhances goal attainment, resilience and workplace well-being: a randomised controlled study. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4, 396-407. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760902992456.

  • Kim, S., Ghosh, R., Poell, R., & Maltbia, T. (2025). Editorial: Advancing coaching scholarship. Frontiers in Psychology, 16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1544495.

  • Knowles, S. (2021). Coaching for Executive Development. Positive Psychology Coaching. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88995-1_18.

  • Ménard, S. (2016). Insight as a Turning Point for Learning in Executive Coaching. International Journal of Innovative Business Strategies (IJIBS), 2(2), 69-73. https://doi.org/10.20533/IJIBS.2046.3626.2016.0011.

  • Newman, D., Yaeger, T. F., Sorensen, P., & Hinrichs, G. (2014). The impact of executive coaching on self-efficacy, ROI, and corporate strategy: An empirical study. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2014, No. 1, p. 10669). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management. https://journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/ambpp.2014.10669abstract

  • Nicolau, A., Candel, O. S., Constantin, T., & Kleingeld, A. (2023). The effects of executive coaching on behaviors, attitudes, and personal characteristics: A meta-analysis of randomized control trial studies. Frontiers in psychology, 14, 1089797. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1089797.

  • Payne, R., Lai, Y., & McBride, K. (2023). How does executive coaching work? An investigation of the coach-coachee dyad. International Coaching Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.53841/bpsicpr.2023.18.1.34.

Ehsan S.