Coaching: The Overlooked Link in Leadership Development

From theory to behaviour, and insight to impact

“Coaching” gets a lot of flak. Unfortunately, that flak is often justified, but misappropriated to coaching as a whole. Yes, there is a lot of nonsense out there. Swarms of charlatans. The skills gap between those following evidence-based practice and the self-anointed is vast. I completely understand why even my close friends and family look at me as if I’ve (I quote): “Gone full woo-woo” when I bring up the topic, but I have learned a LOT about evidence-based practice in the last year and a half (more on that in a future post), and therefore have opinions.

So, let’s start with something I think most experienced professionals have had some exposure to - leadership development.

Training is the obvious entry point to leadership development programs. The default implementation is to line up a few workshops, the latest and greatest leadership model (ideally with a catchy acronym), chuck in current consultant terminology and a feel-good session at the end of the final day, and you’ve got a program.

And this, of course, is fine as a starting point. Learning terminology and concepts are important (it’s hard to research something if you don’t know what it’s called). There’s nothing wrong with theory and frameworks. But theory rarely survives first contact with the real world. Knowing the “right thing to do” in a textbook situation isn’t the same as knowing how to act in this one, with these people, this history, and this mess of priorities, pressures, and politics.

In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice; but in practice, there is. - Attribution Disputed

Here is a simplistic analogy - when you learn to drive, you can ace the learner’s test after reading the handbook front to back, but all that knowledge disappears the moment you sit behind the wheel, overwhelmed by pedals, knobs and levers. Suddenly the rules aren’t enough. You need awareness, confidence, adaptability. You need practice. And you need someone alongside you while you figure it out.

Stepping back briefly to training. The Kirkpatrick model, widely used to evaluate training, defines four levels of impact: Reaction, Learning, Behaviour, and Results. Most training comfortably ticks off the first two. However, actual behaviour change and measurable outcomes are much harder to achieve.

That’s where coaching steps in.

Coaching isn’t about handing people more models or filling in skill gaps on a competency matrix. It’s about helping people wrestle with the complexity of their own context and apply what they know in ways that work. It bridges the knowing–doing gap:

• Coaching helps leaders connect theoretical learning to practical application by personalising insights and developing concrete action plans for behavioural change.

  • Passmore, J. (2015). Leadership coaching: Working with leaders to develop elite performance. Kogan Page Publishers.

• Coaching enhances self-awareness and challenges existing beliefs, moving unconscious thought patterns to conscious consideration, which is crucial for leaders to understand their impact and adapt their responses.

  • Anthony Grant, S. O. (2019). A Brief Primer for Those New to Coaching Research and Evidence-Based Practice. The Coaching Psychologist, 15(1), 3–10.

• Coaching develops behavioural flexibility by enabling executives to expand their repertoire of thoughts and actions through structured practice and experimentation.

  • Good, D., Yeganeh, B., & Yeganeh, R. (2010). Cognitive Behavioral Executive Coaching: A Structure for Increasing Leadership Flexibility. OD Practitioner, 42(3), 18–23.

• Coaching helps bridge the gap even when there is a time lag in the manifestation of learning and behavioural change, providing ongoing support for the incubation and consolidation of new insights.

  • Spence, G. B., Stout-Rostron, S., Reenen, M. V., & Glashoff, B. (2019). Exploring the delayed effects of leadership coaching: A pilot study. Coaching : An International Journal of Theory, Research & Practice, 12(2), 125–146. https://doi.org/10.1080/17521882.2019.1574308

So, if you’re involved in leadership development and wondering why training isn’t delivering the impact you hoped for, ask this: “Who’s helping these leaders figure out how to apply what they’ve learned in the wild?”

If no one is, coaching might be the missing piece.

It’s worth reading up on.

Or better yet, reach out.

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