COACHING RIPPLE EFFECT

How do the positive effects of coaching go beyond an individual leader and spread through your organization?

Organizations are currently operating in times of unprecedented challenges and complexity which consequently increases the job demands and stress at all different levels of the organization. To remain productive and competitive, most organizations are willing to invest in their employees’ well-being. But when it comes to choosing a strategy for maintaining and enhancing employees’ well-being, which one of those hundred million solutions out there is the best one? I think no one knows the answer to this question, but we can definitely discuss why some solutions are a lot better than others.

Organizations are currently operating in times of unprecedented challenges and complexity which consequently increases the job demands and stress at all different levels of the organization. To remain productive and competitive, most organizations are willing to invest in their employees’ well-being. But when it comes to choosing a strategy for maintaining and enhancing employees’ well-being, which one of those hundred million solutions out there is the best one? I think no one knows the answer to this question, but we can definitely discuss why some solutions are a lot better than others.

So, now the better question is, is there any solution out there that can address the unique needs and challenges of each and every leader while its positive impact goes beyond leaders and ripple down to their staff members and colleagues? I do have the answer to this question!

In 2013, Drs. O’Connor and Cavanagh, two psychologists from Sydney, Australia, decided to offer 8 coaching sessions to 20 senior leaders within an academic institute and measure its effectiveness on leaders and their broad work environment. They measured the participating leaders’ well-being and leadership skills both before and after the 8-session coaching program. To measure the impact of the coaching program on the broad work environment, they collected data from 225 other leaders and staff members who were connected to the participating leaders based on their organizational hierarchy. These two psychologists were curious to see what the impact of this coaching program on each participating leader is, and most importantly, whether the impact of coaching stays within an individual leader or spreads through the organization. After analyzing pre-and post-data related to the participating leaders, they found out that those 20 leaders were successful in increasing their own well-being and leadership skills significantly as a result of the 8-session coaching program. To find the answer to their second question, they analyzed the data from other 225 leaders and staff while taking into account their organizational distance to each participating leader (Organizational distance is lower between middle-management and their direct staff members compared to the distance between senior leaders and those staff members). Their results showed that, among those 225 other leaders and staff, the closer they were to the participating leader, they were more likely to report positive increases in their own well-being. This significant change is very critical as those 225 other leaders and staff did not receive any coaching sessions or intervention directly. This shows those other leaders and staff were indirectly affected by the coaching program. They felt better about their job just because their colleagues (those 20 participating leaders) became a better leader in terms of both their well-being and leadership skills. This result highlights the ripple effect of coaching and how the impact of coaching can go beyond an individual leader. Additionally, the results of this research emphasize the critical role of coaching in cultural transformation and organizational change.

Coaching is an established and increasingly popular strategy to facilitate individual and cultural change as it provides a tailored solution to each individual leader helping them to become a better version of themselves by adding to their motivation and skillsets. Through this mechanism, coaching is commonly used to influence broader systematic transformations and changes

Now, if your organization is looking for an initiative that “flutter two hearts with one look” or “water two plants with one hose”, here at Maslow, we offer Leadership and Culture Coaching programs and provide coaching services. Also, we are offering a coaching effectiveness evaluation service which measures the impact of coaching on leaders and their staff or colleagues within your organization.

Reference: O’Connor, S., & Cavanagh, M. (2013). The coaching ripple effect: The effects of developmental coaching on wellbeing across organizational networks. Psychology of Well-Being: Theory, Research and Practice, 3(1), 2. https://doi.org/10.1186/2211-1522-3-2