50+

Coaching Cultures Built

45%

Average Engagement Increase

60%

Improvement in Manager Effectiveness

5x

ROI on Coaching Culture Investment



Why Coaching Culture Matters Now

The leadership model that worked in the past won't work in the future

The old command-and-control model is dying. Today's workforce wants development, not direction. Purpose, not just paychecks. Autonomy, not micromanagement. Organizations that cling to hierarchical, directive leadership are losing talent and competitiveness.

A coaching culture is the answer. When leaders coach instead of command, people bring discretionary effort. They innovate. They stay. They grow. And your organization thrives.

THE BUSINESS CASE FOR COACHING CULTURE

39%

Higher productivity when managers coach regularly

70%

Work performance improvement from coaching

56%

Lower turnover in organizations with coaching cultures

7x

Average ROI from coaching initiatives

Source: ICF Global Coaching Study, Harvard Business Review, Gallup

What is a Coaching Culture?

What It IS
  • Leaders who develop people through powerful questions and active listening
  • Managers who coach daily, not just in formal reviews
  • People empowered to solve their own problems
  • Focus on learning and growth at all levels
  • Mistakes seen as learning opportunities
  • Two-way conversations, not one-way directives
  • Psychological safety and trust
What It's NOT
  • Everyone getting a personal coach (though some may)
  • Soft or permissive leadership (coaching is demanding)
  • Avoiding difficult conversations or accountability
  • A program or initiative that ends
  • Only for HR or L&D
  • Just asking "coaching questions" without belief
  • A replacement for giving clear direction when needed


Signs You Need a Coaching Culture

Is your current leadership approach limiting performance?

Leadership Bottleneck

Leaders are overwhelmed because they're solving everyone's problems. People wait for direction instead of taking initiative.

Low Engagement

People do what they're told but don't bring discretionary effort, ideas, or innovation. They're disengaged.

Talent Leaving

Your best people leave for "better development opportunities." They don't feel they're growing here.

No Innovation

People don't challenge the status quo or propose new ideas. They wait to be told what to do.

Weak Leadership Pipeline

Managers aren't developing their people. When roles open up, you have no one ready internally.

Command-and-Control Default

Leaders default to telling, directing, and controlling rather than asking, listening, and empowering.

If 3 or more of these sound familiar, you need a coaching culture.



How We Build Coaching Cultures

A systematic approach to embedding coaching throughout your organization

Building a coaching culture isn't about sending everyone to a coaching class. It requires systematic work across leadership development, culture change, and capability building. Our approach is grounded in ICF standards and refined through 50+ organizational implementations.

THE 6 PILLARS OF COACHING CULTURE

1. Leadership Commitment & Modeling

The Foundation: Coaching culture starts at the top. Leaders must embody coaching, not just endorse it.

What We Do:

  • Executive team coaching on coaching leadership
  • Leadership commitment to modeling coaching behaviors
  • Visible sponsorship from CEO and senior leaders
  • Leaders held accountable for developing their people
  • Executive team becomes living example

Critical Truth: If your executives don't coach, managers won't either. Culture change always starts at the top.

2. Manager Coaching Capability

The Core: Every manager becomes a coach—developing their people through powerful questions, active listening, and partnership.

What We Do:

  • Manager Coach Training Program (ICF-based, 30-40 hours)
  • Core coaching skills: powerful questions, active listening, feedback
  • Practice coaching conversations with real scenarios
  • Ongoing coaching circles for peer learning
  • Manager coaching certification (internal)

Typical Program: 6-8 workshops (4 hours each) + practice + peer coaching + assessment over 4-6 months

3. Systems & Processes Alignment

The Infrastructure: Embed coaching into how work gets done—performance management, meetings, development planning.

What We Do:

  • Redesign performance management to emphasize coaching conversations
  • Build coaching into 1-on-1s and team meetings
  • Create development planning process (career coaching)
  • Integrate coaching into hiring and promotion criteria
  • Add coaching effectiveness to manager performance reviews

Key Principle: What gets measured and rewarded gets done. Coaching must be embedded in systems, not be separate.

4. Internal Coaching Capability

The Scale: Build cadre of internal professional coaches for key talent and critical transitions.

What We Do:

  • Identify and train internal coaches (10-20 people)
  • ICF-aligned coach training (60-100 hours)
  • Mentor coaching and supervision
  • Internal coaching program design and launch
  • Quality assurance and ongoing development

Typical Model: HR business partners, L&D professionals, and select leaders trained as professional internal coaches

5. Culture & Mindset Shift

The Transformation: Shift underlying beliefs about leadership, development, and potential.

What We Do:

  • Define coaching culture values and behaviors
  • Launch culture campaign (storytelling, recognition)
  • Celebrate coaching wins publicly
  • Address coaching violations (leaders who won't coach)
  • Build psychological safety for growth conversations

Mindset Shift: From "I have all the answers" to "My people have the answers." From "Tell and control" to "Ask and empower."

6. Measurement & Continuous Improvement

The Sustainability: Track progress, demonstrate ROI, and continuously improve.

What We Do:

  • Baseline and ongoing culture surveys
  • Manager coaching effectiveness assessment
  • Track business impact (engagement, retention, performance)
  • Gather coaching stories and case studies
  • Refine and optimize based on feedback

Key Metrics: Manager coaching frequency/quality, employee engagement, internal promotions, retention, leadership pipeline health



The Coaching Culture Journey

Our phased approach typically spans 18-24 months

4-PHASE IMPLEMENTATION ROADMAP

Typical timeline: 18-24 months to full culture embedding

Phase 1: Foundation (Months 1-4)

Objective: Build leadership commitment and design coaching culture.

Activities:
  • Current state assessment
  • Executive team coaching culture workshop
  • Coaching culture vision and design
  • Pilot group identification
  • Manager coach training curriculum design

Deliverable: Coaching culture blueprint and committed leadership

Phase 2: Pilot Launch (Months 5-10)

Objective: Launch with pilot group, build momentum, learn and refine.

Activities:
  • First cohort Manager Coach Training (30-40 managers)
  • Internal coach training begins (10-15 people)
  • Pilot coaching programs launched
  • Systems alignment begins (performance management)
  • Success stories and early wins documented

Deliverable: Proof of concept, refined approach, momentum

Phase 3: Scale (Months 11-18)

Objective: Roll out to entire organization, embed in systems.

Activities:
  • Manager Coach Training for all managers (cohorts 2-5)
  • Internal coaching program active
  • All systems aligned (performance, hiring, promotion)
  • Culture campaign and communication
  • Coaching champions network activated

Deliverable: Coaching embedded at scale across organization

Phase 4: Sustain (Months 19-24+)

Objective: Make coaching "how we lead here" and build self-sustaining capability.

Activities:
  • Ongoing coaching circles for managers
  • New manager onboarding includes coaching
  • Internal capability fully built
  • Measurement and continuous improvement
  • Culture fully embedded and self-sustaining

Deliverable: Self-sustaining coaching culture



Manager Coach Training Program

Building coaching capability in every manager

Core Manager Coach Training

Duration: 6-8 workshops (4 hours each) over 4-6 months | Format: Cohort-based with practice between sessions

Module 1: Coaching Mindset & Foundation
  • What is coaching? Coaching vs. managing vs. mentoring
  • The coaching mindset: belief in people's potential
  • When to coach, when to direct
  • ICF core competencies overview
  • Self-awareness and your leadership style
Module 2: Powerful Questions
  • The power of questions vs. statements
  • Open vs. closed questions
  • Question frameworks (GROW, solution-focused, etc.)
  • Practice: asking powerful questions
  • Common mistakes and how to avoid them
Module 3: Active Listening
  • Levels of listening (internal, focused, global)
  • Listening for what's not said
  • Reflecting and paraphrasing
  • Managing your inner dialogue
  • Practice: deep listening exercises
Module 4: Coaching Conversations
  • Structure of coaching conversations
  • Goal setting and action planning
  • Accountability in coaching
  • Handling resistance and stuck moments
  • Practice: full coaching conversations
Module 5: Feedback as Coaching
  • Coaching approach to feedback
  • Growth-oriented feedback conversations
  • Addressing performance issues through coaching
  • Positive feedback that develops people
  • Practice: coaching feedback conversations
Module 6: Development Coaching
  • Career development coaching conversations
  • Identifying development opportunities
  • Creating development plans together
  • Coaching for strengths and stretch
  • Long-term development partnerships
Module 7: Team Coaching
  • Coaching your team collectively
  • Facilitating team problem-solving
  • Building team accountability through coaching
  • Team meetings as coaching opportunities
  • Creating coaching culture within your team
Module 8: Sustaining Your Coaching Practice
  • Building coaching into daily work
  • Overcoming barriers and challenges
  • Peer coaching circles
  • Continuing your development
  • Assessment and certification
Between Sessions:
  • Practice coaching conversations (tracked)
  • Peer coaching partnerships
  • Reflection journals
  • Manager coaching circles (monthly)
Assessment & Certification:
  • Observed coaching conversations
  • Knowledge assessment
  • Peer and employee feedback
  • Internal "Certified Manager Coach" designation

Investment per Manager: $2,500 - $4,000 depending on cohort size



Assess Your Current Coaching Culture

Where are you today?

Coaching Culture Assessment

Rate your organization on each statement (1 = Strongly Disagree, 5 = Strongly Agree):

1. Our leaders actively coach and develop their people

2. Managers have coaching conversations with direct reports regularly (at least monthly)

3. Our systems and processes support a coaching approach (performance management, development planning)

4. People feel empowered to solve problems and make decisions

5. Development and growth are prioritized as much as performance

6. Managers are trained and skilled in coaching

7. We have internal coaching resources and programs

8. Coaching effectiveness is measured and rewarded

Interpreting Your Score (Average):
  • 4.0-5.0: Strong coaching culture - Continue refining and deepening
  • 3.0-3.9: Developing coaching culture - On the journey but work remains
  • 2.0-2.9: Early stage - Significant opportunity to build coaching culture
  • 1.0-1.9: Command-and-control culture - Major transformation needed


Coaching Culture Success Story

Professional Services Firm: Building a Coaching Culture

Organization: 600-employee professional services firm | Challenge: High turnover, low engagement, command-and-control culture | Duration: 20-month coaching culture transformation

The Situation:

A traditional professional services firm with hierarchical, directive leadership. Partners dictated, associates executed. Development was ad-hoc. People left after 2-3 years because they didn't feel developed. Engagement scores were bottom quartile. The firm was losing talent wars to competitors with better cultures.

"We were hemorrhaging talent. Our best people left for firms that invested in their development. We needed to fundamentally change how we lead." - Managing Partner
Our Approach:
Phase 1: Foundation (Months 1-5)
  • Partner leadership team coaching
  • Coaching culture design workshops
  • Manager coach training curriculum built
  • Systems redesign planning
Phase 2: Launch (Months 6-14)
  • All 80 managers through Coach Training (5 cohorts)
  • 15 internal coaches trained (ICF-aligned)
  • Performance management redesigned
  • Coaching integrated into promotions
Phase 3: Embed (Months 15-20)
  • Coaching circles for all managers (ongoing)
  • Internal coaching program launched (50+ engagements)
  • New manager onboarding includes coaching
  • Culture fully embedded
The Results:
Metric Before After (20 mo) Change
Employee Engagement 52% 76% ↑ 46%
Voluntary Turnover 28% 12% ↓ 57%
Manager Effectiveness Score 3.2/5 4.3/5 ↑ 34%
Internal Promotions 45% 82% ↑ 82%
Development Satisfaction 38% 81% ↑ 113%
Employer Brand (Glassdoor) 3.2 4.5 ↑ 41%
Business Impact:
  • $4.8M saved annually in turnover costs
  • ↑ 35% revenue per employee (more engaged, productive)
  • Winner of "Best Place to Work" awards (first time ever)
  • Recruiting advantage - now attracting top talent from competitors
  • 5.2x ROI in 20 months
"Building a coaching culture was the best business decision we've made in 20 years. Our people are engaged, growing, and staying. We've gone from losing talent wars to winning them. Coaching isn't just how we develop people—it's how we lead, period." - Managing Partner


Coaching Culture Investment

Culture Assessment

Duration: 4-6 weeks

What's Included:
  • ✓ Current state assessment
  • ✓ Leadership interviews
  • ✓ Manager capability review
  • ✓ Roadmap and recommendations
$25K - $50K

Based on org size

MOST COMMON

Full Coaching Culture Program

Duration: 18-24 months

What's Included:
  • ✓ All 6 pillars
  • ✓ Manager Coach Training (all managers)
  • ✓ Internal coach development
  • ✓ Systems alignment
  • ✓ Culture embedding
$250K - $900K

Based on org size

Manager Coach Training Only

Duration: 4-6 months per cohort

What's Included:
  • ✓ 8-module training program
  • ✓ Practice and peer coaching
  • ✓ Assessment and certification
  • ✓ Coaching circles (6 months)
$2.5K - $4K per manager

Volume discounts available