Executive coaching is increasingly viewed as a strategic asset in succession planning. It helps prepare high-potential leaders for senior roles by developing critical leadership competencies, increasing resilience, and offering structured support through complex transitions. While the field is still emerging, a growing body of evidence highlights coaching’s value in making succession more effective and less risky.
Coaching Builds Leadership Capacity
Succession requires more than technical competence. Leaders must think strategically, regulate emotions, communicate clearly, and influence across functions. Coaching builds those skills in real time. In a study of 70 senior executives, participants reported better focus, stronger emotional intelligence, and increased accountability for effective leadership behaviors (Longenecker & McCartney, 2020).
According to the International Coaching Federation (2023), 72% of organizations link coaching to greater engagement. Among senior leaders, 78% reported increased leadership effectiveness, with 73% of employees saying the same. These findings support coaching as a force multiplier for both individual performance, and for organizational culture.
Coaching Strengthens Resilience and Readiness
Transitions into senior roles are emotionally and cognitively demanding. Coaching supports leaders as they adapt to new expectations, higher stakes, and broader visibility. Grant (2014) found that coaching during organizational change led to increased goal attainment, improved solution-focused thinking, higher self-efficacy, and greater resilience.
Coaching also helps leaders stay grounded during change by reinforcing soft skills like empathy, responsibility, and creativity – traits executive coaches associate with successful transformation (Vlachopoulos, 2021).
Coaching Aligns with Succession Strategy
Despite widespread use, research linking coaching to formal succession planning is limited. Still, promising findings are emerging. A scoping review by Sherrer and Rezania (2020) found coaching enhances leadership readiness, supports confidence-building, and facilitates smoother transitions into senior roles. Notably, coaching was most effective when integrated with structured assessments and intentional development planning.
Traditional succession efforts have often overemphasized training while neglecting individual growth and self-awareness. Hall (1986) noted that many programs build task competence without fostering personal leadership insight. Coaching fills that gap, offering a more adaptive and personalized path to readiness.
Executive coaching delivers measurable benefits to individuals and organizations. For companies serious about building a future-ready leadership bench, coaching should be central in the succession strategy.
References
Grant, A. (2014). Journal of Change Management, 14, 258–280.
Hall, D.T. (1986). Human Resource Management, 25(2), 235–265.
International Coaching Federation. (2023). ICF Global Coaching Study.
Longenecker, C., & McCartney, M. (2020). Strategic HR Review, 19(1), 22–27.
Sherrer, M., & Rezania, D. (2020). Coaching: An International Journal, 13, 209–219.
Vlachopoulos, D. (2021). Education Sciences, 11(6), 269.
