The Return on Coaching: Better Work, One Conversation at a Time
TL;DR

Coaching is time invested in better work.

  • Research supports coaching as a way to develop skills and improve performance-related outcomes.
  • Make the goal concrete: something the person wants to handle better in their working day.
  • Look for progress in the work and in the person's experience of doing it.
  • Use preparation to make room for a useful conversation, an agreed action and a follow-up.

Imagine leaving a conversation with a difficult task still ahead of you, but a much clearer idea of how to tackle it.

You have talked it through. Someone has listened properly. You know what you want to try, and you have agreed to catch up afterwards.

That is a useful place to start a conversation about coaching's return on investment. A person has a way forward. The next step is to see what changes in the work.

For anyone responsible for a team, the commercial question is straightforward: is this time well spent? The research gives us good reason to say yes.

Does workplace coaching improve performance?

A 2016 review by Rebecca Jones, Stephen Woods and Yves Guillaume brought together 17 studies of workplace coaching and found positive effects on learning and performance outcomes.

A 2023 meta-analysis led by Janis Cannon-Bowers added further support. Across the studies it examined, coaching had a medium-sized positive effect overall, including improvements in skills and in outcomes such as attitudes and motivation. Positive findings appeared in manager ratings as well as people's own assessments.

In everyday language: coaching has evidence behind it. There is a sound basis for investing in people's development and checking how that investment pays off in your own setting.

The useful next question is, “What would better look like here?”

Start with something that matters on Monday

“Improve performance” is a large brief for a conversation.

Try something closer to the working day. A new manager wants to delegate without taking every task back. A colleague wants to speak up earlier when a deadline is slipping. Someone starting a new role wants to ask for support without feeling they are letting the team down.

These are examples, rather than reported research cases. They show how a broad ambition becomes something people can work on.

A coaching conversation can explore what is happening, what the person wants to change and what they are prepared to try. The goal belongs to them as well as to the work.

“What would make this easier to do well?”

That question leaves room for an honest answer. Sometimes the next step is practice. Sometimes it is a clearer expectation, a different approach or a conversation with someone else.

Coaching should be available to people at every stage of their working lives. Everyone deserves the chance to develop, including people who are finding things difficult and people who are already doing well.

How can we measure the return on coaching?

The strongest business case starts before the first session, with an agreement about what you hope will change.

Pick a relevant measure. It might be the quality of completed work, how often a task needs redoing, or whether someone can handle a responsibility more independently. Record the starting point and agree when you will review it.

Then ask the person about their experience. Are they clearer about what is expected? More confident about the next step? Finding the work more manageable?

Coaching researcher Anthony Grant argued for a broader view of success, including wellbeing and engagement alongside financial considerations. His point makes practical sense: a financial figure alone can miss changes that matter to the person and the organisation.

If retention is your goal, track it over a sensible period alongside feedback from the team. People stay or leave for many reasons, so look at what else changed too.

For a financial ROI calculation, subtract the full cost of coaching from the financial benefit you can reasonably attribute to it, then divide by that cost. Include people's time and preparation. Be clear about the assumptions: hours freed for other work have value, but they do not automatically become a cash saving.

You can build a useful picture without a complicated reporting exercise:

  • Before: agree the goal, the starting point and how you will recognise progress.
  • During: keep a short record of actions tried and what the person notices.
  • After: review the work outcomes, the person's experience and the cost together.

This gives you something concrete to learn from and a better basis for deciding what to do next.

Should we use an internal or external coach?

An internal coach may know the organisation well. An external coach may offer a valuable independent perspective and space away from everyday reporting relationships.

The Jones review found stronger effects for internal coaches in the studies it examined. It specifically excluded coaching between managers and their direct reports, so we should not read that result as a verdict that managers outperform professional coaches.

Choose support around the need. Who has the right skills? Who can the person speak openly with? What needs to stay confidential? What will happen after the conversation?

Those are useful buying questions, whether you are commissioning an external coach or developing coaching within your organisation.

Make room for the person in front of you

Our view at Sariio is that a useful conversation starts with curiosity about the person.

One colleague likes to think a question through before answering. Another discovers what they think by talking. Someone may want the wider purpose first; someone else needs to see the next practical step.

A work preference gives you something to ask about. The person gets to say whether it fits, where the situation changes it and what they would like to try.

That is where Sariio comes in. A myMAP puts work preferences into words so they can become part of the conversation. Coach provides a structure for reflection and development. For contact centres, one2one brings a call, campaign expectations and the person's myMAP into coaching preparation, with the team leader reviewing the recommendation.

The research discussed here examines workplace coaching; it is not a trial of Sariio or proof of a particular AI tool's results. Our aim is practical: make preparation easier and leave more room for people to work out their next step together.

Explore Jordan's sample myMAP to see the starting point.

A return worth working towards

Better work. More confidence in doing it. A conversation that leaves someone feeling heard and ready to act.

Those are worthwhile ambitions for coaching. The research supports making the investment; a clear goal and a follow-up help you see what it delivers.

Start with a real situation. Ask a useful question. Agree something to try.

Then come back and see how it went.

Take the free myMAP survey and explore your own work preferences. For coaching on the contact centre floor, see how one2one fits into the working day.

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