By Teresa Peters, EMCC Senior Practitioner Coach and Founder of Accelerator Coaching Ltd
Not therapy, not jargon: what makes coaching worth the investment for leaders and teams.
Gallup estimates that managers account for at least 70% of the variance in team engagement. So the question isn’t whether managers matter. It’s whether the coaching they get is the version that works.
“Is it just paying someone to listen to me talk about my feelings for an hour?”
A fair question
That question is doing the rounds online, and it deserves an honest answer. Coaching is unregulated and quality varies enormously, so if you have ever left a session feeling understood but with nothing to do differently on Monday, you have every right to be sceptical.
What good coaching actually is
The ICF defines coaching as “Partnering with clients in a thought provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximise their personal and professional potential.” Team coaching, as defined by the EMCC, works with the whole team through “sustained professional dialogue” that builds collective reflection and self awareness and challenges how the team thinks and behaves.
Does it actually work?
The evidence is encouraging. A 2023 meta analysis of 37 randomised controlled trials found a moderate positive effect of workplace and executive coaching on leadership and personal outcomes. Gallup found that regular, meaningful feedback, which it calls the coaching habit, is among the best predictors of engagement it has studied. Gallup’s own meta analysis of strengths based development, covering 1.2 million employees, reported workgroup gains of up to 29% in profit and up to 15% in employee engagement. And emotional intelligence matters: a 2026 meta analysis found positive, significant links between emotional intelligence and team effectiveness.
The brief comes first
Research cannot tell you the most important thing: the brief. A great coach listens first, understands your business, your pressures and what success looks like, then tailors the approach and adapts it mid programme when needs change. I once turned up to deliver a sales training session to fill a gap when a team member booked for 1:1 coaching fell ill. I could have gone home and still been paid. But the client’s needs come first, and that is where trust and rapport are built.
The magic is in the blend
We start with data: a leadership wheel, anonymous surveys, a 360, DiSC, Gallup Strengths and the Emotional Capital Report. Then we blend 1:1 coaching for personal blind spots, workshops for a shared language, and team coaching to bring it into the room, online or in person. Blended programmes appear to help learning stick. A four year study of 530 managers in a UK public sector organisation found integrated leadership programmes highly effective, with more coaching leading to greater learning transfer and retention. This matters most around 50 people, when connection starts to thin.
Read the room
Think of it like the gym. The best trainer in the world cannot help if you only turn up and listen. The change comes from the coachee, with a growth mindset and accountability between sessions. And the best coach in the world will not get you to be authentic and vulnerable if they cannot read the room. That is why emotional intelligence is, in my view, the most important quality in any coach, and why I keep learning. Alongside my EMCC Senior Practitioner status, I am accredited as a team coach, an advanced group coach and an emergent team coach through reputable professional bodies. I am also an Accredited Emotions Practitioner, accredited in neurodivergent inclusive coaching, training in breathwork and trained in working with grief. I practise what I preach, paying for a mentor, a coach and a consultant, and attending group supervision regularly.
I also always work with associates whose styles complement mine, which broadens what we can offer and means you get the right coach for the moment, not just the one who happens to be in the room.
When choosing a coach, weigh accreditation alongside referrals and years of experience. Together they give you a far better picture than any one of them alone.
If you lead an organisation of 50 or more and there is a challenge your team keeps circling without solving, email me at ignite@acceleratorcoaching.co.uk and I will be your sounding board. No pitch, just thinking time. If it is useful, we will take it from there. And if you work in HR or OD, try our programme builder test at acceleratorcoaching.co.uk