Leadership coaching: what to expect
- Nancy Maher
- Aug 17
- 6 min read
Updated: Aug 19
The global coaching industry is now valued at $5.34 billion, with nearly 123,000 active coaches worldwide, according to the 2025 ICF Global Coaching Study, a profession that has grown by more than 50% in six years.
Leadership coaching can seem like a mysterious process if you’ve never experienced it before. Maybe you’ve heard colleagues talk about how coaching helped them become more confident, or perhaps you’re simply curious about what actually happens in a coaching session. This article is designed for leaders who are considering coaching for the first time. We’ll explore what leadership coaching is, what a leadership coach does and what you can expect from the experience.
Contents
What is leadership coaching?
Leadership coaching is a personalised, goal-oriented partnership between you and a professional coach. Unlike training, which delivers set content to a group, or mentoring, which shares the mentor's own path, coaching is focused entirely on you, your goals, your challenges, your potential. The coach acts as a facilitator, guiding you through self-discovery, goal-setting, and action planning rather than telling you what to do.
The word "coaching" comes from the idea of transporting someone from where they are to where they want to be. That's still at the heart of it today. Progress typically focuses on areas like communication, decision-making, emotional intelligence, and strategic thinking, building the self-awareness that makes you a more effective leader.
What leadership coaching isn't
Because coaching is still widely misunderstood, it helps to be clear about what it isn't:
It isn't therapy. Coaching looks forward rather than back, focusing on your goals and what you want to change rather than healing past wounds.
It isn't mentoring. A mentor shares their own path and advice. A coach helps you find your own answers.
It isn't consulting. A consultant solves the problem for you. A coach builds your capacity to solve it yourself.
It isn't training. Training delivers set content to a group. Coaching is shaped entirely around you.
🤔 Reflective question: When you pictured coaching, which of these were you actually expecting?
The leadership coaching process: what to expect
The leadership coaching process typically moves through these stages:
Assessment
Leadership coaches start by understanding your current strengths, challenges, and goals, often using assessments like 360-degree feedback or personality assessments like Everything DiSC® Agile EQ™.
Goal setting
Together, you’ll set clear, measurable goals that align with your leadership aspirations and organisational needs.
Guidance and feedback
Coaches provide honest feedback, support, and practical strategies to help you grow and succeed.
Signposted resources
Once your focus areas are clear, leadership coaches may share resources including books, podcasts or reflection exercises tailored to your needs.
Accountability
A coach provides a level of accountability, supporting you in moving forward with your experiments and exploring your learnings. However, a coach doesn't chase you for homework - you drive the process with the coach by your side.
Skill development
They help you build critical leadership competencies, such as communication, listening skills, giving and receiving effective feedback, emotional intelligence, and decision-making.
Coaching formats
Leadership coaching may take the form of individual 1:1 sessions, group sessions with multiple leaders with similar goals or developmental interests, or a blend of both in a leadership programme.
Leadership 1:1 coaching sessions: what to expect
Frequency
1:1 leadership coaching sessions vary in frequency, dependent on your need and availability. Typically, they're scheduled monthly, each session lasting around 60 minutes.
Format
Sessions can be in-person or virtual, depending on your preference and location.
Structure
Although each session is tailored around your goals and meets you where you are, generally, early sessions tend to focus on assessment and goal-setting, while later sessions build on progress and address emerging challenges.
Support
Between sessions, you may receive additional resources, reflective exercises, check-ins, or assignments to help you stay on track and maintain momentum.
Leadership group coaching sessions: what to expect
Frequency
Group coaching usually involves monthly sessions, each lasting 90 minutes.
Format
Sessions are often virtual through video calls or in-person, depending on the group's location and preferences.
Structure
Early sessions focus on group introductions, shared goals, and individual challenges. Later sessions include peer discussions, skill-building exercises, and collaborative problem-solving.
Support
Between sessions, participants often receive recommended books, podcasts, and reflective exercises to help maintain momentum.
Some leadership coaching programmes may integrate both approaches. For example, our signature EMPOWER Leadership Coaching Programme includes 1:1 coaching sessions blended with group coaching sessions, six months of structured development designed around the habits the best leaders build.
What a leadership coach does
In a coaching session, your coach will typically:
Raise awareness
A leadership coach will help deepen your self-awareness, guiding you to uncover insights into your behaviours, thoughts and emotions. This reflective process is the foundation for meaningful growth and change.
🧐 Example: I once coached a leader who had never stopped to notice the inner voices driving her: the harsh critic, the people-pleaser, the part that needed everything to be perfect. In our sessions we named them, what some coaches call the saboteurs (a concept from Shirzad Chamine's Positive Intelligence). Simply naming them and spotting when they showed up was transformational. She could catch a saboteur in the moment, put it back in its box, and choose how she wanted to respond instead.
🤔 Reflective question: Whose voice is loudest in your head when the pressure is on, and is it telling you the truth?
Create safety
Expect your coach to create a judgement-free and confidential space where you can openly explore challenges and opportunities. Sessions are 100% confidential, what you share is not disclosed to your sponsoring manager or anyone else. This creates a space allowing you to be honest and vulnerable, which is essential for genuine progress.
Empower
Your coach will help you uncover your own solutions and recognise what you're already good at. Rather than handing you the answers, a good coach helps you realise you often already have them. The questions are the tools; you're the one doing the thinking.
Encourage accountability
Prepare to take ownership of your decisions, actions, and outcomes. A coach will encourage you to set clear goals and hold you accountable for following through, building a sense of responsibility and momentum that extends well beyond the session itself.
Incite action
Coaching is about movement. Your coach will emphasise taking purposeful steps, no matter how small, to drive progress toward your goals. Each session typically ends with an action to experiment with before your next session. Action can be anything from reflective work to doing something differently.
Explore options
A coach will focus your attention on exploring choices and solutions, helping you see beyond immediate problems. This opens up new possibilities and encourages creative problem-solving.
Promote growth
Expect to be gently challenged to expand your perspective and try things differently. A good coach will encourage you to question assumptions, explore what's holding you back, and take on approaches you might not have considered.
Meet you where you are
A leadership coach understands that every leader’s journey is unique. Sessions are tailored to your current situation, goals, and pace, ensuring the experience is relevant and supportive. For example, you may be struggling to even make time for leadership development. See No Time for Leadership Development? Six Strategies to Get The Most Out of It
Coaching only works if you want it
Here's the uncomfortable truth: coaching only works if you genuinely want it, and if you're prepared to do the work between sessions. A coach won't fix you, hand you the answers, or do the thinking for you. They'll walk alongside you, but you have to be willing to walk.
If you're being sent to coaching rather than choosing it, that's worth naming with your coach early. Being honest about your readiness is the fastest route to getting value from it.
🤔 Reflective question: How ready are you, honestly, to act on what surfaces in a session, not just talk about it?
Questions to ask before you hire a coach
Choosing the right coach matters more than choosing the right method. Before you commit, ask:
What's your coaching approach, and what training or accreditation do you have?
Have you coached leaders facing challenges similar to mine?
What does a typical engagement look like, and how will we know it's working?
How do you handle confidentiality, especially if my organisation is paying?
What will you expect from me between sessions?
A good coach will welcome these questions. If someone gets defensive, that tells you something too.
💡 Tip: If you want to go deeper before committing to coaching, our 25 must-read leadership books and 15 top leadership podcasts are a great place to start building the mindset.
Final thoughts
Leadership coaching is a confidential partnership built to help you grow into the leader you want to be. Maybe you want to sharpen specific skills, build deeper self-awareness, or work through a particular challenge. A good coach supports you through all of it, creating a safe space where you are encouraged to take action, explore new options, and stretch beyond your comfort zone.
If you're ready for leadership development, then EMPOWER can meet you there. EMPOWER comes in two forms: one-to-one for senior leaders, or a group cohort for your team. Six months of coaching and peer learning, building the habits that stick, with a coach helping you reach your goals and see new possibilities along the way.
Ready to find out if EMPOWER is the right fit for you?
