The Forgotten Layer: Why Leaders of Leaders Need Coaching
Organizations pour time and resources into frontline training, but the real coaching gap often starts one level up, with the leaders of leaders. Directors, VPs, and senior managers frequently assume their direct reports (other leaders) already know how to lead and coach. The result? Accountability slips, coaching gets skipped, and results suffer.
The Leadership Gap Is Real
According to a recent eLearning Industry report, 77% of organizations admit to having a leadership gap, and much of that gap sits squarely in the mid-to-senior management tier. While only 10% of people are natural leaders, another 20% show potential, but only if they’re trained and supported effectively.
Here’s the reality:
When leaders rise, they often go hands-off. They confuse empowerment with disengagement. They forget that their leaders still need feedback, reinforcement, and direction.
Empowerment doesn’t mean abandonment.
A common leadership trap is assuming, “They’ve got it.” But leadership isn’t a solo sport. It’s a team effort that requires constant refinement. Even your strongest leaders need a coach in their corner. Without ongoing development, even experienced leaders fall into patterns of ineffective delegation, underdeveloped teams, and reactive problem-solving.
Despite the need, 58% of managers say they’ve never received formal leadership training, according to a study by CareerBuilder. Let that sink in. Over half of your leadership bench may be winging it, with no playbook and no coach.
What gets missed when leaders of leaders stop coaching:
- Direct reports mimic poor coaching behaviors, or none at all
- Strategic initiatives lose traction at the middle-management layer
- Performance management becomes reactive instead of proactive
- Culture becomes disconnected from executive vision
- High performers feel unseen or unsupported
And when coaching is skipped at higher levels, the costs are real:
- 82% of employees say poor leadership drives disengagement (Deloitte Human Capital Trends Report, 2016)
- 58% won’t work for a company with a bad leadership culture (Randstad US Employer Brand Research, 2018)
- Organizations with strong leadership are 2.3x more likely to financially outperform competitors (DDI Global Leadership Forecast, 2021)
This gap becomes even more dangerous during times of organizational change. Whether you’re post-merger, restructured, or growing fast, your mid-level and senior leaders need intentional development. Coaching is a stabilizer, not just nice to have.
Coaching Your Leaders Pays Exponential Dividends
When you coach a manager, you’re influencing every team member they lead. The ripple effect is real, and it’s measurable. Companies that invest in leadership training consistently outperform their peers. In fact, per the per the Association for Talent Development, organizations report a 25% boost in business performance and a 20% increase in overall team effectiveness. The return on investment for executive coaching alone ranges from 500% to 788%. Even more telling, according to an International Coaching Federation Global Coaching Study, 77% of leaders say that coaching has made a significant impact on at least one key business metric. These aren’t soft outcomes. They’re bottom-line results driven by better leadership.
Barriers to Coaching at the Senior Level
So, why aren’t more leaders getting coached? There are real barriers, especially at the senior level. Many leaders fear that asking for coaching might make them look weak or unqualified. Others simply don’t know what kind of impact coaching can have, or they believe they’re too busy to prioritize it. And in some organizations, there’s a deeper issue: coaching isn’t modeled or encouraged from the top. When leadership development isn’t baked into the culture, it becomes optional, or worse, invisible. The result is career stagnation, missed growth opportunities, and teams left to drift without direction. That’s a steep cost for avoiding a few key coaching conversations.
What you can do today …
- Block time for observational coaching, at least once every other month
- Debrief one-on-one with leaders after key meetings or presentations
- Ask your leaders, “How are you coaching your team right now?”
- Offer frameworks or templates to make coaching easier
Coaching Tip:
Build a culture where coaching isn’t something you outgrow. The higher up you go, the more your influence shapes others. Leaders of leaders should observe, coach, and course-correct regularly. You can’t scale leadership without scaling accountability.
