Executive and Leadership Coaching: Targeted for Impact

Executive and leadership coaching is business necessity. The data makes that clear.

The World Economic Forum projects that 44% of workers’ skills will be disrupted by 2027, and Gallup reports U.S. employee engagement at just 31%, the lowest in a decade. Globally, only 27% of managers are engaged, even though managers account for 70% of the variance in team performance. 

Right Management’s The State of Careers™ research adds another layer: many leaders significantly overestimate how engaged their teams are, creating what we call the Engagement Illusion. This disconnect between perception and reality undermines transformation efforts, weakens succession pipelines and stalls growth. 

So, what’s the fix?

Targeted coaching solutions — designed around leadership level, industry context, individual growth journeys, market demands and business objectives — gives organizations the strategic advantage they need to overcome structural challenges.

Without a doubt, generic coaching misses the mark. Targeted coaching, done The Right Way, drives measurable change and builds leadership capacity where it matters most. 

What “Targeted” Really Means in Leadership Coaching 

Targeted leadership coaching is more than personalization; it’s strategic alignment. It ensures coaching reflects: 

• Leadership level and the unique pressures at each tier. 
• Industry context, including regulatory, operational and cultural realities. 
• Individual needs and growth journeys, from skill gaps to career aspirations. 
• Market demands, such as digital transformation or sustainability. 
• Organizational goals, tying coaching outcomes to business KPIs. 

When coaching is aligned across these dimensions, leaders engage more deeply, apply insights faster and drive results that matter. This alignment ensures that development is not only relevant but transformative, empowering leaders to meet the moment with confidence and clarity. In doing so, individuals grow and organizations thrive, even in highly complex and rapidly evolving business landscapes. 

Targeting by Leadership Level: Coaching That Meets Leaders Where They Are 

Leadership isn’t one-size-fits-all. A first-time manager needs different support than a seasoned executive. Targeting by level ensures coaching is relevant, actionable and impactful. 

Executives 

Operating under board scrutiny, investor expectations and market volatility, executives face high-stakes decisions daily. Their coaching must go beyond surface-level advice. It should challenge strategic thinking, refine leadership presence and support enterprise-wide transformation. 

Executive Coaching Programs should pair senior leaders with coaches who bring boardroom fluency, P&L literacy and deep sector expertise. These engagements help executives align strategy with culture, lead through disruption and accelerate innovation. 

Middle Managers and Emerging Leaders 

Often described as the “connective tissue” of an organization, middle managers and emerging leaders translate strategy into execution. Yet, they’re frequently overlooked in development plans. 

Targeted coaching for this group focuses on building coaching capability, navigating ambiguity and driving team engagement. It helps them manage up, down and across — strengthening cross-functional collaboration and reducing regrettable attrition, all while enhancing your leadership pipeline. 

First-Time Managers 

The transition into management is one of the most critical — and vulnerable — moments in a leader’s career. Without support, new managers struggle with delegation, career conversations with teams, feedback and time management, often leading to burnout or disengagement. 

Coaching for this group should blend cohort-based learning with individualized support, helping first-time managers build confidence, psychological safety and durable habits. These foundational skills set the stage for long-term leadership success. 

Targeting by Industry: Why Context Matters 

Industry shapes leadership. A leadership coach who understands your sector can help leaders navigate its unique pressures and priorities. 

In regulated industries, leaders must balance compliance with agility. In high-growth sectors, coaching supports speed, innovation, transformation and talent retention. In manufacturing, coaching reinforces safety leadership and continuous improvement. In the public sector, coaching builds trust, transparency and service reliability. 

Rather than breaking down each industry, the key takeaway is this: sector fluency accelerates transfer. When coaching reflects the realities of your industry — its language, metrics and cultural norms — leaders apply insights faster and with greater impact. Contextualized coaching isn’t just more relevant — it’s more effective. 

Targeting the Coachee’s Needs and Growth Journey 

Effective coaching starts with understanding the individual. What are their strengths? Where are the gaps? What’s next in their career journey? 

Quality coaching providers like Right Management use scientifically validated psychometric assessments to uncover each executive and emerging leader’s unique profile, including strengths, development areas, behavioral tendencies and leadership style. These insights guide coaching goals and ensure the experience is tailored to what each leader truly needs. 

A human-centered coaching approach ensures leaders feel seen, heard and supported. This emotional resonance drives deeper engagement, stronger trust and lasting behavior change.

Targeting Market Needs: Coaching for What’s Next 

Markets evolve. Coaching must evolve with them. 

Today, digital transformation, AI adoption and sustainability are reshaping all industries. Leaders need coaches who understand these shifts and can guide them through ambiguity, change fatigue and innovation pressure. 

Targeted coaching helps leaders build the adaptive capacity to lead through transformation — whether that’s scaling agile teams, navigating ESG mandates or reimagining customer experience. It’s about preparing leaders not just for today’s challenges, but for tomorrow’s opportunities. 

Targeting Business Objectives: Coaching That Moves the Needle 

Executive and leadership coaching must connect to what matters most: business results. It’s not enough for coaching to feel impactful. It must be measurable. That means tying progress directly to the KPIs and organizational goals that define success: retention, promotion velocity, team performance, engagement and more. 

To achieve this, organizations need a coaching partner with a robust, data-driven measurement framework — one that tracks performance deltas, behavioral shifts and engagement outcomes across leadership levels. But measurement alone isn’t enough. 

The best coaching partners go further. They interpret the data, uncover patterns and provide strategic insights that help organizations take targeted action. This enables HR and business leaders to refine development strategies, address leadership gaps and scale what works across the enterprise. 

Organizations report an average 7x ROI on coaching investments when programs are targeted, tracked, and aligned with business strategy. This isn’t anecdotal — it’s evidence. When leadership coaching is designed to drive real-world outcomes, it becomes a powerful lever for organizational performance and transformation. 

Fit Matters: The Right Leadership Coach for the Right Leader 

Even the best-designed coaching program fails without the right match with a leadership coach. Research shows outcomes improve when leaders trust the coach, agree on goals and see the work as relevant. 

Fit goes beyond personality. It includes business acumen, industry fluency and leadership experience. A senior executive may need a leadership coach with boardroom experience, while an emerging leader for first-time manager may benefit from someone skilled in team dynamics and psychological safety. 

The matching process must ensure alignment across level, goals and context. In other words, it should be deliberate, transparent and built to foster trust. Fit is what makes measurement meaningful. It’s how you know coaching is building leadership capacity where it counts. 

Do Coaching The Right Way with Right Management 

Targeted coaching works. But only when it’s designed with precision by leadership level, industry, individual needs, market demands and business goals. 

Right Management brings these elements together at enterprise scale. With decades of experience, a global network of 2,500 certified coaches and tools like proven psychometric assessments, we deliver human-centered coaching that drives measurable impact.