The ripple effect of executive coaching on employee wellbeing

This quasi-experimental study explored the potential ripple effect of executive coaching on the wellbeing of coaching clients’ subordinates across six different measures. A coaching intervention was delivered to six executives with subordinate wellbeing measured before and after. No overall significant improvements were observed in subordinates’ wellbeing but significant improvements were found in workplace wellbeing among older employees (p <.05) and social wellbeingamong hybrid workers (p <.05). However, the pre-and post-test quantitative methodology means that the causal factors for these changes cannot be identified so we cannot definitively conclude that a ripple effect occured. This demonstrates the difficulty of measuring the impact of ‘real world’ coaching within complex organisational structures, adding to the discussion around the need for more research into the impact of systemic coaching to validate executive coaching as a value-enhancing intervention that can deliver organisational-wide benefits.