Is Leadership Coaching the Missing Link in Workplace Mental Health?
I want to talk to you about mental health at work. Not because it’s a hot-button topic in today’s zeitgeist. Not even because it’s trending on LinkedIn or featured in your latest HR newsletter. But because, ever since the 2020 pandemic, it’s been a priority agenda item for many leadership teams, and many teams are still struggling to improve employee mental health.
Here’s some data from a recent Gallup survey about the current state of the employee experience at work:
Employee engagement — a major factor in mental health at work — reached a 10-year low in 2024, and it’s still struggling to recover.
In 2019, 55 percent of employees fully knew what was expected of them. That number hit an all-time low in 2024, reaching 44 percent.
Compounding that figure, only 30 percent of employees feel connected to their company’s mission and purpose today, which is also a record-low figure.
Don’t get me wrong, this data paints a broad picture. So let me give you this statistic instead:
Managers impact employees’ mental health more than doctors or therapists! In fact, managers have the same impact on mental health as our spouses or partners.
You’ve probably heard the saying, “People don’t leave companies. They leave managers.” And I hate to break it to you, but anecdotally, it’s true. The number of clients who tell me they are resigning from their company due to poor dynamics with their manager is more than you probably like to admit.
So, if managers are the root cause of poor mental health at work, it’s only natural to wonder: Is leadership coaching or manager coaching the solution?
Why managers are (accidentally) part of the problem
“Congratulations, you’re promoted. Here’s your team. Good luck!”
We’ve all heard these words before, especially in the tech sector (even me!). No training, no mentorship, no guidance, and definitely no “how to” guide. Just a pat on the back and a “go get ‘em, you’re smart.”
Most managers were never trained to be managers, let alone a good manager. In fact, the Chartered Management Institute spoke to 4,500 managers in the UK and found that 82 percent consider themselves ‘“accidental managers.” Quite simply, they received no formal leadership or management training whatsoever!
And when you zoom out, this actually makes no sense. Most internal promotions are based on technical skills and performance KPIs, not interpersonal and soft skills. One minute an individual contributor is crushing sales targets, and the next they have five team members reporting to them and a calendar full of 1:1s with no guidance. Those are two very different worlds, and they’re expected to do things like:
Give feedback without crushing morale
Handle conflict without escalating it
Support mental health without crossing lines
Be empathetic but still hit deadlines
Know what to say when someone’s struggling
Okay so, here’s the real talk for you: Many managers are in fact trying to do the right thing! They care. They want to support their teams (obviously!). They want to look good! But without the right training or mentorship, they fall back on what they’ve seen in previous roles which, let’s face it, isn’t always healthy.
By helping managers pause and actually (emphasis on the word actually!) learn how to lead in a way that supports both performance and mental well-being, your organization can start to affect real change when it comes to productivity, results, and mental health at work.
Coaching isn’t therapy… but it might be just what managers need
Leadership coaching builds the skills that make a difference.
How?
It builds self-awareness. Coaching allows managers to learn how to do hard things like react under pressure and show up smarter for others. Because most of the world was never taught how to.
It turns emotional intelligence into an actual practicable skill! Coaching helps managers learn how to read a room, listen without getting defensive, handle conflict with care, and get results without being a jerk. It also helps leaders give feedback that doesn’t burst anyone’s bubble.
It teaches managers to have productive conversations. Coaching gives managers the language, frameworks and confidence to check-in with employees in a meaningful way, as well as ask smarter questions and respond appropriately when someone says “I’m not okay.”
It helps managers set healthy boundaries without getting in the way of results. Coaching gives managers the tools to zoom out and look at themselves in the mirror before sending that 10pm email to the team. (You know, the kind of email that’s harmless on paper, but that sets the expectation that “if I’m working at 10pm, I expect you to, too.”)
It gives managers the tools to build resilience! Studies show that resilient leadership can lead to employee resilience and organizational resilience. When managers are resilient, they can work through uncertainty. Get unstuck. Build the capacity to handle hard things. And they can do all of this without passing stress down to employees. When a manager is grounded, the whole team feels it.
All of these areas influence the mental health of your team. All of them. Understanding these key skills, then, may well be the key to unlocking better mental health at work.
So, is coaching the missing link? Honestly, it really might be…
Most remedies to poor mental health at work include introducing some kind or app or perk. Heck, most workplaces just throw more mental health days at employees and think that’s sufficient!
These things help, sure. But they don’t get to the root cause of the issue.
If managers have the biggest impact on mental health at work, then it’s time to start supporting them. Not with another leadership theory deck or a new “choose your own adventure” tool like an AI bot they probably won’t use. But instead with a consistent, practical coaching program that helps them grow as the human beings they are.
To learn more about how to leverage leadership coaching and start affecting positive change at your workplace, explore Reframed Coaching’s leadership coaching and CliftonStrengths consulting services here.