What leaders do vs what employees need - and how coaching can bridge the gap

A major new global study from Hogan Assessments invites us to pause and reconsider a question that sits at the heart of leadership development today: are we promoting the right leaders - and developing them in the right way?

Drawing on insights from nearly 10,000 employees across 25 countries, the research highlights a persistent and uncomfortable tension. The leaders organisations elevate are often not the leaders people most want to follow.

This “leadership divide” is not simply an interesting finding. It reflects something many organisations are already experiencing - declining engagement, fragile trust and a growing sense of disconnection at work.

It also raises an important question for those working in coaching and leadership development: what might need to change for leadership to feel more effective - for those being led, not just those leading?

What gets rewarded versus what builds trust

The report suggests that organisations continue to reward behaviours associated with visibility and impact - confidence, self-promotion and the ability to inspire from the front.

These are often the qualities that help individuals progress into leadership roles. Yet they are not necessarily the qualities that sustain performance once there.

When employees were asked what they truly value, a different picture emerged. Across regions and industries, the most important leadership qualities were:

• clear and effective communication
• sound decision-making
• integrity and ethical behaviour
• accountability
• the ability to support and lead others well

More than 97% of respondents rated these as important or extremely important.

Perhaps most strikingly, the study found no overlap between the top competencies demonstrated by current executives and those employees most want to see.

That gap is worth sitting with.

What tends to get noticed and rewarded in your organisation? And how closely does that align with what people actually need from their leaders?

Leadership as experience, not position

A helpful reframe from the research is that leadership is not defined by role or hierarchy, but by the ability to build and sustain a high-performing team.

This shifts the focus from what leaders do, or even who they are, to how leadership is experienced by others.

For many coaches, this will feel familiar.

Coaching often operates in the space between intention and impact – helping leaders understand not only how they see themselves, but how they are experienced by their teams. It is within this space that trust is either built or eroded.

As Joanna Dawson, interim head of AoEC for Business, reflects: “We often develop leaders for the role they aspire to, not for the experience others will have of them when they get there. And too often, we select those leaders through performance and progression processes, rather than for the quality of leadership they create around them. Coaching invites us to sit in that gap – uncomfortable at times, but where meaningful change begins.”

When strengths become vulnerabilities

Another key insight from the report is the impact of what Hogan describes as the “dark side” of personality.

Many leadership strengths - confidence, ambition, charisma - serve individuals well early in their careers. But under pressure, these same strengths can become counterproductive. Confidence may tip into arrogance, decisiveness into rigidity and drive into self-interest.

Employees in the study were clear about the behaviours they find most problematic. Emotional volatility, unpredictability, arrogance and resistance were all identified as undermining effective leadership.

These findings resonate strongly with the work of executive coaching.

Coaching creates a space for leaders to:

• notice patterns in their behaviour
• understand their impact on others
• develop greater emotional regulation
• adapt their approach in different contexts

In this sense, coaching is not about replacing strengths, but about using them more skilfully and sustainably.

Implications for leadership development and coach training

For organisations, the implications are significant. The leadership divide is not simply a selection issue - it is also a development challenge.

Traditional leadership development programmes often focus on skills acquisition or competency frameworks. While important, these alone may not fully address the relational and behavioural dynamics highlighted in the research.

The report itself points towards approaches such as:

• building self-awareness
• strengthening accountability and integrity
• improving decision-making through reflection and feedback
• supporting leaders to understand team needs and perspectives

These are areas where coaching plays a central role.

For those involved in coach training, this invites a further shift in focus. As expectations of leadership evolve, so too must the way we prepare coaches to support that development.

Future-facing coach training is likely to place greater emphasis on:

• working with complexity and ambiguity
• developing systemic awareness
• exploring identity, reputation, and power
• supporting behavioural change over time, not just insight in the moment

This points to a deeper challenge for coach training: preparing coaches to work with leadership as it is actually experienced - and to support leaders in closing that gap.

Closing the gap through coaching

The most encouraging aspect of the research is that the gap it identifies is visible - and therefore open to change.

We have increasing clarity on what effective leadership looks like from the perspective of those who experience it every day. At the same time, we know that the systems used to identify and develop leaders do not always align with that reality.

Coaching offers one powerful way of working with this challenge. By focusing on awareness, behaviour and relationships, it helps leaders bridge the gap between how they intend to lead and how they are actually experienced.

In a context where trust, engagement and connection are becoming ever more important, that may be one of the most valuable contributions coaching can make.

The leadership divide is real. But it also presents an opportunity - to rethink what we value, how we develop leaders, and the role coaching can play in shaping more effective leadership for the future.