70% of Business Transformations Fail —Here’s How Business Coaching Can Ensure Yours Succeeds
In today’s fast-paced business world, transformation is necessary. Yet, up to 70% of business transformations fail. This shows a big gap in leadership, strategy, and execution. The good news is that business coaching can help close that gap and increase your chances of success.
In this blog, I will show how business coaching helps leaders face challenges. It can make transitions smoother and transformations more successful. I’ll also explain what business coaching involves and how it helps leaders reach their full potential, build stronger teams, and achieve lasting success.
1. What is Business Coaching?
The word “coaching” comes from the Hungarian word for carriage. This is a good metaphor, as coaching helps you move from one place to another, just like a carriage. Coaching is distinct from consulting or mentoring.
How is Coaching Different From Consulting or Mentoring?
While a consultant offers expertise and advice, a business coach helps individuals and organisations discover their own solutions. A coach’s role is to facilitate self-discovery, guiding clients through a process of reflection, questioning, and problem-solving. When I am coaching, I often remind my clients that the mind that holds the problem also holds the solution—my role is to help them uncover it.
A business coach offers guidance, feedback, and accountability. They help individuals or companies clarify their vision, set clear goals, and create plans to achieve them. The coach may also assist in personal development, addressing limiting beliefs, improving communication skills, and building confidence.
Coaching Contracting
A key part of coaching is contracting. This is when the coach and coachee agree on the terms, expectations, and boundaries of their work together. Contracting can be formal or informal, but it’s an important step. It ensures both parties understand their roles, responsibilities, and goals.
2. Coaching in the Context of a Business Transformation
In business transformation, coaching helps leaders and teams through big changes in a company. This can include shifts in strategy, culture, technology, or structure aimed at improving performance and achieving long-term success. These changes might be driven by external factors like market shifts or competition, or internal ones like a change in leadership or growth. However, regardless of the catalyst, transformation is essential for businesses to stay competitive, relevant, and resilient.
Business transformation coaching helps individuals navigate the complexities of change, manage uncertainty, and align their mindset and actions with new organisational goals. A key part of the coach’s role is to work closely with leaders to build clarity on the vision for transformation, develop effective change management strategies, and cultivate the resilience and adaptability needed to succeed in a dynamic business environment.
People often resist change because we are creatures of habit. As a coach, I help them overcome this resistance. It’s important to create a strong vision for change, share it clearly with everyone, and allow employees to voice their opinions. This builds the trust needed for successful transformation.
Why Business Transformations Fail
What’s the reason most business transformations fail to achieve their goals or even meet their intended purpose? It is often due to unclear visions, lack of communication, poor leadership, and resistance to change. In this context, business coaching can make a huge difference by addressing these areas head-on.
By working closely with both leadership teams and individuals, coaches help individuals shift their mindsets, embracing change as an opportunity rather than a threat. Coaches provide tools to manage anxiety, overcome fear of the unknown, and foster a culture of openness and adaptability. Through coaching, employees can transform their attitudes and become more engaged, committed, and confident in the transformation process.
3. Coaching Won’t Work Without Commitment
Coaching is a powerful tool for growth, but it requires one essential ingredient—commitment. Without it, even the best coaching can fall short. Coaching is a collaborative process where the coach provides guidance, but the coachee must actively engage in it for it to be effective. Without commitment, the coachee may simply go through the motions, and real change won’t happen.
Transformation takes time. Without commitment, the coachee won’t put in the effort needed to reach their goals. Growth comes from taking regular action. Commitment helps keep progress going, even when challenges come up.
Excuses Over Commitment? Here’s A Personal Business Coaching Experience
Once, I had a coachee, let’s call her Taylor, who had come to coaching looking for some support with her career plan. After our first session, she left the room full of energy and excitement about her goals. We organised a follow-up session, and I eagerly anticipated hearing about her progress.
But the day of our next meeting came, and I received a message: “Sorry, I’m too busy. Can we reschedule?” I understood—life can be hectic—but I felt a little pang of disappointment because I know that coaching is all about momentum. We rearranged, and when we finally met again, Taylor walked in with a flurry of excuses.
“I’ve been swamped with work,” she said, her voice a mix of guilt and frustration. “And the kids have activities every night. I just haven’t had any time for myself!”
This is an all too common scenario that I have experienced. The initial motivation fades as the busyness of life takes over. I gently reminded her that coaching requires commitment. “You can’t just rely on the energy from one session – it’s about ongoing action.”
Taylor looked thoughtful. “I really want this, though. I just don’t know how to make time.”
I encouraged her to reflect on what truly mattered to her and to carve out time for herself, “It’s about making a commitment—not just to me, but to yourself”.
By the end of our conversation, Taylor had a new plan. She decided to set aside an hour each week dedicated solely to her goals. It wasn’t about finding extra time – it was about making it a priority.
From that point on, she showed up with more determination, and the excuses faded. I tell this story because it’s a powerful reminder. While coaching can spark motivation, the real work comes from the commitment each person makes to themselves.
My advice is to only seek out a coach when you’re ready, willing, and able to take that journey!”
4. Coaching Is NOT Comfortable
Coaching is a process of growth and transformation, so it isn’t comfortable. If it’s a cosy chat you’re looking for, you won’t find it in a coaching relationship! The discomfort is an essential part of the journey, pushing individuals and leaders to confront challenges, face their fears, and step out of their comfort zones in order to unlock their full potential.
At its core, coaching invites individuals to question existing beliefs, behaviours, and patterns. It requires them to dig deep into their motivations and confront uncomfortable truths about themselves. This process can stir up emotions, such as frustration, fear, or doubt, as the coachee becomes more aware of areas where growth is needed.
From Results-driven to Empathetic Leadership: Another Personal Business Coaching Experience
To give you a flavour, let me tell you about a coachee I worked with, let’s call him Travis, a senior leader at a rapidly growing company. Travis was results-driven and an expert at navigating high-level strategy, but there was a noticeable distance between him and his team. While they respected him for his achievements, they often didn’t feel a personal connection to him. It was clear that Travis had been so focused on driving performance that he hadn’t given much thought to the people side of leadership.
The company had recently gone through a major transformation, and the leadership team started realising that as they grew, they needed to lead differently. One of his colleagues suggested coaching to help Travis better relate to his people, particularly in the midst of the changes. Travis met with me and was reluctant – explaining that he’d been successful with his approach throughout his career and didn’t see the need for ‘fluffy’ things at work like spending time chatting to people, which he saw as wasted energy. But he agreed to be coached, mostly I think because he didn’t want to be seen as out of touch!
The first coaching session was tough. I asked him to reflect on what he thought his team really needed from him. He answered defensively—he listed his achievements, the results he’d driven, and things he was known for that he felt the organisation needed. As a leader, he was proud of his ability to push for high performance, but it was clear he had never considered how his style might impact people around him and the leadership shadow he cast.
Be Ready for the Uncomfortable Questions
We met over a period of several weeks and the uncomfortable questions kept coming. I was focusing on coaching questions designed to prompt reflection, increase self-awareness, and explore the impact of his leadership style on others, such as:
- How would you describe your current leadership style, and how do you think it’s being perceived by your team?
- What’s one thing you could do differently to show your team that you value them as individuals, not just as contributors to results?
- How comfortable are you with showing vulnerability to your team, and what might be the impact of doing so?
- Can you recall a recent conversation or interaction with a team member? How did you respond to their challenges or concerns?
- How do you think your team would respond if you started focusing more on their well-being and development in addition to results?
It was tough for him. Travis had always seen himself as someone who delivered solutions. Now, he was being asked to consider emotions, relationships, and his impact on others – this was a level of discomfort he wasn’t used to. But we kept at it and through this process, he started to realise that his intense focus on achieving goals had been creating a barrier between him and his wider team.
Be Ready to Make the Change
We worked together on small, but powerful changes. Instead of always driving results, Travis began to make a conscious effort to listen to his team—really listen. He started checking in on how they were feeling, asking for their input, and showing appreciation for their contributions. He even started celebrating the small wins that often went unnoticed. It felt uncomfortable at first. Vulnerability wasn’t easy for him, and it wasn’t always easy for the team either who instantly noticed the changes in him and were sceptical about what was happening but gradually, the atmosphere began to shift.
Months later, Travis came to me with a new energy. His team was more engaged and more open with him, and their performance had improved. The uncomfortable coaching sessions, the moments where he had to face his own blind spots, had paid off. He had learned to lead with empathy and understanding—not just with a focus on results.
He told me that the coaching process gave him a push to reflect on his performance and get out of his comfort zone, ultimately, he’d become a better leader.”
And that’s the power of coaching because discomfort is often where real change happens.
5. Conclusion
In conclusion, business coaching plays a vital role in transforming not just the processes or strategies within an organisation, but also the mindsets and behaviours of its leaders. While it’s true that 70% of business transformations fail, coaching can be the difference between success and failure.
Coaching helps clarify goals, build commitment, and manage the discomfort that comes with change. By asking the right questions and offering support, coaching helps leaders overcome resistance, build trust, and grow both personally and professionally. It takes commitment, openness, and a willingness to step out of your comfort zone. But the rewards—better alignment, stronger performance, and a more engaged team—are worth it.
If you’re ready to lead a successful transformation, consider business coaching. It can help you move past the challenges and set your organisation on the path to lasting success.
Notable Credit
The statistic that 70% of business transformations fail is widely cited in various management and organisational change studies. A well-known source for this data is a 2015 report by McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm.
