Executive coaching is one of the more reliably funded line items in employee development budgets due to its return on investment (ROI). A study by FMI found that 87% of respondents stated executive coaching delivers a large ROI, and a global survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Association Resource Center put the average return at roughly seven times the cost.

While these statistics can make coaching seem like a guaranteed bet, in practice, two people can work with the same coach and follow the same process yet still walk away with entirely different results. One coachee, i.e.: the person being coached, might integrate the feedback and visibly change how they operate, and the other coachee may enjoy the conversations, agreeing with everything that’s said in the room, and then reverts to old habits within weeks. The variable isn’t always the coach. Often, it’s how coachable the coachee is.

Coachability Is a Real, Measurable Trait

A 2025 systematic review published in Sports Medicine examined five decades of research across athletic, business, and education coaching and identified it as a genuine, multi-part psychological construct. The review distilled the concept into six interlocking components:

• Attentiveness to information
• Willingness to learn
• Persistence in overcoming setbacks
• Feedback seeking
• Feedback receptivity
• Feedback implementation

Applied to the workplace, researchers publishing through the International Coaching Federation define coachability along similar lines: the degree to which an individual seeks out, genuinely takes in, and then acts on constructive feedback in order to develop and improve performance. Notice what’s absent from that definition. There is no mention of being agreeable, deferential, or quick to apologize. It’s the behavioral loop of asking for input, absorbing it honestly, and then doing something different because of it.

The Twist: Praise Can Be Just as Revealing as Criticism

Most conversations about coachability focus on how someone handles criticism. However, research on coachability assessment published in Personality and Individual Differences points to a less obvious wrinkle: positive feedback can be just as diagnostic. Praise can breed complacency for some, or it can even trigger self-doubt or impostor-style reactions for others, both of which can inevitably undercut performance. The researchers’ conclusion is a useful redefinition of coachability: a genuinely coachable person responds constructively to both praise and criticism, not just one or the other.

Beyond the Executive Suite

Even though it is called “executive coaching,” none of this is exclusive to the C-suite. The same six components (attentiveness, willingness to learn, persistence, feedback seeking, feedback receptivity, and feedback implementation) apply just as directly to a first-time supervisor, a program director at a nonprofit, or a mid-career analyst preparing for their next role. Coachability isn’t a fixed personality trait either; the underlying research treats it as a set of behaviors, which means it can be noticed, discussed, and strengthened before someone ever starts with a coach.

Assessing Coachability

Before coaching begins, draw from the above research. Below are some questions a potential coachee can ask themselves before coaching along with some tips on how to build coachability skills.

Questions to ask before coaching:

1. Do I actually seek out feedback, or wait for it to arrive?
2. When I receive feedback, do I take it in or start building my defense while the other person is still talking?
3. After an effective coaching conversation, what changes (think not next quarter but next week)?

How to improve coachability:

• Ask for feedback before it’s offered. Instead of waiting for a review cycle, pick one specific behavior and ask a colleague or direct report: “How did that land?”
• Write down feedback before responding to it. A short pause, even to just jot the point down, interrupts the instinct to explain or defend and makes room to actually absorb the feedback.
• Pick one thing to do differently within a week. Feedback that doesn’t change a specific action within days rarely changes anything at all.
• Notice your reaction to praise, not just criticism. If a compliment makes you coast rather than build on what worked, that’s worth noticing.
• Track setbacks separately from outcomes. When a new approach doesn’t work right away, note what you’d adjust rather than quietly reverting to the old way.
• Revisit one piece of past feedback a month later. Did it actually change how you operate, or just how you felt in the moment?

Those questions matter for anyone in a coaching relationship. Additionally, they matter just as much for the organizations deciding to fund coaching, because coachability determines whether that seven-times ROI shows up, or whether the investment quietly stalls out.

Where have you seen coaching be most effective? Have you tried coaching before?

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