The Influence of Executive Coaching on Executive Leaders’ Ability to Manage Stress and Mitigate Burnout

Abstract

Leaders in the business industry experience stress frequently, and the implications of workplace stress are extensive. Prolonged, uncontrolled stress can lead to burnout, which may extend to mental and physical ailments for executives. Experiencing burnout as a leader can impair decision making, derail careers, damage relationships, and hinder positive business results; as such, stress and burnout present challenges to both employees and their broader organizations. Myriad research studies have indicated stress and burnout can be reduced through supportive relationships and intentional processes by the employee; however, employers can also deploy many types of interventions to equip their leaders with multiple coping strategies to manage stress and burnout. Executive coaching is one of those interventions, although there is a gap in literature focused on the efficacy of the executive coach relationship as a burnout and stress reduction resource. This mixed-methods study sought to fill that gap by employing both qualitative and quantitative analyses with 35 business industry executive leaders. The qualitative portion of this study clarified coaching clients’ perspectives on the influence of executive coaching on executive leaders’ abilities to manage stress and mitigate burnout. The quantitative portion of this study determined the degree to which business industry executives felt stressed and burned out. Four key findings resulted from this study: (a) executive coaching develops stress-related coping skills for executives, (b) executive coaching develops self-efficacy in executives, (c) executive coaching improves executives’ emotional intelligence, and (d) executives who experience moderate to severe stress are not highly correlated with burnout. The results of this study clarified sources of stress for executives and contributed to evidence-based research supporting executive coaching as an intervention.