Leadership by Cornerstone
Feb 2025
Greetings Reader,
This month, I'm excited to bring you fresh insights and inspiration as we host a special guest. Please join me in welcoming Joseph Hewes, a dynamic thought leader in the area of coachability.
Understanding Coachability
The concept of coachability originated in sports science and clinical psychology in the 1960s and 1970s. Researchers identified it as a critical factor in athletic performance, yet systematic research on coachability in organizational contexts was lacking. Over the last seven years, Coachability Consultants has filled this gap, redefining the term as "employee coachability"; to make it applicable across workplaces (Weiss & Merrigan, 2021).
Q & A with Joseph...
What is coachability?
"Coachability is an individual's willingness and ability to proactively seek, demonstrate receptivity to, and act on constructive feedback to accelerate individual growth and elevate performance" (Weiss 2019; Weiss & Merrigan, 2021).
What are traits of highly coachable individuals?
Highly coachable individuals:
-
Take ownership of their growth and development.
- Focus on the quality of feedback rather than its source.
- Act decisively on feedback they find valuable.
- Are open to feedback, even if they initially disagree with it.
- Seek feedback and coaching from diverse sources.
The secret to coachability lies in developing the right mindset, awareness, and skills.
Is coachability a skill or a trait?
Many assume coachability is purely an innate trait, but research shows it is both a trait and a skill. Organizations should hire for coachability and also train employees to enhance it.
Trait Perspective: Some individuals naturally have a stronger relationship with feedback. For example, 'feedback orientation' is an individual difference — some embrace feedback more readily than others. Recognizing this variation helps organizations assess and support their employees' development.
Skill Perspective: The Coachability Quotient Assessment helps individuals build self-awareness of their coachability traits and develop the skills needed to become highly coachable. They've distilled coachabilty into six core skills:
- Ask - Seeking feedback proactively and effectively.
- Accept - Internalizing constructive feedback without defensiveness.
- Analyze - Evaluating feedback critically to determine its value.
- Map - Aligning feedback with personal and organizational goals.
- Move - Taking decisive action on valuable feedback.
- Mastery - Committing to continuous improvement.
What are two actions to improve your coachability?
Action 1: Develop an Instrumental Feedback Motive
Before seeking feedback, ensure your mindset is open to both positive and constructive feedback. People often fall into these feedback motives.
- Ego motive: Seeking feedback primarily for validation.
- Image motive: Looking for feedback that supports a desired image.
- Instrumental motive: Seeking feedback for genuine growth & learning.
To enhance coachability, shift towards an instrumental feedback motive - using feedback as a tool for skill development rather than validation.
Action 2: Use a Coachability Assessment for Teams
Different team members respond to feedback in different ways. Some embrace it, while others resist it. Before coaching your team, assess their coachability to:
- Understand their baseline openness to feedback.
- Identify areas for development.
- Foster an environment of continuous growth & improvement.
Ask yourself: Is your team truly open to feedback and growth?
Is coachability the key leadership skill of the future?
In today's fast-paced world, coachability is one of the most important leadership skills. "A leader who stops learning is a leader who stops leading" (Chamorro-Premuzic, 2025)
Regardless of past performance, a leader's success will depend on:
- Being open to feedback from others.
- Listening to what they need to hear, not just what they want to hear.
- Surrounding themselves with people who provide honest insights.
- Stepping outside their comfort zone.
- Seeing themselves as a work in progress.
Highly coachable leaders create high-performing teams. Start developing coachability now.
*Joseph Hewes is an Industrial & Organizational psychologist specializing in scaling effective teamwork, scaling coachability, leadership development and talent management solutions. He launched Kaizenex in January 2024, a leadership consulting firm and dedicates his time and effort on helping organizations build internal capabilities to support teamwork. He’s the international strategic partner of the Rocket Model focusing on Europe, Middle East, India, and APAC regions. Joseph is based in London, United Kingdom. He publishes weekly on LinkedIn – so connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-hewes-kaizenex/
"Coachability is not just a buzzword - it is a scientifically-backed driver of success in both individual and organizational performance. By assessing and developing coachability, organizations can build teams that are more adaptable, resilient, and high performing. More and more will matter is your potential. Are you measuring coachability in 2025? Start today by assessing and developing this critical skill."
-Joseph Hewes
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Stay tuned for more practical tips and stories in our next issue, where we will continue to explore strategies to help you lead with confidence and navigate change with ease.
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Until next time,
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