Yes, But Does It Work?
Many people are familiar with executive coaching as a strategy that corporate founders and C-suite officials use to enhance their professional performance. You might wonder: Is it hype, or does it work? And could it work for artists?
Conclusively, executive coaching has a beneficial effect on success. In 2023, professors Andreea Nicolau, Octav Sorin Candel, Ticu Constantin, and Ad Kliengeld conducted a meta-analysis* on the validity of coaching and determined that it has “a significant positive effect on specific outcomes such as goal attainment, self-efficacy, psychological capital, and resilience.” Their Frontiers in Psychology article entitled “The effects of executive coaching on behaviors, attitudes, and personal characteristics: a meta-analysis of randomized control trial studies,” also cites gainful effects on “direction, energy, persistence, and improved task strategies.”
So what does executive coaching have to do with being an artist?
The conventional perspective is that a corporate executive and a studio artist could not be more different. Yet you might consider this: Like any C-suite leader, you’re responsible for the vision, strategy, long-term direction, and motivation in your studio, as well as the regular administrative operations that make up the implementation of that vision. You may not conceptualize it exactly in these terms, but you’re the CEO and Managing Director of your practice—the leader held accountable for overall performance.
Executive coaching (also known as leadership coaching) is a dynamic, solution-focused process that helps leaders improve their capabilities, enhance their effectiveness, and develop their potential. That’s what I support my clients to do in our sessions: look at where they want to go, make observations that lead to greater awareness, set goals, and plan the actions that will get them there. Whether the C in CEO stands for chief or creative, the collaborative work of coaching catalyzes long-term effects by supporting clients to establish new habits, skills, attitudes, and work practices. Artists are leaders, and they can achieve leadership-level results.
The researchers found that coaching allows people to experience significant positive changes in performance, planning, efficacy, and compassion. “As participants acquired new behaviors and competencies, they inevitably developed feelings of self-efficacy, goal-focused orientation, and positive affect” alongside a sense of self-confidence and resilience that continued to increase over time, generating a “prophylactic effect” for handling future challenges.
Coaching is also associated with significant progress toward goals: “Moreover, when the coach guides [clients] through exploring their potential for development and optimal functioning, these [clients] usually define specific goals, explore internal and external resources, and find specific actions to achieve them” as well as “identify strategies to overcome possible obstacles.” As a result, clients see an increase in their ability to identify options, and a measurable improvement in job satisfaction and well-being.
This research dovetails with what I’ve witnessed with my own clients. One artist came to coaching because he wanted more confidence in his professional communications; as he saw it, “part of my art practice is being in conversation with people.” In our work, he learned “to focus on the concrete, and not on the unmeasurable anxieties,” and came to trust his “ability to meet [his] own standards of integrity.” While we worked together, he negotiated the contracts for two solo exhibitions and one long-term studio residency, advocating calmly for his own needs without being overwhelmed.
Another artist wanted to level up her career—but at late middle age she felt overlooked, and was hesitant to reach out to curators and galleries. We explored the inevitable discomfort that arises when doing something new, and by the end of her first session she noted, “I think the mistake is not sending the email.” In our sessions, she realized that the adventurousness with which she’d always conducted her studio practice could be extended to her professional life; and she also saw that she could develop the skill of being supported by her colleagues. Her efforts to envision and pursue new possibilities paid off: She was invited to an international residency program, and began working with a new gallery that took her work to NADA Miami.
Whether you call it “executive” coaching or not, being supported to focus on where you want to go, to be curious about what comes up when you’re on the path, and to take small steps toward your goal, can have a big payoff.
*Nicolau, Andreea; Candel, Octav Sorin; Constantin, Ticu; and Kliengeld, Ad. 2023. “The effects of executive coaching on behaviors, attitudes, and personal characteristics: a meta-analysis of randomized control trial studies.” Frontiers in Psychology 14 (June): n.p. Accessed here on March 11, 2025.
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