Coachability: The Emotional Intelligence Skill HR and L&D Can’t Afford to Overlook

One of the most common questions we’re hearing in talent reviews these days: “Is this person coachable?”

As technical skills are expiring faster than ever, many organizations are prioritizing promoting and retaining talent for their ability to learn and adapt to whatever is next, more so than their past performance.

To keep learning velocity high, companies are increasingly focused on building coaching cultures Done well, coaching culture tackles today’s pain points: continuous upskilling, non-linear careers (with frequent manager changes), multigenerational expectations, and the rising need for collaboration and peer-to-peer learning.

But coaching only works if people are coachable. That’s the real bottleneck. Coachability is a trainable emotional skill: notice the reaction to feedback, regulate it, get curious, and act. Build that capacity—from frontline to CEO—and the rest of your coaching investments start compounding.

Why coachability matters

Coachability is the ability to receive, reflect on, and act on feedback in a way that drives growth.

Coachability has a massive impact on career success. According to a 2021 study published in the International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, coachability is the strongest predictor of three big outcomes: adaptability, promotability, and job performance.

Specifically, coachability accounted for 71% variance in adaptability, 72% variance in promotability, and 57% variability in overall performance.

Right now, coachability is intersecting with many of the top challenges on executives’ minds as they evaluate talent in their organizations. For example, coachability relates to:

AI upskilling: Even if a person is not proficient in AI today, are they open to learning it and receiving feedback?
Leadership gaps: Given that only 20% of companies feel confident in the readiness of their leadership bench, companies are often filling roles with leaders who are unprepared. Their decision if the person can do the job depends heavily on if they are coachable or not.
Rapid change: The constant change in many organizations is causing them to re-organize and switch around job roles regularly. Those who are most coachable (and resilient) are far more likely to step up to new challenges.
Gen Z: Companies are struggling with the paradox of needing to develop the youngest generation of employees, yet many entry-level jobs are drying up. Companies are looking to invest in those that are most coachable, showing that they are highly receptive to feedback and rapid growth.

The secret to developing coachability depends on emotional intelligence

At its core, coachability is about emotional regulation in moments of discomfort.

Emotional intelligence is what makes coachability stick. Anytime someone receives feedback, it activates their emotions. But how they handle those emotions with purpose makes the difference.

When someone is coachable, they might process feedback for improvement like this:

Emotional Awareness: As they receive feedback, they are aware of the thoughts, emotions, sensations that are present. They notice they are feeling some tightness in the body, they are able to name the specific emotion: "I'm getting defensive." And they can label thoughts racing through their mind: "I'm feeling insecure because I don't want to appear less competent."
Managing Emotions: They are able to reframe the initial perception of the situation. "You are defensive and tight. That's protecting status; aim for learning. Be curious." As a result they shift to curiosity and pursue understanding of the feedback they are receiving.
Constructive Empathy: They are able to shift their initial defensiveness by realizing that the intent behind the feedback is support and a desire to be helpful. They use this opportunity to deepen the relationship with the person giving the feedback.
Growth Mindset: They are able to shift away from a fear of losing control or identity (e.g. I'm a flawless leader) to prioritizing learning based on two core beliefs: 1) Learning fast is the only way to adapt, and 2) The best leaders focus on learning vs outcomes only.

Beware of a behavior-only approach to developing coachability

We’ve often seen individual managers or organizations try to deploy a behavior-only approach to developing coachability. Typically, that means that someone is told they need to ask for more feedback and be more open to receiving it.

But if they haven’t done the work on emotional intelligence, that plan can backfire. The person asks others for feedback or coaching, but then becomes defensive and/or argumentative when they receive it.

As a result, not only do they continue to be uncoachable, but they break trust. They teach others not to believe them when they ask for feedback, and not to be honest with them.

Coachability Across Leadership Levels

Coachability is not just an early-career skill. In fact, it becomes more essential—and often more elusive—as leaders climb the ladder.

What organizations value evolves at each stage:

Individual Contributor: valued for the quality and quantity of their own work. Managers seek individual contributors who can be coached to learn new skills that advance their productivity.

Manager: valued for achieving results for a larger team. At this level, coachability is often related to how well they make the transition from being an excellent performer to getting work done through others. Their managers - often directors, AVPs, or other mid-level leaders - are looking to see them advance their people skills, which can often create defensiveness as these skills feel more personal. Managers can sometimes receive this type of coaching as a criticism not on their work, but who they are as a person.

Middle Manager: valued for connecting teams and departments strategically. At this level, coachability is about learning to broaden perspective beyond one’s own function and embrace interdependencies. Coachable middle managers learn to build cross-functional collaboration, navigate competing priorities, and balance organizational politics with integrity. Feedback here can challenge deeply held assumptions about control and decision-making, which requires humility and openness to change.

Executive: valued for leading through influence, vision, and alignment. At this level, coachability is often tied to receiving input on strategic blind spots and interpersonal impact. Executives must be willing to listen to perspectives from all levels of the organization and adjust their approach when needed, even when their track record of success tempts them to believe they have all the answers. Coaching for executives frequently focuses on emotional self-regulation, humility, and adaptability, which are essential for inspiring trust and sustaining long-term influence.

Ironically, the higher people rise, the harder coachability becomes. Success can reinforce habits of defensiveness, creating blind spots. For HR and L&D, the challenge is ensuring leadership development programs actively reinforce emotional intelligence at each transition.

The HR and L&D Mandate: Address the Emotional Skill Gap to Develop Coachability

We are in a workplace defined by volatility—AI transformation, hybrid models, shifting employee expectations. The ability to adapt is no longer optional, and coachability is the emotional muscle that makes adaptation possible.

Uncoachability is not a character defect. It is an emotional skill gap that can be developed with the right support. By embedding emotional intelligence practices into feedback culture and leadership programs, HR leaders can strengthen resilience across the workforce.

The mandate for HR and L&D is clear: prioritize the development of coachability, because it is the skill that unlocks growth at every level.

Develop a strong foundation of emotional intelligence for coachability.

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