Better Questions, Better Leaders: The Interplay between Research, Self-Awareness, and Coaching

Maria Brown, Ph.D., BCC

Executive Summary 

As someone who regularly conducts and publishes leadership research, I am often asked how best to use it in coaching. How should coaches use research to inform rather than advise? The answer involves the interplay between evidence, 360 assessments, and coaching. Each provides different and essential perspectives on leadership development. While each has value on its own, they become significantly more powerful when used together. 

This article explores three complementary roles in the coaching process: 

  • Research identifies what tends to contribute to leadership effectiveness. It provides evidence-based insights into the behaviors associated with success across thousands of leaders, helping move development conversations beyond opinion and anecdote. 
  • A 360 assessment establishes a baseline for the individual leader. It increases self-awareness by revealing current leadership behaviors, highlighting strengths and blind spots, and identifying gaps between how leaders see themselves and how they are experienced by others. 
  • Coaching transforms information into meaningful action. Through thoughtful inquiry, coaches help leaders interpret research and assessment results in light of their unique goals, role, challenges, and organizational context. The objective is not to tell leaders what they should do, but to help them determine what is most relevant and impactful for them. 

The central premise is simple: Research and assessment do not replace the coaching process. They enrich it. Research tells us what tends to contribute to effectiveness, assessment establishes a baseline by increasing self-awareness and revealing developmental gaps, and coaching helps leaders determine what those insights mean within the context of their own goals, challenges, and aspirations. 

Executive coaches are often asked a deceptively simple question: 

“What should I work on?” 

Over the years, as I have conducted leadership research using assessment data from more than two million leaders and professionals around the world, I have been asked a related question: 

“What should leaders focus on if they want to be more effective?” 

In many ways, that is exactly the question leadership research is designed to answer. And yet, after years of studying leadership effectiveness, I know that research alone cannot answer it. Research can tell us what tends to work. It cannot tell us what a particular leader should do next. That is where assessment and coaching become invaluable. 

As executive coaches, consulting psychologists, and leadership development professionals, we are often working at the intersection of evidence and experience. Our clients are looking for meaningful growth, but they are also navigating complex realities that no research study can fully capture. 

The question isn’t whether research belongs in coaching. It’s how to use research in a way that deepens inquiry rather than replacing it.

What Research Can and Cannot Tell Us

I spend much of my time looking for patterns. Using large datasets, we can identify behaviors that consistently relate to outcomes such as leadership effectiveness, innovation, collaboration, inclusion, and the ability to work effectively with others. These patterns are valuable because they help us move beyond opinion and anecdote. They allow us to ground leadership development conversations in evidence rather than assumptions. 

What I’ve learned is that identifying a pattern is only the beginning of the conversation. Research can tell us that certain leadership behaviors are associated with effectiveness across thousands of leaders. It can help us understand what tends to differentiate highly effective leaders from their peers. It can reveal connections that may not be obvious from individual experience alone. What it cannot do is account for the unique circumstances of the individual sitting across from us. It does not provide context. And it certainly does not tell us where a particular leader is starting. 

That is one of the important contributions of a well-designed leadership assessment. While research helps us understand the behaviors that tend to be associated with effectiveness, assessment data helps establish a baseline. It provides a clearer picture of a leader’s current approach, highlights differences between self-perception and the experiences of others, and often reveals strengths and blind spots that would otherwise remain hidden. 

Together, research and assessment begin to answer two different questions: 

Research asks: What tends to contribute to leadership effectiveness? 

Assessment asks: Where is this leader today? 

Coaching then explores the third—and perhaps most important—question:  

Given what we’ve learned, what do you want to do next? 

Turning Research into Individual Development 

One of the most interesting things about leadership research is that different studies often highlight different pathways to effectiveness. For example, studies focused on creating environments where people feel safe to participate often emphasize empathy and collaboration. In contrast, studies of executive effectiveness frequently identify strategic thinking and clear communication as key contributors to success. 

So which findings should a leader focus on? The answer depends on both the leader’s goals and where they are today. 

Imagine an executive whose goal is to create an environment where people feel comfortable speaking up and contributing ideas. Research suggests that empathy and collaboration are important. A 360 assessment then helps determine which of those behaviors represents the greatest opportunity for growth. 

Now suppose the assessment shows that the leader is already experienced as empathetic but is less likely to be seen as collaborative. In that case, the research confirms that both behaviors matter, while the assessment identifies collaboration and not empathy as the more meaningful development priority for this leader. 

Now consider a different executive whose goal is to become more effective at the senior-most levels of leadership. Research points toward strategic thinking and clear communication. Again, the assessment helps establish the baseline. If colleagues already see the leader as a strong communicator but less strategic, the coaching conversation naturally shifts toward strengthening strategic thinking. If the opposite is true, communication may become the priority. 

Research identifies the behaviors that tend to matter. A 360 assessment reveals which of those behaviors are already being used sufficiently, which represent developmental opportunities, and where coaching is most likely to have the greatest impact. 

The coach then helps the leader interpret those insights in relation to their goals and desired outcomes. Research, assessment, and coaching together help each leader make informed and individualized development decisions. 

Turning Findings into Questions 

This is one of the reasons I have come to appreciate the role that research and assessments can play in coaching. Some coaches understandably worry that they may narrow the conversation or shift the coach into the role of expert. When those insights are treated as answers, that concern is warranted. Used well, they do something quite different. They create opportunities for deeper exploration. 

Research identifies the leadership behaviors that are associated with effectiveness. A 360 assessment helps establish a shared starting point for the coaching conversation. It provides a clearer picture of how leadership behaviors are currently being demonstrated—and experienced by others. By increasing self-awareness and uncovering strengths, blind spots, and perceptual gaps, it creates a foundation for more meaningful exploration. 

The coaching conversation then helps the client interpret that information. Together, coach and client explore which gaps matter most, why they exist, and what changes are likely to have the greatest impact. 

Instead of generating answers, research-informed assessments can generate questions: 

  • What do you make of this result? 
  • What feels accurate? 
  • What surprises you? 
  • What might others see that you don’t? 
  • How does this connect to the challenges you are facing today? 
  • What strengths are helping you succeed? 
  • What strengths might be limiting you when overused? 
  • What would create the greatest positive impact if you focused on it over the next six months? 

Notice that none of these questions assume the research is correct for this leader. Nor do they assume the leader’s current approach is wrong. The purpose is not to help clients conform to a model of leadership. The purpose is to help them understand themselves more clearly and make more intentional choices. 

This is the point where I see research become genuinely useful. Not because it provides answers, but because it changes the quality of the coaching conversation. Not when leaders learn what effective leaders do. But when they begin to understand what those insights mean for them. 

The Opportunity for Coaches

Over the years, I have come to think about leadership development as requiring three distinct but complementary sources of insight. Research helps us understand what tends to contribute to effectiveness. A 360 assessment helps us understand where a leader is today. Coaching helps leaders determine what those insights mean for them. 

None of these replaces the others. Together, they create a development process that is evidence-based, deeply personal, and ultimately owned by the client. 

Perhaps that is the greatest contribution research can make to coaching—not providing better answers, but helping coaches and leaders ask better questions together. 

Maria D. Brown, Ph.D., BCC is the Vice President of Assessment Science, Research, and Education at MRG Assessments. She conducts research on leadership effectiveness, organizational culture, and leadership development using a global database of more than two million assessment participants. Her work focuses on helping organizations and practitioners translate research insights into meaningful development experiences.