How to Ask Your Employer to Cover Leadership Coaching

A growing number of companies fund coaching through professional development, leadership development, learning and development, or executive coaching budgets. According to the International Coaching Federation, 57% of coach practitioners who responded to the 2023 ICF Global Coaching Study reported that their clients’ coaching sessions were paid for by their employer, up from 52% in 2019.

If you are working with a coach already, or considering it, your employer may already have a line item for exactly this kind of investment.

The way you frame the request for funding support matters.


A strong request leads with business value and frames coaching as a development investment that supports how you lead, decide, and contribute as your role grows. There is no need to open with ADHD disclosure or personal struggle.

Coaching is widely used to support:

  • Leadership effectiveness

  • Communication and influence

  • Decision-making under complexity

  • Prioritization across competing demands

  • Sustainable performance

  • Retention and growth in key talent

  • Confident navigation of role transitions

ICF cites research connecting coaching to productivity, team performance, and stronger organizational outcomes.

Framed this way, your request is not a personal favour. It is a professional development conversation.

Coaching Is a Professional Development Investment

  • A well-fit coaching engagement can help you:

    • Lead and communicate with more clarity

    • Move through complex decisions with less friction

    • Build sustainable ways of working as your scope expands

    • Prepare for promotion or broader responsibility

    • Reduce reliance on urgency, over-functioning, or last-minute pressure to deliver

    • Strengthen how you advocate for your work and your team

    This gives you language you can use in a development conversation, performance review, or growth plan.

  • A well-framed coaching request gives your employer a clear answer to “why fund this?”:

    • Stronger leadership capacity in someone they already trust

    • Better communication and collaboration across teams

    • More considered decision-making

    • Retention of a high-performing employee

    • Lower burnout risk during high-demand periods

    • Smoother performance through promotions, scope changes, and reorgs

    • A more sustainable contribution over time

    These are the same outcomes that justify training budgets, off-sites, and management development programs.

  • If your employer wants evidence, the research supports the case. The most widely cited study on coaching ROI — the ICF/PwC Global Coaching Client Study — found that 86% of companies that tracked their return said they at least made their investment back, with a median return of about seven times the cost. Across the broader research, returns commonly fall in the three-to-seven-times range.

    These numbers come with an honest caveat. ROI studies tend to survey organizations that already chose coaching, so the figures skew positive, and results depend on the person, their goals, and how they apply the work. Treat the data as a useful floor for the business case, not a guarantee.


    For a budget owner, the relevant point is simple: coaching is a known, measurable category of investment with a track record — not an unusual or speculative expense.

  • Many professionals do not need to disclose ADHD to request coaching.

    The request can be framed entirely around:

    • Leadership development

    • Workplace effectiveness

    • Communication and influence

    • Sustainable performance

    • Executive functioning under complexity

    If you choose to disclose ADHD, that is a personal decision shaped by your workplace, your role, and your relationship with your manager. This page is not legal or HR advice. It is a practical starting point for framing the request as a development investment.

What to Put in your Proposal

If your manager asks for a short proposal, keep it to one page. Cover:

  • The goal — what you want to develop and why it matters to your role

  • The format — number of sessions, session length, and timeframe

  • The investment — total cost and which budget it would come from

  • The outcomes — what stronger leadership, communication, or decision-making looks like in practice

  • The check-in — how you will share progress or results

Keep the tone matter-of-fact. A budget owner is approving a development investment with a clear scope and a clear return, not a personal request. We can help you build this once you know which coaching pathway fits.

How We Can Support the Request for Funding

We can help you build a stronger, customized version of this request. Reach out before you send anything to your manager. We can help you with:

  • Customizing the initial email to your role, manager, and workplace context

  • Building the business case so it speaks to outcomes your employer cares about

  • Drafting a short proposal with goals, expected outcomes, and projected investment

  • Preparing reimbursement-support documentation tailored to the coaching pathway you are considering

  • Framing the request — whether you want to mention ADHD or keep it framed entirely around professional development

We can prepare materials. We cannot guarantee approval — that is a conversation between you and your employer. What we can do is make sure the request you send is clear, professional, and easy for a budget owner to evaluate.

  • Below is a snapshot of what a clean, leadership-framed request looks like. Use it as a starting point — when you reach out to us, we will build you a customized version tailored to your role, your manager, the budget you are asking from, and the specific coaching pathway you are considering.

    Reach out before you send. We can help you sharpen the language, build the business case, and add the specifics that make the request easier for a budget owner to approve.


    Subject: Professional Development Coaching Request

    Hi [Manager Name],

    I have been thinking about my development this year, and I would like to discuss the option of working with an executive coach. As my role continues to grow in complexity, I want to invest in how I lead, communicate, and make decisions under pressure.

    I have been researching leadership coaching with Ready Set Choose, a coaching firm that works with professionals and leaders on real workplace context — communication, prioritization, decision-making, and sustainable performance. The work is structured around how I operate at work, not generic skill-building.

    If this is something the team or the professional development budget can support, I would be glad to share a short proposal with goals, expected outcomes, and projected investment. I see this as a contribution to both my growth and the quality of work I bring to the team.

    Open to whatever next step makes sense on your end.

    Thank you,

    [Your Name]

Your Next Step

If you are exploring ADHD-informed leadership coaching and want to understand what kind of support fits your current role, start with the Coaching Fit Assessment.

Start the Coaching Fit Assessment

If you would prefer to talk it through first, you can also book a conversation.


Source: International Coaching Federation, Your Guide to Getting Your Employer to Pay for Coaching and the 2023 ICF Global Coaching Study.

https://coachingfederation.org/blog/your-guide-to-getting-your-employer-to-pay-for-coaching/

Your Questions, Answered

  • Many do. Coaching is funded through professional development, leadership development, learning and development, or executive coaching budgets. ICF data shows 57% of coaching engagements are paid for by the client’s employer.

  • The most widely cited study, the ICF/PwC Global Coaching Client Study, found that 86% of companies that tracked their return at least made their investment back, with a median return of about seven times the cost. Returns vary by person and context, so treat this as a useful benchmark rather than a guarantee.

  • No. You can frame the request around leadership development, communication, decision-making, and sustainable performance under increasing complexity. Disclosure is a personal decision shaped by your workplace and your role.

  • Lead with business value, not personal struggle. Position coaching as a development investment that supports how you lead, communicate, and contribute as your role grows. A sample email is included above.

  • Professional development, leadership development, learning and development, or executive coaching. If you are not sure which budget applies, ask your manager or HR which line covers individual development.

  • You have options. You can revisit the request at the next development planning cycle with a stronger business case, or explore coaching as a personal investment. Reach out to us and we can talk through what fits.