Those results alone should be enough to get professional coaching off mahogany row and out to the masses. Yet too many businesses are afraid to invest in large-scale individualized coaching platforms.

Stuck in the past

Professional coaching dates back to the 1930s and was almost entirely focused on creating better salesmen — since it was mostly men working. Modern coaching's roots can be found in the 1960s with the humanistic movement. Psychologists Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers were at the forefront of this focus on self-actualization.

In an effort to get more people involved, and to demonstrate greater consideration by employers, personality tests were spawned. Businesses, on a mass scale, could have employees fill out a questionnaire and run the responses past an algorithm to determine people's "letters" or scores.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Caliper Profile, SHL Occupational Personality Questionnaire, DISC personality test, Eysenck Personality Inventory, etc., all provide a basic understanding of who we are. But without follow-up, we never get the opportunity to see where we can go.

Democratizing coaching

The proliferation of digital tools has made us much more comfortable with working across a video stream. This opens the opportunity for one-on-one coaching to anyone, no matter where they are physically or on their career trajectory.

• All employees — The right coaching program matches "coachees" with a coach who can help identify strengths, focus on areas of improvement, and track progress. These sessions also build a foundation for positivity, motivation, and confidence — traits that are vital during these times of uncertainty.
• Early career — Organizations can improve the development of talent on their teams and get people up to speed on new initiatives with more personalized coaching methods. "Coachees" show higher engagement, achieve their goals, perform better, and provide an overall benefit to their organizations.
• Midlevel — Young managers and high performers have the opportunities to transform their organizations from within with the right coaching. New leadership styles focus on soft skills, which more than three-quarters of managers report as their greatest weakness. Eighty-five percent of managers who receive coaching perform better than their peers in soft skills, while 80% of coachees agree they have gained skills useful for their profession.
• Top executives — They still benefit from coaching. The right program allows leaders to enhance their self-awareness, provides tools to improve relations with employees, and focuses on strengthening overall organizational performance.

Coaching for all

Coaching is a vital resource for everyone, from the top to the bottom of an organization. As employees see the benefits, they will come to rely on their coaches and see their employer as a workplace of choice. Executives will see the benefits in the level of retention, engagement, and overall performance of their employees. The value of this resource is lost when it's only offered to those in the C-suite.

Debbie Groves is the vice president for North America at CoachHub, a leading global talent development platform that enables organizations to create a personalized, measurable and scalable coaching program for the entire workforce, regardless of department and seniority level. With over 25 years of experience in HR technology, Debbie excels at bringing innovative technology solutions supported by credible methodologies to new markets and delivering a superior client experience. 

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