Employee Learning & Development Excellence May 2023

PROFESSIONAL COACHING: THE EVOLUTION FROM “WHY” TO “WHY NOT” TO “MUST HAVE”

- Magdalena Nowicka Mook, CEO, International Coaching Federation

- David Blake, CEO and Co-Founder,

- John Woods, Ph.D., Provost and Chief Academic Officer, University of Phoenix

48

Top 7 tips for effective learning when your workforce is remote or distributed.

- Lilian Chen, Co-Founder and COO, Bar None Games

How

The Dire Need For Accountability In Employee Coaching

The shared responsibility of coaches and organizations and identifying impactful coaching programs with clear ROI

- Jim Frawley, CEO and founder, Bellwether

The Broken State Of Coaching And Mentoring: Talent Retention Hinges On Rebuilding

Here’s the solution to the declining coaching culture

- Stephanie Neal, Director, Center for Analytics and Behavioral Research, DDI

Hiring A Career Coach? 10

Misconceptions To Be Aware Of Understanding the true value of a coach

- Brett Farmiloe, Founder and CEO, Terkel.io

Top Picks 15 21 27 43

Navigating The Changing State Of Coaching And Mentoring In Organizations

Personalization, diversity, and well-being; the future of coaching and mentoring

- Judith Germain, Leadership Consultant/Speaker/Trainer/Mentor, The Maverick Paradox

Editorial Purpose

Our mission is to promote personal and professional development based on constructive values, sound ethics, and timeless principles.

Excellence Publications

Debbie McGrath CEO, HR.com - Publisher

Sue Kelley Director (Product, Marketing, and Research)

Babitha Balakrishnan and Deepa Damodaran Excellence Publications Managers and Editors

Deepak S Senior - Design and Layout

Employee Learning & Development Excellence Team

Deepa Damodaran Editor

Koushik Bharadhwaj Junior Editor Nataraj Ramesh Design and Layout (Digital Magazine)

Vibha Kini Magazine (Online Version)

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Potential: Navigating the Evolving Landscape of Coaching and Mentoring in Organizations

Coachingand mentoring have long been established as powerful tools for personal and professional development, helping individuals and teams unlock their full potential and achieve their goals.

In recent years, the demand for coaching and mentoring has only increased as organizations recognize the vital role these practices play in building high-performing teams, fostering a culture of continuous learning, and driving business growth.

As we navigate the ever-changing landscape of work and leadership, coaching and mentoring continue to adapt and evolve, bringing new challenges and opportunities for those in the field.

In this edition, we bring you insightful conversations, practical tips, and inspiring stories from experts and practitioners in the field, offering a window into the latest developments and trends shaping the future of coaching and mentoring.

Featured on the cover is Magdalena Nowicka Mook's, from the International Coaching Federation, Professional Coaching: The Evolution From “Why” To “Why Not” To “Must Have”, where the shares the highlights from a recent study tracing the the growth and changes in the coaching industry.

The coaching industry has often been criticized or speculated to be lawless, uncharted territory. There are very few rules and measures of accountability for both the coaches and those receiving the coaching. Still – when qualified people implement the right method, coaching can be an invaluable tool.

In The Dire Need For Accountability In Employee Coaching, Jim Frawley, from Bellwether, highlights that the coaching industry has a long way to go in terms of growth and evolution. Organizations must be careful when making investments in learning and development.

Alse, read Hiring A Career Coach? 10 Misconceptions To Be Aware Of by Brett Farmiloe, from Terkel.io, and Navigating The Changing State Of Coaching And Mentoring In Organizations by Judith Germain, from The Maverick Paradox.

Also, featured in this edition is an exclusive study by the HR Research Institute, The State of Coaching and Mentoring 2023 This report takes a deeper look at the factors and practices that fuel or hinder effective coaching.

In all, this issue delves into the latest trends, best practices, and thought-provoking insights within the coaching and mentoring landscape, exploring how these practices continue to evolve and shape organizations worldwide.

We hope that these articles provide answers to your questions about employee learning and development, and assist you in achieving excellence in your L&D initiatives.

Happy Reading!

Disclaimer: The views, information, or opinions expressed in the Excellence ePublications are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of HR.com and its employees. Under no circumstances shall HR.com or its partners or affiliates be responsible or liable for any indirect or incidental damages arising out of these opinions and content.

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Virtual events in the Training and Development track help you stay on top of the latest training, development and assessment techniques in order to maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace. Develop your skills, concepts, and attitude changes, and gain more knowledge to enhance performance. Training is crucial for organizational development and its success which is fruitful to both employers and employees of any organization. Some important benefits of training and development include: Increased productivity, Less supervision, Job satisfaction and Skills development. Each Virtual Event consists of up to 10 credit webcasts.

Virtual events in the Employee Learning and Development track help you stay on top of the latest training, development and assessment techniques in order to maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace. Develop your skills, concepts, and attitude changes, and gain more knowledge to enhance performance. Training is crucial for organizational development and its success which is fruitful to both employers and employees of any organization. Some important benefits of training and development include: Increased productivity, Less supervision, Job satisfaction and Skills development. Each Virtual Event consists of up to 10 credit webcasts.

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In a world of unparalleled challenges (global pandemic, racial injustice, political rivalry, digital 4.0, emotional malaise), uncertainty reigns. Finding opportunity in this context requires harnessing uncertainty and harnessing starts with reliable, valid, timely, and useful information. The Excellence publications are a superb source of such information. The authors provide insights with impact that will guide thought and action.

Excellence publications are my ‘go-to’ resource for contemporary and actionable information to improve leadership, engagement, results, and retention. Each edition offers rich and diverse perspectives for improving the employee experience and the workplace in general.

I regularly read and contribute to Leadership Excellence and Talent Management Excellence. I use many of the articles I read to augment my own presentations and I often share the articles with my clients. They are always quick, right on target for the latest issues in my field, and appreciated by my clients. If you want to stay up to date on the latest HR trends, choose a few of the different issues from the Excellence series of publications.

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Professional Coaching: The Evolution From “Why” To “Why Not” To “Must Have”

The growth and changing landscape of the coaching industry

By Magdalena Nowicka Mook, ICF

As the world navigated an unprecedented crisis these past few years, professionals began looking for a balance to

maintain a sense of normalcy in their lives. Organizations faced significant new challenges including the adjustment

to remote and hybrid work environments, the search for new ways to motivate and engage teams, and a rise in the demand for holistic support of employees as full persons.

Coaching proved particularly well suited to support individuals and teams through these kinds of challenges, and while demand for professional coaching had already been growing for years, the latest research shows it has grown faster over the last three years than ever before. The ‘2023 International Coaching Federation (ICF) Global Coaching Study’ (GCS), executed by PricewaterhouseCoopers, indicates coaching industry growth of more than 50% from 2019 to 2022, bringing the total number of practicing professional coaches worldwide to more than 100,000.

As a result, human resources (HR) leaders have a new level of access to the tried-and-true employee benefit of coaching to achieve measurable positive impacts on business outputs.

The 2023 GCS highlights industrywide trends that have reshaped the current state of coaching, pulling information from nearly 15,000 respondents across 157 countries. The most prominent developments include the dramatic increase in the number of active professional coaches and annual revenue, insights into who is seeking coaching, and new and expanding applications of coaching.

Skyrocketing Growth Is on Pace with Demand for Personal and Professional Development

Since 2019, the professional coaching industry experienced a significant increase in the total

number of coach practitioners worldwide, according to 2023 GCS. This growth is not limited to the North American market, but is significant across emerging markets as well. In fact, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa each show over 74% growth. Powering this growth in coaching is the increasing engagement of individuals with professional coaches. As a result, industry revenues also are increasing with an estimated $4.5 billion being achieved in 2022 alone.

In other words, coaching demand has grown on pace with the increase in professionals as it has become more widely understood and adopted. There is no doubt that companies that have engaged coaches for employee development or implemented coaching cultures across their entire organizations represent a significant portion of this growth.

Coaching Is a Fit for Leaders and Their Teams

In the GCS survey, coaches identified over half of their clients as managers or executives — a wise investment, as coaching for a team or organizational leader is known to create a “ripple effect” that reaches throughout the organizations and the professionals they support.

Though coaching was once dominated by the greatest generation and boomers, a meaningful shift is now evident. As of 2022, the majority of coaching clients were aged 35 and 44, and engaged with a coach to improve communication skills, work/life balance, productivity, and expand professional career opportunities, according to the study. Women have long been more likely to seek coaching compared to men, and from 2019 to 2022 this trend not only continued but grew to reflect 58% of all coaching clients.

Just as the age of coaching professionals declined, so did the age of clients. Today, one in five coaching clients are under 35 years old. While this means millennials and Gen Z continue to be smaller portions of the market, it indicates growing demand among these generations with an expectation this trend will continue as these generations begin to make up a larger portion of the workforce. Young professionals are engaging with coaches to support the start of their careers at a higher rate than in the past.

Professional Coaching: The Evolution From “Why” To “Why Not” To “Must Have”

It is possible millennials and Gen Z also will find coaching more appealing as their generations become more commonly represented among coaching professionals. While coaching initially took shape as a second or third career, there are now opportunities to engage in coaching training programs while in college.

Along with this growth of the profession, 80% of coaches agree that credentialing continues to be a crucial identifier for individuals and HR leaders seeking to engage with a coach.

By far, the most rewarding aspect of industry growth is to see that the types of clients engaging with coaching are much more diverse than they have been in the past. Young people, retirees, all genders and races are working with coaches, and for those who have been in the industry for years, this growth is truly outstanding.

A Broadening Spectrum of Applications to Make the Most of Coaching

When professional coaching first emerged as an industry, it was entirely driven by one-on-one coaching-client engagements. Over the decades, coaching evolved to include a broader spectrum of applications including managers using a coach approach, team coaching, and organization-wide coaching cultures.

The 2023 GCS results indicate these models continue to

advance. Coaches who specialize in business coaching have grown steadily in number and as many as 67% of coaches indicated this was their primary specialization as of 2022. Across all global markets, 57% of coach clients engage a coach in a sponsored engagement through their employer, compared to personal, self-funded interactions.

Companies like Intel have integrated coaching company-wide as an employee benefit as they strive to clarify goals, change behaviors, build capabilities, and create the conditions that drive positive business results. Intel’s internal coaching program has netted a return on investment of over $1 billion per year in operating margin, far and above just accounting for the cost of program implementation.

This measurable growth points to an impressive current state of coaching and reflects the value that individuals and organizations have found by integrating coaching into their workplace repertoire. As a driver for heightened engagement and productivity, HR leaders around the globe are noticing the value, and incorporating coaching programs in their organizations to support steady growth for leaders and their teams.

Looking back three decades to the profession’s origins, coaching was often defined by what it is not. Coaching is not mentoring. Coaching is not therapy. Coaching

is not counseling. But today, coaching is more commonly defined by what it is and what it can achieve: a powerful way to unleash a person’s potential, supercharge leaders, accelerate high performers, and enrich company cultures.

As this becomes more widely understood, more organizations, governments, nonprofits, and individuals are turning to coaching to help them reach their highest potential and set them apart from competitors for talent retention.

The 2023 GCS demonstrates that awareness of this potential is rising and, thus, the favorable outcomes associated with the growth of coaching will continue to be realized around the world.

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Magdalena Nowicka Mook is the CEO of the International Coaching Federation (ICF). Previously, she held positions with the Council of State Governments and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service. She is a trained coach and a frequent speaker on coaching and leadership.

What Does The Next Decade Hold For Corporate Learning?

The decline of college degrees and the rise of skills-based learning

By David Blake, Degreed

Alittle over 150 years ago, the first documented ‘corporate’ learning program took place when printing press manufacturer Hoe and Company created a factory school to train machinists

onsite. A lot has changed since then, not least because of the Internet democratizing access to learning resources and data making it hyper-personalized. The next decade for learning and

development (L&D) promises to be just as revolutionary.

Now, it is impossible to fully understand what the future holds. The Covid-19 pandemic was a valuable example of that. But with current advances in technology, we can predict a few distinct trends that it is worth keeping in mind when planning your medium and long-term learning strategy.

The Shift to Skills

The first of these is the continued decline of college degrees as the de facto way of knowing if someone was capable of doing a job. Now there are so many other, more up-to-date measures. There is a myriad of ways to learn outside of college today and more organizations, including IBM, Accenture, and even the U.S Government are dropping degree requirements in favor of a skills-based approach.

While college degrees may have defined who was ‘educated’ and who had ‘potential’ in the past, the chronic skills crisis and need for more agile workforces are encouraging business leaders to cast their nets into wider talent pools. They are broadening their ability to see people’s potential — and reducing bias in the process.

L&D Becomes Business-Critical

This fundamentally elevates L&D’s mission because when all education and learning are recognized, the work to upskill post-school and post-college suddenly takes on a different emphasis. The skills built in the workplace become more of a differentiator for both individuals and their employers. It makes learning not just a compliance activity but something to build a long-term, meaningful career.

That offers great opportunities for L&D leaders to take an active, strategic place in the boardroom (especially when advising on current and future skill supply and demand). It also increases the focus, and pressure, on them to deliver tangible business results, notably in ensuring that workforces are ready for future business needs and can shift quickly if demand suddenly changes.

Skills Data Delivers Game-changing Insights

The only way for L&D to step up in this way is to really understand what is happening with skills in the workforce. To know what critical skills the

business needs in the short, medium, and long-term, and what learning is happening right now to build those skills. To be able to facilitate the identification and movement of people with certain skills from one project to another, across business functions. To inform the business of any skill gaps that may hinder performance.

In order to achieve this, L&D will become increasingly data-driven. It will soon be normal to see L&D teams with dedicated skill analytics solutions and data-savvy individuals, who can make sense of all the data being generated in the workforce every day. As more L&D teams realize the value of skill data, you will see more emphasis placed on solutions with a great user experience, which makes it more digestible and easy to make decisions based on that data.

Learning Metrics Evolve

With these new data capabilities in L&D, it will be much easier to directly link learning to business outcomes like lead generation, conversions, customer satisfaction, product quality, and more. By linking learning to the business (much like how marketing was able to do when digital marketing became commonplace) it will become a lot easier to justify budget increases for L&D — and vice versa, cuts will be harder to make.

Of course, this data needs structure, and that is why many organizations further along in this journey are building

intricate skill taxonomies and reporting structures. But there is no uniform standard, so that is only going to create more noise and complexity as different organizations and vendors create their own taxonomies. Realizing this, some of the world’s most innovative learning leaders are working with the World Economic Forum to create a universal skills taxonomy. This will help to normalize the disparate systems out there and create a uniform standard that will, hopefully, be widely adopted by all L&D and human resources (HR) functions within the decade.

L&D Deepens Upskilling

We know that lifelong learning happens on a spectrum from recalling basic knowledge to the synthesis and evaluation of complex and obscure concepts. Over the next decade, L&D teams will continue to refine their learning opportunities, creating highly personalized learning programs that meet learners where they are, in their moment of need. For one, individual, informal, everyday learning will help them meet the skill requirements of their current role. For another, a talent academy (also known as skills mastery) will provide the deep and targeted skill-building needed to reskill and upskill for the future.

In other words, L&D will have more options to offer learners, orchestrating learning experiences that equip people now, prepare them for tomorrow, and inspire them to continuously grow.

Open Connects Disparate Systems

As the range of learning opportunities offered to workers increase, L&D decision-makers will become more astute in picking the right solution for their needs. It will not be as simple as buying more content, a learning management system (LMS), a learner experience platform (LXP), and a talent mobility solution and expecting them to all work seamlessly together. Nor to collect data from those disparate systems easily.

Instead, L&D leaders will soon discover why open platforms are better for flexibility, choice, and futureproofing. And they will hone in on the user experience because having to log in and out of different systems will quickly disengage learners.

AI Enters the (Class?) Room

I would be amiss if I did not mention the many advances in artificial intelligence (AI) that will impact both how L&D operates and the kind of skills that need building.

What used to be a Hollywood plotline a little over a decade ago has become mainstream. It also used to be stuck with highly mundane, time-intensive tasks that were easily computerizable. With the advent of generative AI like ChatGPT and deep learning models like the ones controlling autonomous vehicles, that is set to change.

It will make all teams, L&D included, much more efficient by taking over a lot of tasks that do not really need their input. That is everything from suggesting learning content for curation to gathering and updating skills data. It can deliver automated nudges to learners to encourage them to re-engage with learning, remind them of deadlines, or inform them of new learning opportunities. It can assist with filling out skill profiles, by suggesting related skills based on what someone has already inputted or learned.

Virtual assistants could become coaches, helping people to create career plans based on their current skills, learning, and interests. Or AI tools could provide near-instant feedback on coursework.

For individuals, the advance of AI completely changes the skillset needed to succeed in the future. We have already seen students innovate with ChatGPT for their homework and journalists use it to assist with articles. This kind of man-plus-machine working might raise eyebrows now, but it is a strong indicator of what is to come.

Now, we all know that automation is not going to take our jobs, but it will evolve them. We will have more time to focus on uniquely human things, like relationship building and deep strategic thinking. L&D teams need to upskill their people with this in mind. The technical, hard skills you are building right now, have

a rapidly dwindling half-life. Whereas the power skills you develop will help your workforce move from role to role and adapt to the rising prevalence of AI in their lives.

It is worth mentioning that some workers will feel uneasy with the growing list of things that AI can do. Doubling down on upskilling and reskilling them will help put their minds at ease while preparing them for the opportunities that AI will offer.

Endless Opportunities

This is but a snapshot of what the next few years will look like for L&D teams. Going through all of this, one thing certainly rings true — there is no better time to be in L&D. Organizations are going to have to invest significantly in learning and skills over the next decade and L&D leaders will increasingly be called on for their insights and experience. The opportunities ahead to strategize and innovate are endless.

David Blake is CEO and Co-Founder of Degreed, who believes that learning is too important to stay the way it is and has spent his entire career innovating in higher education and lifelong learning.

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The Dire Need For Accountability In Employee Coaching

The shared responsibility of coaches and organizations and identifying impactful coaching programs with clear ROI

By Jim Frawley, Bellwether

Thecoaching industry has often been criticized or speculated to be lawless, uncharted territory. There are very few rules and measures of accountability for both the coaches and those receiving the coaching. Still – when qualified people implement the right method, coaching can be an invaluable tool; it is simply suffering from a poor reputation and collateral damage due to overly ambitious expansion and commoditization of the art.

It is a tale as old as time –expand or grow too quickly, and the entire operation and integrity of the work are compromised. While great coaches are making positive contributions to various companies around the world, there is a clear difference between good coaching and bad coaching. And as an unfortunate result of the latter, many organizations are starting

to pull back on their learning and development budgets due to a total lack of understanding of the return on investment.

In order to drive better results from coaching efforts, there have to be clear milestones or data points that make it possible to measure the impact of any program or individual coach. Most people would probably agree that coaching and development are crucial to an individual’s growth, but may also struggle to articulate exactly why or how. So the task at hand becomes identifying tangible and measurable outcomes that clearly showcase the benefits of coaching in order to hold all involved parties accountable: the coaches and the participants.

There are a few consistent themes that surface when employees articulate their development demands: they are

seeking clarity and advice on what their next step should be –usually pertaining to a career path and growth; they are seeking a safe, judgment-free place to voice frustrations and productively ask questions; and they are seeking more regularity in their feedback cadence.

Productive and effective coaching is heavily dependent on employee input of this nature in order to outline a program that addresses these pain points in conjunction with the needs of the business. From here, a coach can establish clear targets and measurable data points that help drive momentum through the program. These might include productivity evaluations that help attribute ownership to what a specific employee is responsible for creating or executing, or even measurements of time saved thanks to technology innovation that can be restructured for creativity and collaboration.

Measuring employee engagement proves to be the best evaluation tool for coaching practices. Gallup has been conducting research surrounding employee engagement for over a decade, surveying upwards of 15,000 full and part-time employees each quarter, and recently reported the greatest decline since 2013.

Contributing to this decline, employees are lacking clarity of expectations, a connection to the company mission, and opportunities to learn and grow. There is an industry-wide call for immediate implementation of development practices, such as

weekly conversations between employees and managers to explore goals, and well-being, and provide recognition.

Effective coaching takes work. First and foremost, there must be a clearly articulated process, one that outlines the expectations of the program and its participants through targeted, measurable goals. Typically these are built around employee engagement, productivity, and turnover, and implement consistent feedback methods to ensure supportive and constructive communication is a consistent component of company culture.

A good coach delivers on the responsibility of working these metrics into their program –again, to reinforce the return on investment (ROI) and program benefits. There is, however, a shared responsibility in the efficacy of any coaching program – one that falls mostly on the shoulders of the organization to hold the coach accountable for delivering clear ROI, which is typically executed through a service-level agreement that places a justifiable pressure on the coach to develop employees and executives in a meaningful, time-effective manner.

Identifying an impactful coach and program really comes down to a clear ROI on the development of those being coached. Is there a measurable increase in employee engagement, as demonstrated by attendance, responsiveness, and job satisfaction? Is there a shift in historical negative trends when it comes to employee turnover and retention? Has productivity increased as a result of a boost in employee engagement? The answers lie in a coach’s ability to answer to the needs and demands of those receiving the coaching.

Despite the state of the industry battlefield, LinkedIn reported 78% of top companies in the U.S. in 2022 invested in coaching for their employees – including big

names like Amazon, Deloitte, and Apple. These and similar organizations are scrambling to offer valuable development opportunities for their employees that may aid in boosting retention.

There is a long way to go as the coaching industry grows and evolves, and organizations must keep that in mind when making investments in learning and development. Coaching programs must answer to the same level of accountability expected from any investment – whether that is technology, materials, or personnel. Start by prioritizing measurable outcomes when vetting coaches. While there is a need for structure and standards amongst coaches, there is just

as much of an obligation for organizations to do due diligence when implementing development initiatives for their employees.

Jim Frawley is a coach, consultant, and the CEO and founder of Bellwether, an executive development firm. He specializes in helping corporations maximize their efficiency and enhance their growth.

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Can Organizations Use L&D To Help Drive Business Success Today While Building For The Future?

How organizations can build a resilient culture of learning to drive positive business outcomes and retain top talent

By Peter Heller, ServiceNow

Intoday’s challenging macroeconomic climate, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by external factors beyond our control. However, there are things that organizations can do to ensure continued business success, despite the uncertainty.

One of these is to focus on what we can control— specifically, the experience of our employees and their ability to build the skills needed to be successful in their roles and future-proof their careers. By doubling down on these areas, we can create a more resilient organization and empower our employees to reach their full potential. This effort helps retain top talent and drive positive business outcomes.

Korn Ferry predicts that by 2030, a global human talent shortage of more than 85 million people could result in about $8.4 trillion in unrealized annual revenues. Added to this is the fact that employees want to learn. More than three-quarters of employees

(76%) say they are more likely to stay with a company that offers continuous training, according to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

By building a robust learning culture and enabling learning with technology, organizations can foster an environment where employees feel empowered to take charge of their own career growth and development.

Change Starts at the Top Leaders, I

am looking at you.

If leaders are not taking time to learn new skills, employees will not prioritize learning and development (L&D) either. In other words, leaders need to walk the talk if they are going to talk the talk. They must demonstrate the desired behavior from the top down so employees can model it from the bottom up.

To create a sustainable learning culture, employees also need the space and time to learn. This can be difficult with shrinking teams, tight budgets, and fast-approaching deadlines. Creating symbols in your organization to help prioritize L&D — such as a “learning week” that dedicates time for employees to upskill and reskill — demonstrates that the business is serious about enabling employees to advance their skills and is shaping the conditions for learning to take place.

Simply, employees must feel that they have enough time to learn new skills and feel supported in the organization to actually take that time to develop new skills.

Technology Is an Enabler

With the foundational culture of learning in place, technology becomes an enabler and can play a critical role across the L&D spectrum. Ultimately, technology should make a process better, faster, or stronger.

1. Skills at the center

To effectively drive growth and remain competitive,

organizations need to ensure that employees have the right skills to do the work today, while being given the resources to prepare for future roles. But leaders often struggle to understand the skills their employees have or need, which can hinder growth opportunities and business outcomes.

Enabling this type of skills development requires a significant amount of data and a system that turns insights into action. If organizations can better understand the skills their employees have and need, they can hire and upskill employees to drive engagement, retention, and outcomes.

Organizations can use machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to create personalized, predictive learning paths for employees. For example:

● When an employee joins a company, they need to get up to speed as quickly as possible. AI/ ML can help by analyzing data from similar roles and delivering customized training and resources to help the employee hit the ground running.

● As employees grow and develop, they may become interested in exploring new roles within the company. AI can identify the skills they currently have, the skills they need for the new role, and the training required to fill any gaps.

● Learning does not have to be a separate activity from work. Micro learnings can be integrated into the employee’s flow of work, personalized to the employee’s needs, and delivered at the right time to make the learning experience more engaging and effective.

2. A central and accessible L&D platform

Many companies have spent the last few years hiring talent globally. Even as employees head back into physical offices, they will still need to collaborate and learn in a virtual setting. This means that L&D resources need to be accessible from anywhere.

Many companies are turning to L&D platforms that house all the training programs and resources employees will need in a single location.

These platforms are also being used to provide visibility into career opportunities. By using data analytics and automation, these platforms can customize the learning experiences for each employee and provide recommendations on which courses or programs would be most beneficial for their career development.

At ServiceNow, for example, we recently launched ‘frED,’ our learning platform that brings together internal and external learning content in one place, making it available across devices and delivered in a personalized way. ‘FrED,’ named after our founder Fred Luddy, recommends relevant content based on employee preferences to help them build the skills needed for today and the future. This empowers employees to take control of their own career journeys and fosters a culture of continuous learning and growth within the organization.

3. Automation improves the manager experience Managers have some of the hardest jobs right now. They are managing their own growth and their team’s growth, and often play a big role in business growth.

If we want our employees to continuously learn and develop, we need to enable our managers too.

Putting the right systems and technologies in place helps keep managers connected and engaged so they can better support themselves and their teams. This means real-time insights that give managers a holistic view of their team’s performance, well-being and aspirations and automation to recommend actions to help enhance the employee experience. With customized information, communications, and resources delivered right when they are needed, everyone can stay on track and focus on what is important.

L&D Is a Must-have, Not a Nice-to-have

According to the 2023 LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report, 93% of organizations are concerned about employee retention. Employees who are not learning will leave, as three of the top five factors people consider when pursuing new jobs reflect their desire to stretch, grow, and develop new skills.

To stay competitive, organizations must prioritize learning and development as a must-have rather than a nice-to-have. Can organizations help drive business success today while building for the future? With the right L&D strategy in place, I think the answer is yes.

The Broken State Of Coaching And Mentoring: Talent Retention Hinges On Rebuilding

Here’s the solution to the declining coaching culture

By Stephanie Neal, DDI

Coaching and mentoring opportunities are among the most sought-after development experiences by leaders early in their careers, but their usage by companies is on the decline.

New data from 13,695 leaders and 1,827 human resources (HR) professionals responding to DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast (GLF) 2023 revealed that, although leaders are asking for more coaching and mentoring to develop their skills, fewer companies are delivering these experiences.

In fact, the percentage of leaders who said they have had a formal mentor is down by more than 50% from just five years ago. And it is not because coaching and mentoring have become less crucial to developing talent – an overwhelming majority (85%)

of HR respondents indicated that coaching is one of the most critical skills for leaders to develop over the next three years. Rather, there seems to be a commitment problem, as fewer organizations are implementing coaching and mentoring as a core part of their leadership development strategy.

Here are five findings that shed light on the broken state of coaching and mentoring in organizations today:

1. Most leaders have not had a mentor. Only 24% of the 13,695 leaders in our study indicated that they have had a formal mentor. This is a jaw-dropping 50% decline in the number of leaders who indicated they would have this key development experience just five years ago.

2. Even fewer early-career leaders have access to mentors. Organizations will often focus mentorship programs on new leaders early in their careers. However, these efforts seem to have fallen off over the past several years, with only 22% of current first-level leaders saying they have been assigned a formal mentor by their organization. This leaves an overwhelming majority (78%) of first-level leaders not having had the opportunity to receive formal mentorship.

3. Too few senior leaders are mentoring others. Although a slight majority of senior leaders (57%) have been mentors, this leaves a large portion not passing on their experience or knowledge to others in their organizations. Forty-three percent of senior leaders reported they have not formally mentored anyone.

The Broken State Of Coaching And Mentoring: Talent Retention Hinges On Rebuilding

4. Opportunities for coaching have decreased by 15% over the past five years. Although the number of leaders seeking coaching has been on the rise over the past several years, fewer companies have been offering it as a core component of their development programs. Only 52% of HR pros said their organization employs regular coaching to proactively develop leaders.

5. Leaders want more coaching. Leaders who said they get effective coaching from their managers were twice as likely to want more of it. They were also more likely to feel positive about their company’s development approach and culture.

Why Investing in Coaching and Mentoring Pays Off

Developing future leaders is a top priority for organizations, as is retaining top talent. Yet, too often they do not prioritize

career growth opportunities that can help nurture and retain their talent for the long run. According to findings from this year’s GLF, there are many reasons why developing a coaching and mentoring culture pays off.

Top-performing companies implement coaching and formal mentoring. Although there has been a drop in the percentage of companies relying heavily on coaching and mentoring to develop their leaders, those that are developing leaders’ skills through these methods see substantial returns.

Our research showed there is a significant connection to business performance, with more than 60% of top financially performing organizations offering formal mentoring, compared to only 33% of organizations that rate below average in financial performance. Additionally, 48% more organizations in the top 10%

for financial performance relied heavily on coaching to develop their leaders.

Leaders see the impact of coaching on their overall effectiveness. Coaching is a core skill that impacts a leader’s effectiveness across all areas of their role. We found a strong correlation between leaders’ rankings of their coaching skills and their perception of their overall effectiveness as a leader.

Specifically, 47% of leaders who think they are above average in leadership effectiveness feel they are effective in coaching and developing others. Meanwhile, only 18% of leaders who feel they are average or below in leader effectiveness reported being effective in coaching others. As companies focus on building their leaders’ coaching skills, they should emphasize the impact it will have on overall leadership performance.

The Broken State Of Coaching And Mentoring: Talent Retention Hinges On Rebuilding

High-potential leaders want even more coaching to grow their careers. Coaching tops the list of development experiences that high-potential leaders prefer. A significant majority of high-potential leaders (85%) said they want more coaching to help them develop as leaders. And this can greatly impact their retention. The most important factor that influences whether high-potential employees stay and grow with their companies is having opportunities to develop.

Three Tips for Building a Coaching and Mentoring Culture

Here are three considerations for fostering a coaching and mentoring culture:

1. Encourage managers and formal mentors to set a positive coaching example. Unsurprisingly, leaders tend to follow the same coaching approach as their own managers and mentors. That is why it is crucial that more senior leaders must create a positive model and coachingfriendly environment, where they encourage others to share feedback at the moment.

Managers play a critical role in coaching and showing team members what a successful leadership career path looks like in their organizations. Leaders, who get quality coaching from their managers, are 4.3X more likely to feel they have a clear development path as a leader, and 1.5X

less likely to feel they need to change companies to advance. Leveraging mentorships as part of an organization’s development strategy helps further improve retention. Organizations can strengthen their development strategy by matching mentors to key talent who are critical to retain and grow.

2. Ensure leaders receive an objective assessment of their coaching skills. Many leaders rarely get feedback about their coaching skills, leading to a tendency to overestimate the quality of their coaching capabilities. Conducting a high-quality objective assessment or a 360-degree evaluation can help leaders develop greater self-awareness of their coaching strengths and areas for improvement.

3. Use mentoring as an opportunity to connect with dispersed talent. Mentoring provides an opportunity for new leaders to gain a broader perspective and learn more about their business, as well as to network and make connections with people outside their immediate functional teams. In a time where employees are increasingly dispersed, organizations should facilitate connections between new leaders and mentors to help retain the practical experience and wisdom gained by longer-tenured employees. This can also help break-down silos between functional groups.

Over the years, data from the GLF series has consistently shown that new leaders benefit from receiving targeted coaching and feedback to develop leadership skills. And so do their organizations.

Given the recent decline in coaching and mentoring usage, there is now more opportunity for companies to have an edge in developing their talent. Because these development experiences can have such a significant impact on employees and their teams, companies should consider using mentoring and coaching as an opportunity to improve retention and create meaningful development experiences.

Stephanie Neal is the Director of the Center for Analytics and Behavioral Research (CABER) at DDI. She oversees research strategy and execution of large-scale leadership research programs, including DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast series.

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How To Drive Employee Retention Through Career Support Programs

3 key professional development areas companies must invest in

By John Woods, Ph.D., University of Phoenix

Fromthe great resignation to quiet quitting, organizations continue to face challenges to employee engagement and retention. The central question of the past three years has been: what tactics will truly engage workers and inspire them to stay with their current organizations?

The latest data from the University of Phoenix Career Institute points to the roots of this issue;

according to its 2023 Career Optimism Index (COI), 66% of American workers believe there is a job out there that is a better fit for them than their current role. Critically, 40% do not see a clear path forward for advancing their career at their current job. Consequently, 53% are actively looking for a new job or expect to in the next six months.

However, there is hope. 68% of these workers who are seeking new opportunities say they would consider staying at their current job if things could change. When nearly half of the employers (46%) cite a lack of well-qualified applicants as the greatest challenge their organizations face when finding talent, there is a clear mutual benefit to investing internally, improving talent pipelines and fostering retention.

These investments must be significant to make a meaningful difference. Empty workplace perks like office happy hours and free lunches are no longer cutting it. Instead, the COI reveals that foundational career development support is the key, particularly across the following three investment areas.

Increasing Access to Mentorship

American workplaces are facing a mentorship epidemic. According to the COI, most workers (56%) say they do not have a mentor, and 42% say they do not have someone who advocates for them in their professional life. A third say this lack of mentorship, advocacy, or support from a professional network has held them back in their careers.

With this in mind, employers must ensure their employees have a mentor and advocate within

their workplace through formalized programming. Mentors and advocates play important roles in terms of guiding employees through career mapping processes, setting and tracking related goals, and communicating employee needs to higher leadership. They foster reliable 1:1 communication streams, ensuring workers regularly feel seen and heard.

By facilitating such connections, leaders can help workers to plant roots within their organizations and identify paths for internal mobility, ultimately leading to greater employee satisfaction and loyalty, and in turn, higher rates of retention.

Embracing the Role of Employee Resource Groups

As with 1:1 mentorship programs, employee resource groups (ERGs) have long been viewed as a valuable workplace tool for growing employees’ professional support networks. However, greater accessibility to these groups is still needed. While the COI finds that 69% of Americans are engaging with employee resource groups to some degree, half of these workers (49%) say they need support in their engagement, and 48% say that engaging in resource groups is not even accessible to them in their careers.

Organizations must integrate ERGs into company culture with intention. Regular, clear communication about what ERGs are available, who can be contacted to get involved, and what virtual and live programming is planned in upcoming weeks and months is an important first step.

When employees identify ERGs they would like to engage with, the organization should facilitate 1:1 connections within those groups. This way, employees can benefit from learnings and new relationships with those who have similar life experiences, both on a micro and macro level. In turn, employees will become further invested in their workplace community and long-term career trajectory within that organization.

Providing Opportunities for Continuous Skilling

Skilling has also proven to be a crucial element of employee engagement, as 70% of American workers say if their company gave them more opportunities to apply new skills, they would be more likely to stay throughout their careers. This is an area where more direct coaching and support are required as well. over a third of Americans (37%) say they do not have access to opportunities to develop skills they need to advance in their career.

Furthermore, there is a disconnect between employees and employers on how new skills can lead to growth or reward for employees: 58% of workers say their employer or company makes this clear, in comparison to 84% of employers who believe they make it clear.

Investing in ongoing formal and informal skilling opportunities with clear systems for tracking progress and implementing skills acquired on the job is critical for retaining workers long-term. Employees should have the flexibility to pursue such learning and development opportunities through a multitude of avenues in order to align with varied schedules and interests, whether that be through 'lunch and learns' or formal coursework. Creating a multitude of career pathways within an organization through such skilling programs allows employees to envision

a future within that organization that can evolve as they do.

The Bottom Line

Employees are prepared to make drastic moves if their needs are not being fulfilled in their current place of work; the COI indicates that 30% of Americans would quit their jobs without having another one lined up, and 46% would leave their company if offered a severance package of three months pay.

Luckily, the solutions for mitigating this are clear. Employees today want to feel seen and understood. When the appropriate employer support is provided to meet these desires, improved engagement and retention will follow. By encouraging continuous career progression through formalized, fully integrated skilling and mentorship programs, leaders will create stronger, more knowledgeable, and adaptable workforces that are invested in their organization for the long haul.

John

Woods, Ph.D.

, is

Provost

and

Chief

Academic

Officer

at the University of Phoenix. Dr. John provides leadership for the assessment of student learning, instructional innovation, faculty engagement, accreditation, and institutional reporting. He is the founding director of the University of Phoenix Career Institute, which annually publishes the Career Optimism Index.

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Hiring A Career Coach? 10 Misconceptions To Be Aware Of

Understanding the true value of a coach

By Brett Farmiloe, Terkel.io

Career coaching and consulting can be a game-changer for many professionals, but there are still some misconceptions surrounding the industry. To debunk these myths, we asked 10 HR leaders and coaches to share their insights on the most common misconceptions people have about hiring a career coach or consultant.

From understanding the difference between coaches and consultants to realizing that career coaching is accessible for all budgets, these experts shed light on the true value of career guidance.

● Discovering Ultimate Aspirations

● Career Coaching for All Stages and Success Levels

● Not a Magic Bullet for Organizational Issues

● No Secret Sauce, Just Smart Reflection

● Coaches Assist Various Industries

● Understand the Difference Between Coaches and Consultants

● Career Coaches Empower, Not Guarantee Jobs

● Revealing and Addressing Blind Spots

● Affordable and Accessible for All Budgets

● No Guaranteed Job Placements

Discovering Ultimate Aspirations

The first step towards career satisfaction involves seeking advice from an alternative career coach, who can help identify opportunities and rewards in the future.

Coaching is not about making snap judgments or implementing wholesale changes all at once. Instead, its purpose is to shed light on one's objectives.

When faced with major life choices, family and friends might offer support, but their advice and opinions may not always be objective.

The primary responsibility of a career coach is to assist clients in discovering their ultimate aspirations, no matter how outlandish they may seem. These coaches aid in narrowing down the options until they find the perfect one, ultimately guiding individuals toward their desired destination.

Aleksandar Ginovski, Resume Expert, Product Manager, and Career Expert, Enhancv

Career Coaching for All Stages and Success Levels

A common misconception about hiring a career coach or consultant is that it is only necessary for individuals who are struggling, facing significant career challenges, or are completely lost in their professional journey. This could not be further from the truth.

In reality, career coaches and consultants are valuable resources for professionals at any stage of their careers. Whether someone is starting out, seeking a promotion, considering a career change, or even an accomplished professional looking to sharpen their skills, a career coach can provide tailored guidance and support.

Working with a career coach or consultant allows professionals to gain valuable insights, develop a strategic approach to their careers, and achieve their goals more efficiently. It is essential to recognize that career coaching is not just for those in dire straits, but can be a powerful tool for anyone looking to maximize their potential and succeed in their chosen field.

No Secret Sauce, Just Smart Reflection

Working with dozens of award-winning career coaches has revealed many misconceptions over the years.

One of the biggest misconceptions is the belief that a career coach will share some kind of "secret sauce" that will shortcut one's career. This leads many professionals to figure out this unique advantage on their own.

In reality, a career coach acts like a smart mirror. All the top coaches are brilliant listeners. They do not offer advice or shortcuts (at least not at the beginning).

These top career coaches reflect what is going on in one's psychology, on their teams, and in their organizations, so that the individual can clearly see the problem, to begin with.

From there, coaches help clients think through workable solutions and then fix the problem.

Therefore a career coach is so much more powerful than simply reading a book. It works because it is individual to the person and their organization.

Dominic Monn, CEO, MentorCruise

Not a Magic Bullet for Organizational Issues

Career coaches and consultants are not a cure-all for resolving deeply rooted organizational issues. They can offer advice, enhance skills, and provide structures to help address the problems that led to their hiring. However, enacting change requires significant effort and support from the entire organization, from top to bottom.

Dragos Badea, CEO, Yarooms

Bogdan Zlatkov, Lead Instructor for HR and Hiring, Growth Hack Your Career

Coaches Assist Various Industries

Career coaches are not limited to working with people in traditional corporate employment. They can also assist individuals in a variety of areas, such as entrepreneurship, creative fields, and non-profit organizations. These coaches can advise on navigating the specific obstacles and opportunities that each industry presents.

Edward Mellett, Co-founder, TestHQ

Career Coaches Empower, Not Guarantee Jobs

A common misconception is that a coach will do the work for someone or magically provide them with a job. In reality, a career coach/consultant helps explore career directions and choices. They can assist individuals at any point in their career— whether just starting out, looking for a change, considering dual career options, or wanting to advance within their current company.

They provide guidance, support, and expertise in areas, such as career planning; identifying the right job fitment based on competencies, qualifications, abilities, and personality; job searching; scope for networking and interning; and preparing for interviews and the job overall.

However, the ownership and accountability of the career path and the effort to make progress toward the goals remain with the individual. A coach/consultant can be a valuable resource and sounding board, but they cannot guarantee job offers or success without the individual's action and commitment.

Understand the Difference Between Coaches and Consultants

A prevalent misconception when hiring a coach involves role clarity. Consultants are subject experts who advise, while coaches are process experts who consider the client as their own best expert. Career coaching often includes a combination of services, with the key being to start with training, followed by consulting, and ultimately coaching.

Another common misconception when hiring a coach is assuming that someone who calls themselves a coach has the training or credentials. This can often result in them being more of a consultant than a coach. To ensure proper coaching, it is important to inquire about their training, experience, and credentials as a coach.

Cathy Liska, CEO, Center for Coaching Certification

Revealing and Addressing Blind Spots

A coach's primary focus is to support individuals in connecting with all that they are and all that they can be. Many professionals understand their strengths and areas of improvement, and if they do not, a coach can assist with that as well. However, some things might not be as visible. These beliefs and behaviors may hold people back, sidetrack their growth, or limit their career trajectories. These are referred to as "blind spots."

Coaches are trained to recognize and work with clients to bring these blind spots into full view. By doing so, clients can experience their full potential.

Uravi Raichandani, Domain Expert (Assessor and Coach), Naman HR

Jennifer Lee, Coach, Up Front Coach

No Guaranteed Job Placements

When encountering a career coach or consultant making a guarantee, it is wise to tread carefully. Career coaches and consultants serve a different function than recruiters or headhunters whose primary job is to place candidates for jobs.

The role of a career coach or consultant is to help optimize the job search process, leading to a better or more fulfilling career choice that matches an individual's skills, values, and interests. They help clarify what one is looking for, ensuring a sound process is being executed, and providing context in what can often be a lonely journey with little feedback.

As the saying goes, if there was a proven way to get a job, everyone would simply follow those steps. However, the career search is a complex, dynamic process. This complexity is why there are so many different career coaches available. There are many ways to approach this work, allowing individuals to seek a coach whose process and philosophy best align with their own needs.

Affordable and Accessible for All Budgets

Career coaching may be perceived as expensive and exclusive to high-level executives, but in reality, many coaches offer flexible pricing options and packages to accommodate various budgets and needs. Some provide a one-time session or a package of several sessions at an affordable price point, while others offer long-term coaching relationships that are customizable to meet specific objectives and goals. Many coaches provide different payment plans to make coaching more accessible.

Investing in oneself and one's career is a wise decision that can yield significant returns over time, such as a promotion, a higher salary, or increased job satisfaction. Engaging in career coaching can help develop a clear career vision, set achievable goals, and gain the skills and strategies necessary to excel in a chosen profession.

Kimberley Tyler-Smith, VP of Strategy and Growth, Resume Worded

Brett Farmiloe is the Founder and CEO – and currently CHRO - of Terkel.io Brett is an SHRM Influencer and has also been a keynote speaker at several state SHRM conferences around the topic of employee engagement."

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INDEX

RESEARCH REPORT SUMMARY

The State of Coaching and Mentoring 2023 34

Survey conducted by: Sponsored by:

The HR Research Institute, powered by HR.com, the world’s largest social network for Human Resources professionals, is a key part of our mandate to inform and educate today’s HR professionals. Over the past three years, the HR Research Institute has produced more than 85 exclusive primary research and state of the industry reports, along with corresponding infographics in many cases, based on the surveys of thousands of HR professionals. Each research report highlights current HR trends, benchmarks, and industry best practices. HR Research Institute Reports and Infographics are available online, and always free, at www.hr.com/featuredresearch

The State of Coaching and Mentoring 2023

Prepare today’s workforce for future challenges

Coaching and mentoring continue to be essential components of most workforce development strategies. Done well, they have a demonstrable impact at both the individual and organizational levels. And our own past two annual research studies on these topics (The State of Coaching and Mentoring 2021 and 2022) showed considerable differences in both individual and organizational performance between those organizations that had highly effective coaching and mentorship programs versus those that did not.

Looking into the near future, the importance of coaching and mentoring will likely only increase in importance, in part due to a changing looming priority: the need for massive upskilling and reskilling. In this report, we take a deeper look at the factors and practices that fuel or hinder effective coaching.

Key Findings

● The importance and usage of coaching and mentoring are on the rise.

● There are several factors driving coaching/ mentoring programs.

● Despite the importance of coaching and mentoring, less than a third say coaching and/or mentoring in their organization is very effective.

● Coaching and mentoring face barriers to improving their effectiveness.

● More organizations are turning to technology to enhance their coaching/mentoring programs.

● Companies with more effective coaches/ mentors do things differently.

Exclusive Study By The HR Research Institute

How Critical Are Coaching and Mentoring?

About a third say coaching and/or mentoring programs have been in their organizations for five years or more. However, given the number of years coaching/mentoring has been in place, it is still relatively new or nonexistent for many

organizations; about a third say, they have had either coaching or mentoring programs in place for four years or less.

Seventy percent of respondents agree or strongly agree that coaching is an important practice in their organization, and two-thirds feel the same way about mentoring.

Coaching and/or mentoring are currently important practices in your organization. Percent responding agree or strongly agree

What’s Driving the Rise of Coaching and Mentoring?

We asked respondents to select the top five reasons for the increased usage of coaching/ mentoring over the past year. Helping people prepare for new roles and assignments tops the list at 52%, followed closely by helping others realize their potential at 50%. Further, 46% say improving employee engagement, and 41% indicate creating a positive culture drives the usage of coaching and/or mentoring.

The need for preparing the workforce for future roles is reinforced by similar reasons for increased usage of coaching/mentoring: preparing a pool of talent for future critical roles (35%), and upskilling employees (30%).

Are Organizations Building Cultures That Support Coaching and Mentoring?

While 69% agree or strongly agree that managers help others grow professionally, fewer say that senior leaders are positive role models for coaching/mentoring (55%), and that everyone is supported in reaching their full potential (47%).

Further, about three-fifths agree that employees are encouraged to seek out coaching and mentoring and that their organization values both internal and external coaching and mentoring.

Who Does Coaching and Mentoring?

In more than 9 in 10 firms, external coaches are utilized for some coaching. These external resources can bring experience, credibility and an outside perspective. In almost the same proportion of firms (87%), human resources engages in coaching activities. About three-quarters (76%) say that direct supervisors do coaching in their organization. Mentoring is frequently done by internal resources. Only 37% rely on external sources for mentoring. In more than 8 in 10 organizations, mentoring is done by non-direct managers (84%), executives/senior managers (83%), and colleagues/peers (80%).

How Do Organizations Choose External Coaches and Mentors?

Organizations use a variety of criteria to select external coaches or coaching services, however, no one criterion was selected by a majority. The most common criterion is the coach’s experience (35%).

What are the main criteria your organization uses to hire or contract external coaches or coaching services? (select all that apply)

Referrals from trusted colleagues, consultants or clients

Compatibility and trust

Credentials held (e.g., ICF)

Rates and fees

Track record

Ability to provide group coaching services

Return on investment (ROI) metrics

Quality of their regular repor ts

Educational degrees

We do not utilize external coaches

The Impact of Coaching and Mentoring

We explored the perception of coaching and mentoring based on two broad outcome variables: individual development and organizational performance. We found that 63% agree or strongly

agree that mentoring leads to increased individual performance, and 66% say the same about coaching. Similarly, 58% agree or strongly agree that mentoring leads to improved organizational performance, and 57% say the same about coaching.

To learn more about the state of coaching and mentoring in today’s organizations and for key takeaways and recommendations on the topic, check out the full report.

Read the Research Report

Why Embedding New Relational Skills Requires A New Style Of Leadership Development

How to best prepare individuals to step into a leadership role

By Amy Lavoie, Torch

Theworld is getting less predictable every day. Some things have not changed — investors expect revenue, growth, retention, engagement and productivity success on an endless upward trend. And now employers – and employees –expect more from the people who lead our organizations.

They want them to steer the boat safely through increasingly choppy waters. The skills now required for leaders – such as building remote culture, inclusive leadership, and managing ambiguity require a level of relational and interpersonal aptitude that is now table stakes for success.

At the same time, in an era of hybrid work environments and

increased labor mobility, we want leaders to be responsive and supportive of each person’s unique needs for development and growth. So being a leader is a challenging function. How do we best prepare individuals to step into a leadership role and achieve all this?

Working with Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, we asked 665 leaders from across several industries around the world about their experience of leadership development in the 2020s.

The study, Leveraging Coaching and Mentoring to Create More Effective Leaders, found that leadership development is changing to meet the demands

of today’s workplaces in the following ways:

Leadership is becoming more personalized — the vast majority of respondents (86%) agree that personalized leadership development is required in their changing work environment.

But we are getting more skeptical about some approaches. Though leadership skills training is still the most commonly used leadership development tool (80% of respondents), it is rated as much less effective than personalized and relationshipbased options, with 35% rating skills training as “extremely” or “very effective” versus a much higher 60% for coaching.

Chief executive officers (CEOs) are also redefining essential leadership skills. New workforce and strategic imperatives have changed the leadership style organizations need. Across the board, organizations are moving from more traditional authoritative leadership styles towards a much more trust-based dynamic. For example, we see a focus on developing relational skills (previously dubbed “soft” skills), e.g., the ability to motivate and collaborate with teams.

Leadership development is also, finally, getting more inclusive. Historically, leadership development opportunities were only offered to senior executives or “high-potential” leaders selected through an

opaque process. Today, 64% of respondents strongly agree that it is important to provide leadership development more broadly. In parallel, half told us they are working to increase the equity and inclusiveness of their mentoring and coaching programs.

It is also attracting more investment. All respondents in the Harvard Business Review Analytic Services’ study intend to increase their use of leadership development initiatives over the next couple of years. And the greatest planned increase is in overall leadership skills training (61%), but also personalized leadership mentoring (55%) and coaching (50%).

While these trends are observed across all respondents, the research pays special attention to the practices of leadership development standouts, which the research calls “leaders”—that is to say, the 26% of respondents who reported the strongest performance of their leadership development programs against desired results.

Compared with their peers, leaders report far more benefits from their leadership development investments. Intriguingly, and in line with the findings about focus on relational skills, the top benefit identified is better collaboration/teamwork, reported by 69% of leaders, followed by increased employee engagement (60%), better performance from teams, and greater emotional intelligence (59% each).

Reassuringly for all stakeholders, 35% of leadership development leaders report increased revenue as a direct outcome of their leadership development efforts. They are achieving this by following six powerful leadership current best practices:

1. Align Leadership Development with Business Objectives

Though two-thirds of respondents agree that their leadership development strategy is important to their overall business strategy, leaders are more likely (52%) to say that their leadership development strategy is aligned with their business strategy over their competitors

2. Customize to Their Organization’s Specific Needs

Leaders in our survey do not rely on out-of-the-box programs, but rather seek to tailor their investments to the unique culture, objectives and values of their workplace. 41% of leaders say their leadership development is very customized to their organizations, with 23% of “followers” and 13% of “laggards” saying the same

3. Invest in a Swathe of Relationship-based Initiatives

Leaders are more likely to leverage coaching and mentorship, and to cite those programs as their most effective ones. Organizations that have placed coaching and mentoring as key parts of their leadership development are especially likely to experience benefits from those programs. A significantly high 80% of those who view coaching as key strongly agree that they experience better collaboration/ teamwork, for example, and 70% of those who cite mentoring as critical agree.

4. Measure Results

We found that leading organizations are more likely to use multiple metrics when evaluating the results of their leadership development programs. They are also more likely to measure impact in the first place, and seem to be significantly more focused on outcome metrics beyond employee participation or

satisfaction, such as retention and promotion rates.

5. Ensure Consistency

Forty eight percent of leaders in our research have structured organizational processes in place to make sure their programs are delivered and managed consistently, compared to 27% of followers and 15% of laggards. One way some ensure consistency is by working with a third-party organization to help design, manage and measure programs.

6. And, Strive to Always Build with an Inclusive Mindset

We saw repeatedly that leading organizations are designing inclusive leadership development strategies: they are far more likely to offer development opportunities to people across levels, use a broader range of methods to identify potential participants, integrate diversity and inclusion into their initiatives, and increase access for high-potential and underrepresented groups.

What to make of all this? We knew that organizations are facing pressures that are redefining what skills leaders need to thrive at work. What we have found is that leading organizations are facing them head-on, and indeed, leveraging them as an opportunity to rapidly customize and adapt leadership development to meet their new needs and reap business rewards.

Though strategies diverge based on context, these leading organizations are more likely to invest in relationship-based initiatives like coaching and mentoring and more likely to align their leadership development strategy to business objectives.

Leading organizations are also customizing their employee development to their organization’s direct needs. They are building programs with the end in mind-often with third-party experts to achieve consistency and measure results. And finally, they are investing with an inclusive mindset, ensuring all leaders will benefit from leadership development designed to make them – and their organizations – successful.

Amy Lavoie is VP of People

Success at the people development platform Torch. She strives to help organizations, leaders, and teams create cultures where people can bring their best selves to work and do their best work.

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Learn to formulate a short- and long-term learning strategy based on evolving business needs in the digital age. Based on award-winning learning designer Brandon Carson's forthcoming book "L&D's Playbook for the Digital Age, this workshop focuses on providing a development program targeted to both current learning leaders and those aspiring to take on the role of leading a corporate learning organization. The workshop also provides an opportunity for participants to grow their professional network by connecting to like-minded learning professionals to learn and share as well as advance personal growth.

Webcast Like a Boss

Tips, tricks, strategies, and best practices improve your Webcast presentation skills. Our team of experts has gathered the most valuable and effective practices and methods to ensure you will be able to garner audience attention, tell your story, and give killer virtual presentations!

Lean Six Sigma Basics

The Lean Six Sigma Basics course teaches strategies, techniques, and concepts practitioners will need to complete process improvement projects.

Introduction to Agile E-Learning Development

This virtual self-paced course explores the methodologies and practices of Agile development and explains the key principles that form the foundation of Agile Project Management.

The Technology of Online Learning

Learn Best Practices Using Technology for Creating Online Learning. This course covers the key software and hardware options available, and it covers best practices in using technology.

Introduction to Online Learning

Learn Basic Techniques to Create and Deliver Online Learning. This course introduces the major models, tools, and techniques for creating and delivering online learning.

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Navigating The Changing State Of Coaching And Mentoring In Organizations

Personalization, diversity, and well-being; the future of coaching and mentoring

By Judith Germain, The Maverick Paradox

Organizations tend to use coaching and mentoring in ways that differ from individuals or business owners. Corporate coaching programs tend to be short and task-oriented, focusing on attaining a specific skill or goal. For example, dealing with a difficult work situation.

Mentoring programs tend to be relationship-based, focusing on personal growth and career development. Traditionally this has often meant senior and more influential leaders (male), sharing their knowledge and insight with less senior leaders (female).

These programs have tended to be delivered in person in the past, with this arrangement being just one of the indicators of an evolving change in organizational coaching and mentoring.

Following the Covid-19 pandemic, organizations have realized that they need to do more to keep their employees engaged and safe from burnout. They have also realized that they need to find solutions that do not require in-person interaction.

The Move Away from In-Person Coaching and Mentoring

Organizations are more willing to provide coaching and mentoring as a form of development for their high potentials or leaders ready for their next step. They recognize that it is no longer acceptable to expect employees to have a complete separation of their work and personal lives. Perhaps the first noticeable evolution is the delivery of coaching and mentoring via Zoom and Teams and the use of email,

text, and instant messaging, in that delivery. I have noticed that following the Covid-19 pandemic, my mentoring clients have appreciated a more immersive experience; where more touch points were previously desired.

Personalized Experiences

Programs that work well are those that provide a highly personalized experience tailored to the specific goals and needs of the clients, utilizing the right style or technique that will work for them. This includes how they are contacted in between sessions. It is important for organizations and employees to feel that they are getting the support they need and that the mentor or the coach is treating them like unique individuals and understands who they are and what they need.

Focus on Skills and Competencies

Whilst there is an uptick in organizations providing coaching and mentoring, programs have become less focused on fixing weaknesses and more focused on enhancing strengths and competencies that will allow them to reach their goals. The stigma that had traditionally been related to ‘having a coach or needing a mentor’ has been negated, and is now increasingly being seen as a highly sought-after leadership development opportunity.

Integrated Learning

Coaching and mentoring can be powerful catalysts for change, however, they are increasingly not enough to provide the often-rapid change that organizations and individuals are seeking. Traditional coaching and mentoring can lack structure and direction. Often the preferred outcomes are ill defined, and the type of program required is undetermined.

One way coaching and mentoring has evolved is that structured learning has become integrated

with the program. Supplementary learning can include pre and post-session work, online learning, listening to podcasts, talks and directed reading. The coach or mentor then blends the learning with their one-to-one sessions with the individual. This personalized program is more comprehensive and direct. It also provides depth and speed to the coaching/mentoring session as the individual reflects on the learning that they have gained from their blended, integrated learning.

Focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Since the murder of George Floyd there has been increasing attention on the makeup of the workplace and whether organizations are reaping the benefit of a diverse workforce. Research has shown that the more diverse a team is (for example, cognitive diversity, gender, neurodiversity, etc) the increased likelihood of innovation, engagement, collaboration and reduced burnout and mental health issues. Organizations are turning to coaches and mentors to help them create a more inclusive workplace culture, address bias, and provide support for underrepresented groups. Coaches and mentors can also help individuals navigate challenges and how to communicate effectively

with people from different backgrounds or how to build inclusive teams.

The Rise of Well-being Coaching

There is a growing emphasis on personal well-being, with organizations paying for mindfulness and stress reduction coaching, something which was unheard of just four years ago. With Generation Z and late millennials having a reduced loyalty to the workplace and more emphasis on their own mental health and well-being, organizations that provide coaching in this area have a strategic advantage.

Coaching and mentoring have evolved in recent years to become more personalized, strengthbased, and focused on well-being

and diversity. The rise of virtual coaching, mentoring and blended learning have also transformed the field. Coaching typically focuses on developing specific skills or achieving a particular goal, while mentoring tends to be a longer-term relationship focused on career development and growth. Understanding the difference between coaching and mentoring can help individuals choose the approach that best suits their needs and goals.

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Judith Germain is a Leadership Consultant/Speaker/Trainer/Mentor at The Maverick Paradox and is also a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and MBA PgDip graduate. For over 20 years, she has worked with hundreds of leaders across multiple industries to nurture, develop, & inspire them to become successful leaders who strategize, innovate and execute solutions.

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Show that management values the importance of the HR function, and has a commitment to development and improvement of HR staff.

Ensure that each person in your HR department has a standard and consistent understanding of policies, procedures, and regulations.

Place your HR team in a certification program as a rewarding team building achievement.

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Certified HR professionals help companies avoid risk by understanding compliance, laws, and regulations to properly manage your workforce.

HR Professionals lead employee engagement and development programs saving the company money through lower turnover and greater productivity and engagement.

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Strategies For Effective Learning And Development With A Remote Workforce

Top 7 tips for effective learning when your workforce is remote or distributed.

By Lilian Chen, Bar None Games

Overthe last few years, many organizations have shifted to a remote or flexible work model. While employees have benefited from saving time in their commute and becoming more productive during the workday with this model, it has presented challenges when it comes to learning and development (L&D).

The traditional models of on-the-job learning look very different when employees are no longer sitting directly next to their peers. Below, I share the top 7 tips for strategies for effective L&D with a remote workforce.

1. Embrace Virtual Training

One of the most obvious solutions for remote L&D is to embrace virtual training. Video conferencing applications such as Zoom, Skype, and Microsoft Teams have become ubiquitous in the workplace, and these tools can be leveraged for training sessions as well. By using virtual training, organizations can save on costs associated with in-person training sessions, while still delivering high-quality training to remote employees.

2. Make Training Materials Easily Accessible

Remote employees need easy access to training materials. This means that training materials should

be stored in a centralized location, such as a learning management system (LMS). The LMS should be easy to navigate and search so that employees can quickly find the information they need. Additionally, all training materials should be accessible from any device, including laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

3. Use Microlearning

Microlearning is a training approach that involves delivering small, bite-sized pieces of information to learners. This approach is well-suited to remote learning, as it allows employees to learn at their own pace and fit training into their schedules as needed. Microlearning can take many forms, such as short videos, infographics, or quizzes. By breaking training down into smaller pieces, employees are more likely to retain the information and can easily review materials as needed.

4. Use Interactive Training Tools

Interactive training tools can help keep remote employees engaged during training sessions. These tools can include things like trivia quizzes, polls, and breakout sessions. By incorporating interactive elements into training sessions, employees are more likely to stay engaged and retain the information presented.

5. Provide Opportunities for Peer-to-Peer Learning

Peer-to-peer learning is an important aspect of workplace L&D, and it is especially important in a remote work environment. Organizations can facilitate peer-to-peer learning by creating online forums, discussion boards, or chat groups where employees can ask questions, share information, and offer support to one another.

6. Offer Coaching and Mentorship

Coaching and mentorship can be incredibly valuable for remote employees, as it can be more difficult to receive feedback and guidance in a remote work environment. Organizations can provide coaching and mentorship through virtual sessions with managers or senior staff members. By offering coaching and mentorship, organizations can help remote employees feel more connected to the organization and supported in their professional development.

7. Evaluate Training Effectiveness

Finally, organizations need to evaluate the effectiveness of their remote L&D programs. This can be done through surveys, quizzes, or other

assessments that measure employee knowledge before and after training sessions. Organizations should use this data to refine their training programs and to identify areas where additional training may be needed.

How to Integrate it Into Your Own Workforce

Effective L&D is crucial for employee growth and organizational success, even in a remote work environment. By embracing the above tips, your organization can create a successful remote L&D program. Prioritizing employee L&D helps organizations ensure that their workforce is prepared for future challenges and opportunities.

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Lilian Chen is the Co-Founder and COO of Bar None Games. She is experienced in providing high-quality, remote teambuilding entertainment for companies and promoting inclusivity.

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