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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