Why Career Coaching Is a Must-Have for Successful L&D Programs

Upskilling and career advancement are among people’s top workplace priorities this year but only three in 10 employees say that someone at work encourages their growth. What’s more, only 26% say their organization challenged them to learn a new skill and 15% say their organization encouraged them to move to a new role.

Career coaching can provide your team members with the support they need to realize their professional growth goals and reach their full potential.

What is career coaching?

Career coaching is a personalized approach to learning and development that provides your workers with the guidance and insights they need to navigate their career journey. 

Coaches can support their team members with everything from setting professional goals and career paths to skill and leadership development. Career coaching can also be beneficial during key employee transitions such as taking on new management responsibilities or returning to work after an extended leave.

Many coaches follow a framework, such as the popular GROW model:

1. Goal: There are different levels of goals depending on how far in the future the employee is looking. Coaches aim to identify the inspirational goal to drive success and keep energy and motivation high.
2. Reality: Coaches discuss the employee’s current situation and the barriers impeding goal achievement. Coaches ask questions to help the employee find their strengths. For example, the coach may ask, “What qualities or resources do you have to help you?”
3. Options: Coaches help the employee explore the options for moving forward. The more imaginative the questions, the more likely the employee may have a breakthrough insight. For example, the coach may ask, “How would you tackle this if time wasn’t a factor?”
4. Will: The coach and employee agree on specific actions and timeframe and set accountability and reporting. 

Through such frameworks, coaches can guide employees on both short-term performance improvement and long-term performance development.

Benefits of career coaching

Integrating career coaching into a professional development program offers many benefits to your organization — and to your team members.

Attract more job candidates

Nearly nine out of 10 job seekers want to see career advancement opportunities, a skills development program, and ways to progress toward a different job or career track. Career coaching facilitates these types of professional growth and helps your team members reach their career goals.

Share information about your career coaching program in employer branding materials so you can attract growth-oriented candidates.

Boost employee engagement

Career coaching gives your team members ownership over their professional journey and demonstrates your organization’s commitment to their success. This increases job satisfaction and motivates your team members to go above and beyond in their work.

In turn, highly engaged teams experience 81% less absenteeism, 18% higher productivity, and 23% higher profitability.

Close skill gaps

Skill sets for jobs have changed by around 25% since 2015, with that number expected to reach at least 65% by 2030. This shift is undoubtedly contributing to the 75% of employers who say they can’t find talent with the right blend of technical and soft skills. 

Career coaching can help your team members identify the in-demand and emerging skills they need to be successful in their current role — and in the future. Coaches can then explore ways to upskill and reskill so your team members can move along their chosen career path.

Increase employee retention

Two out of three workers have considered leaving their job due to a lack of career growth opportunities. 

Investing in your team members’ development and rewarding them with opportunities for advancement can boost employee retention. In fact, providing learning opportunities is the top way organizations are working to improve retention and employees have a 75% likelihood of staying if they’ve made an internal move.

Improve business performance

Given the many benefits of offering learning and development opportunities like career coaching, it’s no surprise companies often see this type of program improve their bottom line. Improving the engagement, skill level, and tenure of your workforce can increase productivity and performance so your team is better equipped to reach your organizational goals.

Companies that facilitate career development are 4x more likely to innovate effectively and 2.6x more likely to exceed financial targets.

Getting started with career coaching

Despite the many benefits of career coaching, organizations are underinvesting in this area: Only 14% of employers offered one-on-one coaching and mentoring last year.

Here’s how you can get started.

1. Get buy-in

Effective career coaching will require an investment from your organization, as well as from your team members. Securing buy-in from all levels of the organization fosters a positive reception of the program.

Get buy-in from company leaders by sharing your goals for a coaching program, the results you expect to see, and what you’ll need to get started. Given that executives’ top priorities are “keeping employees motivated and engaged” and “giving employees opportunities to move into different roles within the business,” this should be a very straightforward conversation. But if executives are unclear on the benefits of coaching, a good first step may be to run a pilot program with your leadership team so they can experience it firsthand.

You’ll also need buy-in from other participants to ensure they’re willing to invest their time and energy into a new coaching program. Communicate about the benefits your team members may see from coaching, including personalized career paths, targeted learning, and opportunities for growth.

2. Identify participants

Take into account your organizational goals and available resources when identifying coaches and employees to be coached. 

Coaches can be managers, peers, internal experts, or external consultants. Consider whether you’re able to hire dedicated internal or external coaches, or whether it makes more sense to train your managers or other employees to assume coaching responsibilities. You may decide to use a combination of these options. For example, you could hire an external consultant for executive coaching, train an existing manager for sales coaching, and put together a peer coaching group for everyone else.

Decide upfront which team members will have access to coaching and how they’ll be able to access it. You may choose to offer coaching to a subset of employees such as leaders, high potential employees, or people from underrepresented communities to reach specific organizational goals. Make sure you pay attention to your values and organizational goals when you make this decision. For example, teams that value internal equity or promote a culture of learning may want to extend coaching opportunities to everyone.

3. Connect career paths to learning opportunities 

Setting goals and building an action plan are integral components of popular coaching frameworks. While coaching sessions should maintain a sense of confidentiality to build trust between the coach and the employee, understanding your team members’ goals can help you support them. Ask your team members if they’d like to share their professional goals and their plan to achieve them. 

Integrate your coaching program with the rest of your L&D program by connecting employee goals to growth opportunities your organization offers. For instance, digital learning, stretch assignments, and mentoring can complement coaching sessions and reinforce learning. Revisit each employee’s development plan regularly to adjust to shifting goals and needs.

4. Recognize and reward your team members 

Recognizing and rewarding your team members’ efforts and achievements can build momentum for your coaching program and contribute to a culture of learning.

Recognize your team members’ growth as they implement changes from their coaching program. Be specific, calling out positive changes you’ve noticed in their performance and how they’re benefiting your organization. 

Offer raises, lateral moves, and promotions as appropriate to show your team members that their efforts and achievements are valued. This is an important part of retaining the talent you’ve invested in and encouraging continued participation.

And when you see that coaching is truly making an impact for a team member, share their success story with your team. Public accolades are a great way to recognize a team member’s progress and highlight the advantages of participating in your program (just make sure your employee is amenable to public praise first).

5. Measure your progress

Tracking your upskilling program’s progress and measuring your success can guide opportunities for improvement and help ensure continued investment and participation. 

Establish clear metrics to evaluate the impact of coaching, such as:

• Improved performance reviews
• Higher employee productivity
• Increased employe retention
• Progress toward closing workforce skill gaps
• Participant demographics

Measuring your progress allows you to make continuous improvement so that your coaching program remains relevant and effective as the organization and your team members evolve. Pair this with participant feedback to gain a full understanding of your program’s impact and uncover opportunities for improvement.

Final thoughts: Career coaching naturally aligns with your development program

Career coaching serves as an excellent precursor to your other employee development initiatives. Coaches work with your team members to consider their career goals and the steps they’d ideally take to get there. The coaching process gives your team members more clarity and control in their professional journey so they can feel fulfilled and satisfied with their career choices.

This is a win for both your organization and your team members. Happier, more satisfied employees often go above and beyond in their work and stay at your organization longer to make an impact and help you reach your organizational goals.