Coaching programs are increasingly becoming a part of learning and development (L&D) initiatives to improve learner outcomes, facilitate training and provide timely feedback. However, as learner expectations continue to evolve in today’s world of work, L&D professionals must refine their leaders’ coaching skills to match modern training needs.  

This way the program can benefit the business and employee. According to Michelle Clayton, director of talent and organizational effectiveness at Visier, “Organizational coaching programs can help a business achieve a singular goal, like introducing new software, successfully integrating after a merger and acquisition (M&A) or reaching diversity and inclusion goals.”  

Jessica Roper, director of career services at the University of Phoenix, shares that, “Coaching programs can serve as a valuable tool for employee development … enabling employees at all levels to identify strengths and weaknesses … and assist organizations in talent and succession planning.” 

However, for coaches to facilitate the best possible training experience for learners, they must receive proper training and guidance. While leaders and/or high-potential employees may exude the skills needed in a coach (e.g., empathy, active listening), they must refine those skills and learn how to apply them effectively. Otherwise, the coaching program may not hit the mark on meeting business objectives.  

In this article, we’ll review key insights on continuous learning for coaches and the three skills every L&D leader should train their organization’s coaches on.  

3 Skills Every Coach Needs 

Coaching is a skill that should be taught and reinforced. Sarah Leydon-Anand, senior director of executive development at LinkedIn, shares her company’s latest research from the 2023 LinkedIn Future of Work report: “The skills required to do jobs are predicted to change by at least 65% by 2030 with new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) driving a lot of shifts.” This means that everyone in the organization (coaches included) will need L&D to remain knowledgeable.  

L&D professionals have a responsibility to ensure that they don’t only seek out leaders and seasoned employees who have the potential to be a coach, but also facilitate feedback, practice and training so that potential can become a learned skill.  

The training should be an ongoing process to close widening skills gaps, especially as technology continues to evolve. By continuously improving their company’s internal coaching program, learning leaders can ensure that it’ll continue to meet evolving business needs, and make a visible impact in their organization and community.  

Let’s take a look at three skills every coach needs to help foster a successful internal coaching program: 

Management skills. 

In a LinkedIn report, leadership and management skills were listed as one of the top training topics professionals need right now. Management is a critical human skill that includes knowing how to delegate, coordinate and make important decisions on the job. Management skills also include other human skills like problem-solving, empathizing and active listening. Whether your internal coaches are in leadership positions or not, taking a course on management skills is imperative to ensuring they’re equipped to communicate and interact with their coachee(s), build trust and rapport, execute a strategic learning plan and procure positive outcomes. With these much-needed capabilities in their toolbox, in-house coaches will be prepared to handle the responsibility of supporting and guiding employees.   

Learning leaders can use online courses through providers like LinkedIn Learning, Coursera or Udemy to upskill coaches at their own pace and time. “Coaches and L&D pros alike need to make time for their own skill building to be effective,” Leydon-Anand says. “It’s like putting on an oxygen mask before helping others. This includes not just brushing up on coaching skills but developing and expanding beyond core training and development skills.”  

Digital upskilling. 

A sure way a coach could lose trust with a coachee is demonstrating incompetence when operating new technologies. According to an article from Training Industry, trust is the foundation to any meaningful relationship and is critical for frictionless learning — an approach that aims to remove barriers and obstacles that impede the learning process. Lack of digital skills can act as a barrier to the learning process, causing friction. If this happens, a coachee can lose trust in their coach, thus hindering program results.  

Along with management skills, coaches should be upskilled in digital literacy — the ability to effectively use digital technologies. This is especially critical for virtual coaching, which relies on a video conferencing platform, a learning management system (LMS), and/or collaboration and project management apps to communicate. If a coach is 10 minutes late to a virtual session due to “technology problems,” imagine how the coachee may feel when entrusting their professional and personal goals to the coach.  

“When it comes to coaching, modern learners want to be able to meet with coaches on their own schedule [through] coaching applications [and] asynchronous coaching activities,” Clayton shares. Since today’s learners expect a digital approach, whether in person or virtual, coaches must be prepared to use the technology, whatever it may be. That way, they can also guide the coachee through the platform and troubleshoot any issues that may arise.  

Ethical leadership.  

According to another Training Industry article, people are more apt to follow leaders who practice self-control and know how to take responsibility for their actions. Ethics training teaches coaches how to demonstrate these behaviors and conduct themselves in a way that aligns with organizational values. Training coaches on ethical principles can lower risk of offending a coachee for example, or making an unethical decision that could reflect poorly on the program.  

Topics like racial bias and discrimination should also be included in coaches’ learning curriculums so they can be aware of any implicit biases that could interfere with the coach-coachee relationship. The aim is to ensure learners have a positive experience, the coaching program adheres to company culture and values and that the program makes a true, measurable impact on the business’s bottom line.  

Looking Ahead  

L&D departments should include learning offerings, such as a prerequisite eLearning course, for coaches to ensure that the coaching program drives results. In this digital transformation, both seasoned and new employees are having to learn new skills and capabilities to stay ahead of the curb. If your coaches aren’t trained on emerging tech and skills, how can they help your employees? A lack of trained coaches can hinder training’s ROI and make the program a dud (which won’t look too good in front of company stakeholders).  

By developing internal coaches, learning leaders can ensure that their coaching program will bring success to the business and their learners — and empower their coaches to be the best they can be.