A Glimpse at the Future of Mentoring and Coaching (Our Latest White Paper)

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We are pleased to announce the publication of our latest white paper, The State of Mentoring and Coaching. This white paper was co-authored by PushFar and Sheridan Worldwide, both leading experts in their respective fields, providing insight into the future of mentoring and coaching, offering valuable insights to help HR professionals, learning teams and organisations alike better understand how these programmes will be used in the coming years.

Organisations face new challenges every day. As we have seen over the last few years, both organisations and their employees must be able to adapt to change in order to remain competitive in the industry. Both PushFar and Sheridan Worldwide are passionate about helping organisations and individuals understand the importance of both mentoring and coaching and spreading awareness of how these programmes can be used to help combat issues across the globe, helping you make better decisions and navigate the ever-changing landscape.

We’ve seen huge transformations over the last decade, from the world of hybrid working to the increased demand for career progression and development from employees, with a massive 94% of employees revealing they would be willing to stay with an organisation for longer if they were willing to invest in their career.

Ed Johnson, PushFar CEO, reported that “Development and learning are becoming ever more valued and important for employees, especially as more and more Gen Z employees enter the workforce and climb their way up the corporate ladder. Organisations both large and small need to make sure they’re meeting these needs, if they’re to retain their talent in the long-term.”

One of the key goals of this white paper was to provide insight into the future of mentoring and coaching, helping organisations overcome challenges they will face through the use of employee learning and development. Throughout the report, we further explain the differences between mentoring and coaching, state our 6 top predictions for how mentoring and coaching will develop in the next few years and take a look at some of the challenges organisations and learning teams will be facing moving forward.

Some of our predictions include:

• Technology expands the scope of coaching: Technology is constantly changing, impacting the way we live, work, learn and connect with others. Advances in technology have opened up so many opportunities for people around the world, and coaching is no exception.

• Team coaching development: The adoption of hybrid working has allowed employees to work from home full-time or part-time throughout the week. However, for some organisations this has resulted in teams finding themselves able to operate as cohesive units. We believe that due to technological advances, team coaching will be used to develop and train their teams to be more effective and highly performing.

• Organisations will develop a coaching culture: As a result of the two above-mentioned trends, we predict that organisations will start to develop coaching cultures, where this highly impactful learning method is better understood by both employees and leaders alike.

• Mentoring will be used to support internationalisation: As more organisations operate on a global scale and more teams work remotely, previous barriers related to geographic location are being removed. We anticipate mentoring will help connect, engage, educate and empower global organisations in the years to come.

• Generation Z Mentoring: Gen Z is focused both on working for organisations that align with their values and provide career development opportunities, as well as organisations that prioritise diversity, equity and inclusion. The future of mentoring is where organisations use it to engage generations in the workplace.

• Mentoring for mental health and wellbeing: Mental health and wellbeing are key priorities for today's workforce. Many job seekers today are looking for jobs that support both of these factors. In the future, mentoring programmes will be more than just a learning tool, they will be used to meet employee wants and needs.

Staying ahead of the curve is crucial for success. We believe that this white paper will provide valuable information and perspectives for the readers and encourage all organisations, learning teams and HR professionals to download and read it to be prepared for future changes in the business environment.

The white paper is free to download and can be found here. Readers are encouraged to share this white paper with their colleagues to help them further understand how mentoring and coaching can be used to address challenges that may arise in the near future.