The State of Coaching and Mentoring at Work

About the Survey

The State of Coaching and Mentoring Survey ran during January and February 2022. We gathered 228 usable complete and partial responses from HR professionals in virtually every industry vertical. Respondents are located all over the world, but most of them reside in North America, especially the United States.

The participants represent a broad cross section of employers by number of employees, ranging from small businesses with fewer than 50 employees to enterprises with 20,000+ employees. Questions for the survey were guided by an independent panel of HR professionals, coaching and mentoring experts who we thank for their invaluable insights.

Preview The High-level Findings Below

Below we’ve highlighted some of the most pertinent insights from the State of Mentoring and Coaching Report. Download the full report to dig into the other insights.

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Do Coaching and Mentoring Bolster Performance?

A majority of HR professionals view coaching and mentoring as a key enabler of performance

We explored the perception of coaching and mentoring based on two outcome variables: individual development and organizational performance. Seventy-eight percent agree or strongly agree that mentoring leads to improved individual development. Eighty-one percent feel the same way about coaching.

There were similar findings for the impact of coaching and mentoring on organizational performance. Seventy-two percent of respondents agree or strongly agree that mentoring leads to improved organizational performance, with 77% feeling the same way about coaching.

These findings support a growing body of research on the key role coaching and mentoring play in bolstering the quality of talent. In the next section of this report, we take a closer look at those practices that relate to better outcomes.

Most view coaching and mentoring as important practices

Close to two-thirds of surveyed HR professionals agree or strongly agree that coaching is an important practice in their organization. Similarly, another 60% feel the same way about mentoring. While this is a clear majority, this leaves about one in five respondents that disagree or strongly disagree that these are important practices in their organizations.

The importance of coaching and mentoring are only expected to increase

While coaching and mentoring are currently important practices, both are expected to increase in importance over the next two years. Sixty-four percent of respondents agree or strongly agree that coaching will increase in importance, and 62% see a similar increase in importance for mentoring. Some of the reasons for the uptick are discussed below.

The top barriers to effective coaching and mentoring are lack of time and the avoidance of difficult conversations

Effective coaching and mentoring are linked to formal training

As we might expect, high performing mentoring and coaching organizations are more likely to train their coaches and mentors. Sixty- four percent of the high performers provide formal training in coaching skills for some, or all, of their coaches. The same is true for only 46% of the low performer group.

Similarly, 62% provide formal training in mentoring skills for some or all of their mentors compared 34% for low performers. The biggest difference in these percentages comes from “all of them” responses. High performers are almost three times more likely than low performers to provide formal training to all of their coaches and/or mentors.

Are Organizations Building Cultures That Support Coaching and Mentoring?

Finding: Most organizations have a variety of components of a good coaching and mentoring culture

A coaching culture is one where coaching and mentoring tend to happen frequently, freely, and constructively throughout the organization. It becomes a core value and is characterized by open feedback, a high degree of trust, and honest communication.

The figure below shows the ratings of organizations across eight different cultural factors. Most respondents agree or strongly agree that their organization contains seven out of eight of the factors that help build a good coaching and mentoring culture. For example, 71% say employees are encouraged to seek out coaching/mentoring and 70% say that managers help others grow professionally.

But only 29% say that their coaches and/or mentors are incentivized for their efforts. We suspect there are some understandable reasons for this. For one thing, it can be difficult to tie monetary incentives to effective coaches and mentors. Especially among managers, coaching can be just a part of the job.

At the same time, however, non-monetary incentives and recognition should be given to outstanding coaches and/or mentors. For example, promotions can be based, in part, on a leader’s ability to develop strong teams.

The State of Coaching and Mentoring