Report: Coaching Tech: The Humans and the Robots | RedThreadResearch

The profound shifts in work and the workplace have emphasized the vital role that “coaching” can play in helping workers navigate these changes. Simultaneously, HR tech continues to evolve. As these two forces converge, firms have an opportunity to augment their human-based coaching with coaching enabled through technology. Based on survey responses from 45 coaching tech vendors, RedThreadResearch has developed a 2×2 model to help organizations better understand the coaching tech space. The model’s two axes are 1) Human vs. machine delivery and 2) Utilizing internal vs. external resources to deliver the coaching. This model, Figure 3 on p.12, plots the 45 tech vendors into four distinct quadrants. For example, the Human Coaches, External Resources quadrant (upper right) includes “coaching tech that matches external professional coaches with internal employees and provides a platform for continued interaction between coach and coachee.” The 56-page report contains a section for each quadrant and describes how HR tech providers could best serve various coaching needs (e.g., just-in-time coaching). As firms vet providers on their coaching capabilities, page 50 includes a valuable set of questions—organized by the quadrants. For another excellent resource on this topic, check out Josh Bersin’s report, Coaching at Scale: AI Democratizes Leadership Development.