.svg)
.svg)
Over half of decision-makers in UK enterprises say talent and capability gaps are the main barrier to hitting their growth aspirations. Mentoring and coaching could be the hidden lever for success... but where do you start?
As reliance on AI grows, coaching and mentoring endure as symbols of deeper human connection. There’s been talk of AI coaches for a few years now (we explored whether or not LinkedIn’s AI job coach was up to the task last year), and that’s just one trend shaking up the industry.
To coincide with Thrive’s recent acquisition of Guider (the UK’s #1 coaching and mentoring software platform) we’re exploring some of their wisdom and asking: What do L&D leaders need to know about coaching and mentoring in 2025?
Luckily, we (and Guider) have you covered.
First, let’s define our terms. Coaching and mentoring often get used interchangeably, but they are two distinct disciplines.
At their core, both mentoring and coaching are about enabling people to be more effective, fulfilled, and capable in their roles. But they get there in very different ways.
So, with that in mind, here are five things you need to know about coaching and mentoring in 2025 – and beyond.
Courtesy of our new friends at Guider, we have a handy list of what to aim for and what to avoid in your coaching efforts. Download the full toolkit here, and read their top tips below:
Know your audience. Not everyone may want, or benefit from, having a coach. To state the obvious: If the coachee doesn’t have the desire to develop and learn, coaching isn’t the solution – and without their investment, it won’t be successful.
Build trust. First and foremost, coaching should be based on trust and communication. Invite the coachee to meet with two or three coaches to assess who they might work best with. (Tip: Once they’ve found their match, bring them together with the coachee and the coachee’s direct manager to build transparency and trust in the coaching process.)
Set clear expectations early. At the beginning of the process, set time aside to agree on the development objectives and measures of success. This is going to be your opportunity to identify any challenges – but also to recognise the coachee’s good work.
Don’t expect immediate results. Trust the process. The learning journey can be gradual but if everyone is committed to learning and taking action, you’ll see steady progress.
Get stakeholder buy-in. If your leaders buy into the programme, it’ll help establish and build a coaching culture in your organisation. (Tip: Those who have had coaching will also make great internal mentors.)
Don’t treat coaches as counsellors. While coaches are there to support and listen to coachees, they should never be substitutes for professional clinical help. Set those workplace boundaries early on in the process.
Ensure time is carved out specifically for meetings. Time restraints are one of the biggest reasons coaching programmes fail. Mitigate this by setting aside specific times for coaches to meet with their coachees.
Now we’ve rounded up Guider’s top tips for effective coaching, let’s turn our attention to their checklist for mentoring to discuss how you can make these relationships as successful as possible.
Make the most of tech. Use purpose-built mentorship platforms to keep things running smoothly. The right tools (like, just as an example, Guider…) use mentor matching software to pair people to the mentors who can help with their specific needs, and keep communication flowing back and forth (while handily remaining within the platform.)
Break down the barriers. Look out for anything that could stop people from taking part — whether that’s lack of awareness, complicated sign-up processes, or accessibility issues. Remove any blockers so everyone has a fair shot.
Get your story straight. If you want people to join in, you need to tell the story well. Share the benefits clearly, and inspire people with what’s possible.
Listen and learn. Check in with your mentors and mentees regularly. Short, well-timed surveys are gold for spotting what’s working and what’s not. And when you hear success stories, shout about them; they’re the best recruitment tool you’ve got.
Keep the buzz going. A well-planned engagement campaign can keep momentum high. Guider’s mentoring experts can help you come up with ideas, but think fun, creative, and relevant to your people.
Champion your mentors. Recognise the time and effort mentors give. Celebrate their wins and say thank you often. Gratitude goes a long way in keeping them motivated.
Add a little friendly competition. Regional challenges or themed initiatives can boost energy and give people an extra reason to get involved. Just make sure the focus stays on learning and growth.
Coaching is more important than ever in the age of AI. Sometimes, effective coaching is about simply sitting with uncomfortable truths; confronting them head-on so that the coachee can grow and improve. While AI can be a brilliant tool, its tendency to positively reflect our own opinions back to us is the antithesis of what coaching is trying to achieve.
As we mentioned earlier, the use of AI in career coaching was a topic of some discussion last year thanks to LinkedIn’s own AI coach. While we at Thrive fully embrace AI’s capabilities in learning and work, we’re also aware that coaching is a distinctly human practice; one that necessitates human connection and understanding to reach the coachee’s goals.
AI is skilled at synthetic empathy. Our own Helen Marshall had Richard Reis (founder of Spark, an AI dating site where real people form real relationships with AI bots) on her most recent episode of the Diary of a CLO podcast – and their discussion brought up some interesting points about the role of AI in human relationships. Does it have a role at all? Richard thought so, making the case that his app can help introverts simulate a real-life conversation – meaning they can practice and build confidence with a “robot” stand-in before moving on to a human suitor.
There’s a parallel to be drawn here between AI dating and AI coaching. While AI can simulate empathy, it by definition can’t experience it. After all, empathy is “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another” – and AI … well … doesn’t have feelings. As empathy is an essential cornerstone of good coaching, it’s safe to say that a 100% AI-only coaching programme is not the answer.
We know that without being told to behave otherwise, AI can create a positive feedback loop with the user, dutifully returning exactly what it “thinks” they want to hear. It can get dangerous, not to mention ineffective. (You need only look at the recent examples of “AI psychosis” to understand the full dangers of unchecked reliance on – and a perceived relationship with – AI.) When it comes to coaching, that leads AI to keep its “clients” firmly in their comfort zone.
The research reflects this. A study from last year explored the efficacy of LLM coaches, and found a crucial limitation: While the chatbot excelled when it came to 24/7 availability and single-loop learning (identifying next steps or refining existing plans), it struggled with double-loop learning (where the goal is to challenge the client’s core assumptions.) This led to results staying firmly in the “safe” zone, offering encouragement but rarely pushing clients into the uncomfortable – but necessary – territory that is essential for growth.
With all this in mind, AI is best used as a tool to help you in the coaching process (not a replacement for a living, breathing, human coach.)
The demand for leadership coaching is on the rise, now ranking as the third most in-demand service amongst executive learners according to research from Jonathan Moules at the Financial Times.
“Coaching is having a moment in executive leadership circles, and business schools are adapting their executive education programmes to meet the demand by including coaching in more of their short courses and part-time study sessions.”
The appeal is simple: Rather than swooping in to “fix” a problem, coaching is about giving leaders a space for reflection. In a world where leaders face a whole host of new challenges (like navigating a rapidly shifting digital landscape and leading remote or hybrid teams) a coach can provide some much-needed clarity.
Ultimately, great leadership is less about having all the answers and more about knowing which questions to ask – and executive coaching helps leaders do exactly that.
The global workforce is ageing. Developed economies all over the world are seeing workers stay in employment for longer; between rising living costs and stagnating wages, it’s starting to feel like retirement is a luxury only afforded to a lucky few.
And while older generations are increasingly staying in the workforce for longer, younger generations are entering it for the first time – resulting in a broader, more diverse range of ages in employees than ever before. So… why not make the most of it?
Reverse mentoring aims to do just that by flipping the traditional mentoring dynamic on its head, putting junior colleagues in the mentor seat and giving them the chance to share their unique insights with senior leaders.
Major organisation – and Thrive customer! – British Airways has fully embraced this approach, scaling its mentoring pairs from just 11 to more than 80. The success of these programmes comes down to a few essentials: building psychological safety so both sides can speak and listen freely, setting clear intentions and goals, pairing participants thoughtfully, and providing structure and support so the relationships are productive as well as eye-opening.
Done right, reverse mentoring can create the kind of powerful shift that transforms how leaders see their organisations.
Want to find out how Thrive and Guider could benefit your team?
To seamlessly introduce coaching and mentoring to your workplace, book a demo today.
Explore what impact Thrive could make for your team and your learners today.
%20(1).webp)
Over half of decision-makers in UK enterprises say talent and capability gaps are the main barrier to hitting their growth aspirations. Mentoring and coaching could be the hidden lever for success... but where do you start?
As reliance on AI grows, coaching and mentoring endure as symbols of deeper human connection. There’s been talk of AI coaches for a few years now (we explored whether or not LinkedIn’s AI job coach was up to the task last year), and that’s just one trend shaking up the industry.
To coincide with Thrive’s recent acquisition of Guider (the UK’s #1 coaching and mentoring software platform) we’re exploring some of their wisdom and asking: What do L&D leaders need to know about coaching and mentoring in 2025?
Luckily, we (and Guider) have you covered.
First, let’s define our terms. Coaching and mentoring often get used interchangeably, but they are two distinct disciplines.
At their core, both mentoring and coaching are about enabling people to be more effective, fulfilled, and capable in their roles. But they get there in very different ways.
So, with that in mind, here are five things you need to know about coaching and mentoring in 2025 – and beyond.
Courtesy of our new friends at Guider, we have a handy list of what to aim for and what to avoid in your coaching efforts. Download the full toolkit here, and read their top tips below:
Know your audience. Not everyone may want, or benefit from, having a coach. To state the obvious: If the coachee doesn’t have the desire to develop and learn, coaching isn’t the solution – and without their investment, it won’t be successful.
Build trust. First and foremost, coaching should be based on trust and communication. Invite the coachee to meet with two or three coaches to assess who they might work best with. (Tip: Once they’ve found their match, bring them together with the coachee and the coachee’s direct manager to build transparency and trust in the coaching process.)
Set clear expectations early. At the beginning of the process, set time aside to agree on the development objectives and measures of success. This is going to be your opportunity to identify any challenges – but also to recognise the coachee’s good work.
Don’t expect immediate results. Trust the process. The learning journey can be gradual but if everyone is committed to learning and taking action, you’ll see steady progress.
Get stakeholder buy-in. If your leaders buy into the programme, it’ll help establish and build a coaching culture in your organisation. (Tip: Those who have had coaching will also make great internal mentors.)
Don’t treat coaches as counsellors. While coaches are there to support and listen to coachees, they should never be substitutes for professional clinical help. Set those workplace boundaries early on in the process.
Ensure time is carved out specifically for meetings. Time restraints are one of the biggest reasons coaching programmes fail. Mitigate this by setting aside specific times for coaches to meet with their coachees.
Now we’ve rounded up Guider’s top tips for effective coaching, let’s turn our attention to their checklist for mentoring to discuss how you can make these relationships as successful as possible.
Make the most of tech. Use purpose-built mentorship platforms to keep things running smoothly. The right tools (like, just as an example, Guider…) use mentor matching software to pair people to the mentors who can help with their specific needs, and keep communication flowing back and forth (while handily remaining within the platform.)
Break down the barriers. Look out for anything that could stop people from taking part — whether that’s lack of awareness, complicated sign-up processes, or accessibility issues. Remove any blockers so everyone has a fair shot.
Get your story straight. If you want people to join in, you need to tell the story well. Share the benefits clearly, and inspire people with what’s possible.
Listen and learn. Check in with your mentors and mentees regularly. Short, well-timed surveys are gold for spotting what’s working and what’s not. And when you hear success stories, shout about them; they’re the best recruitment tool you’ve got.
Keep the buzz going. A well-planned engagement campaign can keep momentum high. Guider’s mentoring experts can help you come up with ideas, but think fun, creative, and relevant to your people.
Champion your mentors. Recognise the time and effort mentors give. Celebrate their wins and say thank you often. Gratitude goes a long way in keeping them motivated.
Add a little friendly competition. Regional challenges or themed initiatives can boost energy and give people an extra reason to get involved. Just make sure the focus stays on learning and growth.
Coaching is more important than ever in the age of AI. Sometimes, effective coaching is about simply sitting with uncomfortable truths; confronting them head-on so that the coachee can grow and improve. While AI can be a brilliant tool, its tendency to positively reflect our own opinions back to us is the antithesis of what coaching is trying to achieve.
As we mentioned earlier, the use of AI in career coaching was a topic of some discussion last year thanks to LinkedIn’s own AI coach. While we at Thrive fully embrace AI’s capabilities in learning and work, we’re also aware that coaching is a distinctly human practice; one that necessitates human connection and understanding to reach the coachee’s goals.
AI is skilled at synthetic empathy. Our own Helen Marshall had Richard Reis (founder of Spark, an AI dating site where real people form real relationships with AI bots) on her most recent episode of the Diary of a CLO podcast – and their discussion brought up some interesting points about the role of AI in human relationships. Does it have a role at all? Richard thought so, making the case that his app can help introverts simulate a real-life conversation – meaning they can practice and build confidence with a “robot” stand-in before moving on to a human suitor.
There’s a parallel to be drawn here between AI dating and AI coaching. While AI can simulate empathy, it by definition can’t experience it. After all, empathy is “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another” – and AI … well … doesn’t have feelings. As empathy is an essential cornerstone of good coaching, it’s safe to say that a 100% AI-only coaching programme is not the answer.
We know that without being told to behave otherwise, AI can create a positive feedback loop with the user, dutifully returning exactly what it “thinks” they want to hear. It can get dangerous, not to mention ineffective. (You need only look at the recent examples of “AI psychosis” to understand the full dangers of unchecked reliance on – and a perceived relationship with – AI.) When it comes to coaching, that leads AI to keep its “clients” firmly in their comfort zone.
The research reflects this. A study from last year explored the efficacy of LLM coaches, and found a crucial limitation: While the chatbot excelled when it came to 24/7 availability and single-loop learning (identifying next steps or refining existing plans), it struggled with double-loop learning (where the goal is to challenge the client’s core assumptions.) This led to results staying firmly in the “safe” zone, offering encouragement but rarely pushing clients into the uncomfortable – but necessary – territory that is essential for growth.
With all this in mind, AI is best used as a tool to help you in the coaching process (not a replacement for a living, breathing, human coach.)
The demand for leadership coaching is on the rise, now ranking as the third most in-demand service amongst executive learners according to research from Jonathan Moules at the Financial Times.
“Coaching is having a moment in executive leadership circles, and business schools are adapting their executive education programmes to meet the demand by including coaching in more of their short courses and part-time study sessions.”
The appeal is simple: Rather than swooping in to “fix” a problem, coaching is about giving leaders a space for reflection. In a world where leaders face a whole host of new challenges (like navigating a rapidly shifting digital landscape and leading remote or hybrid teams) a coach can provide some much-needed clarity.
Ultimately, great leadership is less about having all the answers and more about knowing which questions to ask – and executive coaching helps leaders do exactly that.
The global workforce is ageing. Developed economies all over the world are seeing workers stay in employment for longer; between rising living costs and stagnating wages, it’s starting to feel like retirement is a luxury only afforded to a lucky few.
And while older generations are increasingly staying in the workforce for longer, younger generations are entering it for the first time – resulting in a broader, more diverse range of ages in employees than ever before. So… why not make the most of it?
Reverse mentoring aims to do just that by flipping the traditional mentoring dynamic on its head, putting junior colleagues in the mentor seat and giving them the chance to share their unique insights with senior leaders.
Major organisation – and Thrive customer! – British Airways has fully embraced this approach, scaling its mentoring pairs from just 11 to more than 80. The success of these programmes comes down to a few essentials: building psychological safety so both sides can speak and listen freely, setting clear intentions and goals, pairing participants thoughtfully, and providing structure and support so the relationships are productive as well as eye-opening.
Done right, reverse mentoring can create the kind of powerful shift that transforms how leaders see their organisations.
Want to find out how Thrive and Guider could benefit your team?
To seamlessly introduce coaching and mentoring to your workplace, book a demo today.
Explore what impact Thrive could make for your team and your learners today.
%20(1).jpg)
.jpg)
.svg)
.svg)