How to create leaders who coach, rather than command

We’re facing a career confidence crisis. Work is changing fast, yet many employees feel stuck. At LinkedIn, our data shows workforce confidence has dropped to a five-year low, and only 15% of employees say their manager has supported them with career planning in the past six months.

Managers can play a big role in righting the ship—helping employees build the new skills they need to stay relevant and develop into future leaders. But this requires a fundamental shift: transforming them from task-overseers to coaches developing talent and sparking the best ideas from their teams. There are some key steps any company can take now to develop a culture of coaching that starts with your managers—but extends well beyond them.

Start to develop your managers as coaches 

If you want your managers to become coaches, that starts by coaching your coaches. Just like elite athletes rely on coaches to reach peak performance, managers also need coaching to unlock their full potential. Coaching is a skill that needs to be intentionally developed. Executives are starting to grasp this opportunity. Nearly 80% of global CHROs agree their managers in the future will spend less time managing tasks and more time coaching teams. 

Leading companies are doubling down on this already. For instance, IBM supports first‑ and second‑line managers to grow through targeted programs, assessments, and skill-aligned badges. Manager Impact, for example, is an interactive learning experience that coaches new managers on how to lead with confidence, create meaningful employee experiences, and navigate real-world leadership challenges. Managers who complete these programs achieve significantly higher employee engagement scores, says IBM. 

Coca-Cola is taking similar steps to grow managers into coaches by implementing rigorous leadership assessments to select the right people for leadership roles, and then providing cohort-base development to set those people managers up for success as coaches. They’ve seen notable upticks in how employees are rating their managers, as well as a boost in overall employee satisfaction. 

Taking the time to develop your managers into coaches is key to helping employees get “unstuck” and supercharging growth across the business. Plus, providing managers with the tools and support they need to excel in their roles improves their own retention and engagement, creating a virtuous cycle that benefits the entire organization.

Consider making professional 1:1 coaching an employee benefit  

It’s important to recognize your teams are operating through a moment of historic work change. By 2030, we expect 70% of the skills used in most jobs will change, with AI emerging as a catalyst. To keep pace, your people need more support.

Training managers to coach is essential, but they can’t do it alone. That’s why more companies are bringing in independent career coaches who offer specialized guidance on complex workplace challenges, like navigating difficult workplace relationships, managing career transitions, or developing crucial interpersonal skills that AI can’t replicate.

Kearney, a business consulting firm and LinkedIn Top Company for 2025, has taken this approach by offering a six-month individualized coaching program and practice rotations designed to accelerate consultant growth. And at LinkedIn, we recently made the decision to offer every single employee, regardless of their job function or seniority level, an opportunity to work directly with an independent career coach. This investment in personalized development is already showing promising results, with 97% of our employee participants saying they feel more confident in their ability to navigate their careers after coaching.

Scale personalized coaching in new ways with the help of AI 

There is no replacement for one-on-one coaching from a trusted adviser, but that person can’t be there for you 24/7, which is where AI tools can round out your strategy.

While many leaders are focused on AI’s impact on productivity, AI for coaching is emerging as the next frontier, with more companies experimenting and seeing early gains. We’re seeing firsthand how more organizations are tapping into our AI-powered coaching features in LinkedIn Learning, with companies like Gates Foundation and Thomson Reuters actively using our new coaching tool to help their managers practice new skills. Companies are already saying this is helping their employees better prepare for that difficult conversation or high stakes presentation. 

Building a strong culture of coaching will always be rooted in human expertise, but it can be complemented and scaled to new heights with the help of technology. 

The most valuable skill we can cultivate today isn’t technical—it’s teaching our people how to learn continuously in a rapidly changing world, building resilience that no economic shift or technological disruption can shake. By investing in coaching, you’re not just developing skills—you’re unleashing the uniquely human potential that will define success in the AI era and beyond.

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