|
When I earned my coaching certification, I logged into the first session and realized something startling: I was the only academic in a cohort of over 40 people.
My classmates were employees from Google, Facebook, and other major tech firms. As we worked together, I saw a stark contrast. While higher education often views coaching as a "fix" for struggling faculty or a specific role for staff, these companies saw it differently. They weren't just training individuals; they were building a Coaching Culture.
The Corporate Realization
I tend to view all things corporate with skepticism. But what I saw in that cohort wasn't a focus on cold efficiency; it was a focus on mindset.
In every other sector, coaching has graduated from a "remedial intervention" to a "high-performance resource." Companies like Microsoft and Google have realized that in a rapid-fire knowledge economy, "command and control" leadership fails. Innovation dies when everyone is trying to prove they are the smartest person in the room.
-
Google’s "G2G" program democratizes coaching, training peers to support peers.
-
Microsoft famously shifted from a culture of "know-it-alls" to "learn-it-alls"—operationalizing the very "Growth Mindset" we value in education.
The Multiplier Effect: Intervention vs. Ecosystem
In Higher Education, we often rely on interventions—hiring "Student Success Coaches" to catch students before they fall. These roles are crucial, but without a supporting culture, they are fighting an uphill battle.
A Coaching Culture changes the ecosystem. It acts as a multiplier on every other investment you make:
-
It closes the "Experience Gap": Students shouldn't experience a "warm handoff" in the advising center only to walk into a rigid, defensive classroom. In a coaching culture, the student encounters a consistent language of growth and inquiry in every room they enter.
-
It Solves the "Fix-It" Burnout: In a traditional academic culture, leaders are expected to have all the answers. This leads to decision-fatigue and burnout. In a coaching culture, the focus shifts from "fixing" to "developing." Problems are solved at the level they occur because staff are empowered to think, not just comply.
The Evidence is Consistent
When you change the culture, the numbers follow.
-
For Students: We know coaching works. Research (most notably the Bettinger/Baker study) has shown that coaching interventions can increase student retention and graduation rates by 9–13%.
-
For Staff: The impact on the workforce is just as stark. According to research by the ICF and HCI, organizations with strong coaching cultures report 61% higher employee retention than their peers.
The Invitation
My time in that cohort taught me that the most innovative companies have moved from "managing" to "coaching." The invitation now is for higher education to do the same—building a culture that supports the students we want to graduate and the staff we want to keep.
When you work with LifeBound to build this infrastructure at your institution, you will help turn "support" from a buzzword into a daily practice across departments and divisions.
LifeBound offers flexible and affordable coaching training for faculty, academic coaches, and staff, including:
To learn more or explore which option is right for you, visit www.lifebound.com.
| 
