The prospective confluence of business coaching and HCM technology

“The goal of good coaching is the goal of good management: to make the most of an organization’s valuable resources.”

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Coaches. We’ve all had them. Others have them for a lifetime. Whether it concerns one’s career, or leadership, whether it be a small business, or a multi-national one, the benefits of coaching cannot be overstated. When seeking advice on growing a company, most business owners have a limited number of resources to turn to. And despite the numerous literatures on it, generic advice has no skin over personalized guidance.  

Over the years, the demand for business coaching and mentoring has grown rapidly as people discovered its power to unlocking potential and helping individuals and organizations reach their goals. However, business coaching isn’t the sole force that guides company-wide change.  As companies, workforces, and work environments have evolved, technology has hung along for the ride. And 2022 was the year for HR Tech. Whether it was to encourage employee engagement, manage feedback cycles, or recruit new blood, HCM technology enabled organizations to realize its practicality during a pandemic, and beyond it.  

Now, allow to me to digress as I paint a couple of shapes that will eventually amalgamate into a sensible whole.  

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The lucrative business of business coaching

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Business coaches, who are typically business owners themselves, use their experience and talents to help other business owners accomplish their goals. They both train and mentor, teaching skills that guarantee success and wisdom should there ever be doubt. Unlike the Business Management for Dummies textbook, a coach’s job is more hands-on. And like any other coach, business coaches work to refine the leader’s talents, focus and guide their decisions, strategize goals, and just ensure successful business operations. Every business is unique and coaches are versatile in the services they offer.

It is commonly perceived that business coaching is only meant to help struggling businesses. However, that is a misconception. Whether one is building a business from the ground up, or whether a business has hit a plateau, with their experience and expertise, coaches aid business owners in easing their burden, strategizing action, and just making the experience more worthwhile.  

According to a study published by the International Coaching Federation, 86% of organizations saw an ROI on their employee coaching engagements. Behind this result were factors such as increased productivity, high levels of employee performance, reduced costs, higher retention, as well as growth in revenue and sales.  

Employee coaching and mentoring services are a lucrative business investment that many studies indicate, time and again, of its significant returns to a variety of key areas.  

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Transformation through HCM

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If you punch in the letters “Human Capital Management” on the search bar, your screen will be flooded with a billion results. It’s not a surprise how hot the topic is, considering the leaps made in the field during the year of the Covid-19 pandemic. As a practice, human capital management is related to the management of people as resources, and focuses on three main categories:  

1. workforce acquisition,  

2. workforce management,  

3. workforce optimization.

An HCM solution is an integrated system that automates these crucial HR processes and provides employee self-service capabilities, thus reducing costs, increasing efficiency, and optimizing processes. The concept of HR is as old as time itself, but its permutations have constantly evolved. Organizations rely on their HR departments to obtain insights into their human enterprise, and HCM technology lies at the core of business efficiency. Disruptive technologies such as these have the power to spark digital transformation within an enterprise.  

However, despite HCM technology's popularity, the report on HCM Adoption Trends and Customer Experience shows that the ROI and user satisfaction is low. The causes for this may be the difficulty in measuring ROI for HCM technology, or the employees’ inability to use the software efficiently, or the tech just isn’t the right fit for the company’s unique needs.  

Aligning technology with organizational needs requires a study of employees’ needs, an analysis of challenges with current systems, and a strategy towards effective digital transformation. And who’s better to guide businesses through this pivotal phase than a coach?

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The prospective confluence

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Running a business comes with its rewards, but not too far behind are its demands and stressors. Bringing in a professional coach means organizations will have someone in their corner who will use their experience and expertise to analyse the environment, foster team development, and optimize the work culture. Owing to the cultural disruption of 2022, business coaching and HCM technology have emerged as behemoths in a lucrative field, and are now standing at the junction of a potential non-zero-sum game. On one side, there's new age tech that can change the mundane over its heels and re-energize people process, and on the other, human talent and expertise that can channel the potential of HR tech and enable digital transformation.

An AI-powered HCM system is only as good as the people who can apply it to the extent of its potential and their robust strategy. Associating with the future of work is a wise strategy; By leveraging their strong network and the power of transformative HCM technology, business coaches have the providential chance of partnering up with the future of HR. And who better to explore this beguiling opportunity than with peopleHum?