Unlocking Insights 2025: Business Trends through a coaching lens
Trends that are shaping the way people lead, grow, and work
Leadership development & culture development dominate public sector conversations
Navigating transitions and life balance were also common themes amongst clients in the public sector.
Leadership Development is the most common theme in the private sector
Change management, strategic thinking, changing role and team effectiveness all featured as popular coaching themes in the private sector.
Change Management in 2025: The Coaching Theme Growing Faster Than Any Other
After two years of stability at 4%, Change Management jumped to 14% of all coaching themes in 2025, making it the fastest-growing coaching need on the Hoolr platform. This rise reflects how leaders are increasingly turning to coaching to navigate restructures, shifting priorities, and the growing impact of AI on roles and expectations.
Coaching significantly boosts leadership confidence
Leaders saw one of the biggest confidence gains in Leadership Development, rising from 3.9 to 8.2 after coaching. This leap reflects how coaching helps leaders build clarity, strengthen decision-making, and step into their roles with greater confidence and authority.
Confidence in navigating new roles jumped dramatically after coaching
Confidence scores for Changing Role increased from 3.8 to 7.4, showing how coaching supports individuals stepping into new responsibilities. Coaching provides the space to process transition, build identity, and adapt quickly to shifting expectations in 2025.
Coaching drove major improvements in resilience confidence
Resilience saw one of the strongest confidence improvements, rising from 4.3 to 7.8 after coaching. With increasing pressure and organisational change, coaching helped individuals rebuild emotional strength, manage stress, and maintain stability throughout challenging periods.
Leadership Development tops the most common coaching needs of 2025
The top coaching themes of 2025 reflect a year defined by leadership pressure and constant organisational change. Leadership Development and Change Management dominate the list, driven by expanding roles, restructures, and the growing impact of AI on expectations. Other key themes, Strategic Thinking, Life Balance, Culture Development, highlight how coaching is supporting individuals to stay confident, adaptive, and resilient through ongoing change.
What 2025 Coaching Trends Mean for HR and Business Leaders
The latest coaching trends from 2025 show major shifts in what leaders need to succeed: expanding roles, continuous organisational change, and rising demand for relational skills like communication and influence. For HR and business leaders, these patterns highlight where capability gaps are emerging - and how coaching can strategically support leadership effectiveness, resilience, and organisational readiness for change.
With Leadership Development topping coaching themes and leadership confidence rising the most, organisations must invest in stronger leadership foundations. First-time and mid-level leaders in particular are inheriting bigger responsibilities due to restructures, hybrid working, and AI-driven role redesign and coaching is helping them build clarity, confidence, and capability
The surge in Change Management as a coaching need (from 4% to 14%) shows leaders are struggling to adapt to constant shifts in priorities, structure, and expectations. Coaching is increasingly becoming the space where leaders make sense of uncertainty and build stability for their teams. HR should prioritise long-term, organisation-wide change-readiness as a core capability.
The biggest confidence gains across the platform came in Influencing, Communication, and Leadership Identity. In an AI-reshaped workplace, human-centred skills, not technical expertise, are becoming the key differentiators for effective leaders. HR teams should focus development efforts on strengthening presence, interpersonal influence, and communication across their leadership population.
How Hoolr Helps HR and Business Leaders Respond
Turn coaching activity into actionable insights
See real-time trends across leadership, confidence, and capability powered by AI-driven analysis.
Make people development measurable
Track coaching impact with clear before-and-after progress, theme analysis, and organisational reporting.
Streamline coaching administration
Automate scheduling, feedback, tracking, and reporting so coaches and HR can focus on people, not admin.
See How Hoolr Can Transform Your Coaching Programmes. Request a demo below
Turn coaching activity into actionable insights
See real-time trends across leadership, confidence, and capability powered by AI-driven analysis.
Make people development measurable
Track coaching impact with clear before-and-after progress, theme analysis, and organisational reporting.
Streamline coaching administration
Automate scheduling, feedback, tracking, and reporting so coaches and HR can focus on people, not admin.