Introducing BetterUp, and why everyone needs a coach in their corner

We’re investing more of ourselves into our work than ever before, and we’re sacrificing a lot in exchange along the way.  Workplace studies have shown that many of us are struggling to adapt and thrive in our careers; we’re stressed, disengaged, and unprepared for many of the challenges we’re faced with as managers and leaders.

Naturally, HR teams are shouldering the brunt of companies’ efforts to course correct. As experts in their field, they understand the paradigm of the modern workplace and realize how essential it is for the business to keep their people happy. But they’ve been ill-equipped to meet this objective successfully. Until today.

Learning and development programs are fundamentally flawed

Despite a multi-billion leadership development industry, these tools aren’t tailored to how people learn.

HR teams spend millions of dollars on training, development programs, and learning tools every year. They’re scalable, but they over-promise and under-deliver. Why? Despite a multi-billion leadership development industry, these tools aren’t tailored to how people learn. They fail to integrate into our always-on workforce, and tend to lead to little or no lasting change. These existing solutions lack:

• Accountability: Whether it’s high intensity, low-frequency workshops or low-intensity, high-frequency e-Learning tools, both methodologies have low efficacy to change behavior or build skills. They’re deficient in long-term accountability or any reinforcing function.
• Infrastructure: With existing learning and development tools, companies lack the infrastructure to put learning into place or practice. These “data poor” tools leave HR leaders struggling to measure the outcome and understand if the desired results have actually been achieved.
• The human touch: Simply put: navigating today’s workforce requires more than a one-size-fits-all training module. Static programs lack human-to-human connection and aren’t personalized, engaging, or readily available when people need them most.

Why we’re launching BetterUp

To date, coaching has largely been allocated to a select group of people who are put on the “Fast Track.”

The leadership development industry has been in desperate need of innovation that aligns with the modern workplace. It’s why we are so passionate about the work we’ve been doing. Backed by psychological resources that allow leaders to sustain behavior, the BetterUp model uses a ‘Whole Person’ approach to measure leadership behaviors that have been proven to drive innovation, employee engagement, and business results.

Our platform was also built with the busy professional in mind. We’ve emphasized a mobile-first approach, interactivity, and personalization so your team can access individual coaches on the go and stay engaged in lessons that will actually help them change habits over the long-term (and not just collect dust in some long-forgotten physical or digital folder).

Coaching hasn’t scaled with the legacy coaching model, but that’s about to change. To date, coaching has largely been allocated to a select group of people who are put on the “Fast Track.” In other words, it’s been reserved for top performers, executives, and upper management. We want to change that so companies can develop leaders at scale, and give everyone the same advantage and opportunity to become a great leader, regardless of their starting point.

Today, we’re launching a movement to help every working professional become better at something and to rise to meet their potential. As my co-founder wrote, “Many people don’t have a fair shot at loving work.” We’re eager to change that. We’re pretty excited about this future of work. Are you?