This mid-year report highlights the most common coaching needs, confidence trends, and sector differences seen across the Hoolr platform from January to June 2025.

Drawing on anonymised data shared by coaches and coachees who opted in to high-level analysis, this snapshot offers a view into the evolving coaching landscape — helping HR leaders and coaching teams understand where individuals are seeking support, how confidence is shifting, and how patterns differ between the public and private sectors.

Insights are based on aggregated coaching goals, confidence scores, and reflective notes, allowing us to surface key trends without identifying individuals or specific organisations.

Unlocking Insights 2024: Coaching trends through a coaching lens, presents a comprehensive analysis of coach feedback and coaching trends. By analysing a range of coaching data, Hoolr has gained valuable insights into the areas where individuals face challenges, the observations they make, and the growth they strive for.

You can read more insights in the full report which is downloadable here

Trends in Coaching: Public vs. Private Sector

We have generated insight into themes between the Public and Private Sector from users across the Hoolr platform. The key coaching themes in 2025 from the Public and Private sectors were.

Private Sector Top Coaching Themes 2025

1. Strategic Thinking

2. Changing Role

3. Leadership Development

Public Sector Top Coaching Themes 2025

1. Leadership Development

2. Strategic Thinking

3. Communication

The headlines

HR leaders should note the contrasting priorities across sectors: public sector organisations are twice as likely to focus on leadership development (24% vs. 12%), while private sector counterparts place greater emphasis on strategic thinking (16% vs. 12%) and evolving roles (14% vs. 5%). These differences highlight where capability building vs. agility are taking precedence.

Coaching Impact in 2025

The Lowest Confidence Coaching Goals in 2025

Hoolr asks coachees to mark the goals they wish to work on during their coaching relationship and assign a confidence level to each goal.

Our data shows the goals with the lowest confidence level at the beginning of coaching relationships were:

1. Life Balance

2. Leadership Development

3. Changing Role

The Biggest Impact of Coaching in 2025

At the end of the coaching relationship coachees are asked again to score their confidence levels against their initial goals. In 2025 coaching had the biggest impact on goals associated with:

• Leadership Development- Confidence in leadership development more than doubled on average for coachees after engaging in coaching.

• Changing Role- Coachees reported having 94% more confidence surrounding changing role after they had completed a coaching relationship.

• Resilience- On average coachees felt that they we much more resilient after engaging in a coaching.

These areas benefit most because coaching provides a focused, reflective space to build clarity, self-awareness, and direction. It supports individuals as they step into new roles, lead with confidence, and manage pressure more effectively.

For HR, this reinforces coaching as a strategic tool — not just for individual growth, but for strengthening leadership pipelines and building an organisation more prepared for change.

Most common themes in coaching from 2025

Throughout the first half of the year, clients have consistently identified their most pressing coaching needs. The top three selected coaching needs in 2025 are as follows:

• Leadership Development

• Strategic Thinking

• Life Balance

• Communication

• Changing Role

• Team Effectiveness

The top coaching themes of 2025 reflect a strong focus on building leadership and strategic capability. Leadership Development leads the list, highlighting organisations’ need to grow internal talent amid ongoing change. Strategic Thinking follows, indicating a demand for employees to contribute at a more strategic level as businesses navigate complexity and transformation.

Themes like Life Balance, Communication, Changing Role, and Team Effectiveness point to the human realities of change. The prominence of Life Balance shows that wellbeing remains a key concern, while the rise of Changing Role and Team Effectiveness suggests many are adapting to evolving responsibilities and team structures — with coaching playing a key role in helping them stay confident and aligned.

What does this mean for HR and Business Leaders?

Invest in internal leadership development

Leadership Development has remained the top coaching theme across the Hoolr platform in 2025, accounting for 21% of all coaching conversations. This highlights a clear opportunity for HR and business leaders to double down on internal talent pipelines. Rather than relying on external hires, organisations are increasingly using coaching to equip emerging leaders with the mindset and skills to step up - particularly important in an environment where budgets are tight and agility is key.

Equip employees for strategic thinking and role transitions

The rise of Strategic Thinking and Changing Role as coaching themes points to a growing expectation for employees to operate beyond their functional roles. Business leaders should ensure staff have the tools and support to think long-term, adapt to new responsibilities, and contribute meaningfully to evolving priorities. Coaching is proving to be a powerful lever for building strategic awareness and confidence in times of transition.

Prioritise wellbeing as a performance driver

The presence of Life Balance among the top three themes underscores that employee wellbeing is no longer a “nice to have” - it’s a foundation for sustainable performance. Coaching data suggests that when people feel supported to manage their energy and boundaries, they show up more effectively. For HR leaders, the message is clear: supporting life balance isn’t a distraction from performance - it’s a condition for it.

For the practical implications and the importance of using this data, you can download your own detailed copy of Unlocking Insights 2024: Business Trends through a coaching lens

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