HR professionals build the business case for coaching. They secure the budget, vet the providers, and launch the programs. Then they hand the opportunity to everyone else.
“They're trying to get approval to get it for everybody else, but they aren’t necessarily engaging in it themselves,” said Lori Sone-Cooper, an executive coach with HR Alliance Consulting & Coaching, based in Toronto.
Lisandra Suarez, SHRM-SCP, coach and founder of Life Unleashed, a coaching firm based in Orlando, Fla., sees the same pattern — and names it plainly. “Quite often we are the ones giving answers and solving all the problems,” she said. “So we all need a coach at any level in HR.” The people who build the systems of support, she said, are often the last ones to use them.
Sone-Cooper and Suarez spent large parts of their careers as HR practitioners, building up teams around them. HR professionals at every stage of their career can learn from the unique experiences and insights of Sone-Cooper and Suarez to help inform their own development, as they continue to support the teams around them.
What Coaching Is and Isn't
Coaching still carries some confusion, partly because many types of guidance get the same label. Suarez explained it with a sports comparison.
“Think of it as if you’re an athlete and you have a sports coach,” she said. “You are the HR athlete and a coach helps bring out the talent you naturally have.”
That focus sets coaching apart from other forms of development:
- A mentor shares what they’ve done and tells you what to do.
- A consultant delivers expert answers.
- A coach asks questions that help you reach your own solutions.
Sone-Cooper added that the real progress happens between sessions, when clients act on what they've worked through.
Signs It’s Time to Find a Coach
Suarez starts every inquiry with a simple diagnostic: “What changed? Why is it that you feel that you need a coach right now?”
Often, she said, something critical has landed in the professional's lap for the first time. Common signals include:
- A high-stakes assignment in unfamiliar territory.
- Knowing "enough to be dangerous" but not enough to do the work well.
- Feeling spent, stuck, or plateaued.
- Reacting in panic mode instead of building skills.
Coaching isn’t only for executives. Early in an HR career, it often closes a confidence gap that experience alone fills slowly.
“Often my early-career people will say, ‘I want to exude more confidence, but I don’t know how to do that because I don’t know enough about what I’m doing,’ ” Sone-Cooper said.
Newer professionals also get feedback asking for sound judgment before they’ve had many chances to build it. Coaching gives them a place to work through real decisions as they happen.
Direction matters, too. HR spans many specialties, and Suarez helps early-career clients identify which paths fit their natural talents. For some, coaching begins with the first move from doing the work to helping others deliver it.
Middle Management
At the midcareer level, the challenge shifts from technical skill to people skills. Many HR practitioners earn a promotion or a high-profile project and suddenly work across functions with colleagues they don't manage.
“So now it’s about, how do I work through people?” Suarez said.
Her clients often struggle to influence others without formal authority. Coaching sharpens their communication and builds the confidence to speak up. New HR supervisors also tend to hold onto work too long. One of Suarez’s clients learned to delegate, follow up, and develop her direct report instead of doing everything herself.
Data skills matter as well. Midlevel HR leaders must read the numbers and tell the story behind them.
Sone-Cooper noted that many midlevel leaders, especially those who move into HR from other departments, need a confidential sounding board to think decisions through.
Senior Leadership
At the top, the need shifts from skill-building to perspective and support.
“HR can be a very lonely profession, especially as you go higher,” Suarez said. She compared the CHRO role to the CEO role. Both carry heavy responsibility, and few people in either role have someone to think things through with.
When one of Suarez’s longtime clients became a global enterprise leader reporting to the CHRO, the coaching changed with her. It moved to enterprise-level thinking, C-suite relationships, and cross-functional leadership.
Sone-Cooper framed the senior-level question this way: People get promoted for being exceptional at their jobs, but can they create value through others?
Both experts say senior leaders bring their whole lives into sessions. As Suarez put it, people don’t bring just their best selves to work. They bring all of themselves.
What Coaching Can't Do
Coaching won’t hand you answers. Professionals who need technical direction may get more from other development programs focused on skill-building. In fact, skill-building is a top priority for CHROs who are focused on leadership and manager development. Over 2 in 5 CHROs (43%) reported that leadership skills are their top focus area, followed by management skills (38%), according to SHRM’s 2026 CHRO Priorities and Perspectives report. This indicates a need to build a foundation of knowledge for leaders across an organization.
Coaching also doesn’t work as a fix that someone else assigns.
“I really don't believe coaching necessarily fixes a problem. I believe a person has to really be motivated and really want the opportunity and be interested in being coached, because the agenda is always the client’s,” Sone-Cooper said.
Suarez agreed. Her most successful clients are the ones who stay dedicated and coachable.
Taking the First Step
HR professionals invest in everyone else's growth. They deserve the same investment in their own. A good first step is Suarez’s question: What changed? From there, exploring development opportunities can help with planning the next move. HR leads the organization’s people strategy, and it can lead its own development with the same confidence.
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