What Are The Critical Differences Between Coaching And Upskilling?

Omer Glass is the Co-Founder and CEO at Growthspace.

Continuous development is essential for ensuring leaders can navigate challenges and drive success at every level. Coaching is often a powerful tool for this growth, as it provides an avenue for guidance, reflection and support. On the other hand, 1:1 upskilling—or precision skill development—can be more effective for professionals looking to improve specific abilities and make measurable progress in their careers.

Coaching and upskilling have their strengths and limitations. The real challenge is knowing when to use each approach. Let’s break down the differences and explore when each approach is most effective for whom.

The Role Of Coaching In Professional Development

Coaching, especially for leaders, is all about giving individuals the space to reflect, be challenged and gain clarity. Whether internally sourced or brought in from a third party, coaches guide people through self-reflection and deep thinking about their goals and challenges. Unlike mentors or advisors, coaches don’t need to be field experts because they focus on facilitating thought processes and personal development. For leaders working through complex decisions or growth, coaching provides the support needed to gain fresh perspectives and solutions.

Of course, coaching has its limits, particularly when it comes to developing specific skills. For instance, if an employee is stepping into a new managerial role and needs to build relevant skills—like managing people, delivering a presentation or learning financial strategy—coaching might not provide the practical, hands-on guidance you need.

At Growthspace, we saw this in action. When we initially offered coaching as a product, customers felt it didn’t provide the focused, measurable results needed for real skill development. One customer complained that it only served as a one-way communication channel from the participant to the coach. They weren’t provided the kind of actionable tips or advice that are essential for skills development. We also found that senior executives responded better to coaching, compared to middle managers or junior-level employees.

So while coaching is great for reflection and working through high-level leadership challenges, it’s not always the right fit for skill building.

The Power Of Upskilling To Support Growth

Meanwhile, upskilling is all about precision. It’s focused, time-bound and designed to help people build a specific skill quickly. Whether this development takes place through internal programs or by engaging with third-party experts, upskilling provides targeted learning based on an individual’s unique needs. This might involve hands-on training, workshops or 1:1 sessions with an expert in a particular area.

Precision skills development works best when it’s personalized and focused on delivering real, measurable improvements. For example, upskilling can help a new manager learn to delegate, hold their team accountable and lead meetings. Employees can learn key communications skills or function-specific skills, like running agile sprints, account-based marketing or building a better sales pitch.

While 1:1 upskilling can be highly effective and scalable, it won’t be ideal if you’re looking to provide ongoing, long-term support to leaders. It’s also not a good fit for well-being support.

The Key Differences Between Coaching And Upskilling

When it comes to determining which development strategy is right for your leaders, here are several factors to consider.

• Timeline: One major distinction between these approaches is their timeline. Coaching is often ongoing, with regular sessions taking place over weeks or months. Meanwhile, upskilling is designed to deliver results quickly. For example, at Growthspace, we structure upskilling programs so clear goals are established at the start and a set number of sessions is spent reaching those goals.

• Progress Measuring: Because coaching’s focus is often on self-awareness and mindset, it can be harder to quantify progress. Since upskilling is goal-oriented, there are tangible improvements that you can track and measure over time.

• Who’s Being Served: When deciding between coaching and 1:1 upskilling, it’s important to think about both individual needs and overall organizational goals. For instance, if leaders feel alone when facing complex, long-term challenges, they may benefit from coaching support. That provides a space to reflect on their personal leadership journey, talk through their day-to-day challenges or collaboratively brainstorm ideas. On the other hand, if your organization has a crucial need for managers to build role-specific skills—like delegation, concise communication or decision-making—then precision skills development can provide fast, targeted improvements.

• Available Resources: Your organization’s structure and available resources are key considerations. Large organizations may already have internal coaches or dedicated L&D departments, while smaller companies need to seek external support to meet development needs. Even with third-party platforms to make initiatives scalable, you may need to evaluate whether your internal structure can support either initiative.

In my experience, using a combination of the approaches yields great results. Leaders who benefit from coaching often leverage upskilling to fill in specific knowledge or skill gaps. Meanwhile, leaders who built up specific skills might turn to coaching for broader leadership development. The key is aligning the strategy with both individual aspirations and broader business outcomes.

Final Thoughts

Coaching and 1:1 upskilling both play important roles in personal and professional development. But to get the most out of them, you have to know when to apply them. When you know what your organization’s leaders need, you can provide the right support to drive their growth—and keep your organization thriving.

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