For progressive, purpose-driven organisations, coaching has become a defining leadership capability. In an environment shaped by constant change, skills shortages and evolving employee expectations, organisations need leaders who can empower others, build trust and support sustainable performance.
When embedded effectively, coaching strengthens engagement, improves retention and supports leadership pipelines. It creates a space for reflection and encourages better decision-making, which in turn fosters cultures where people feel motivated to grow.
Toyota’s experience provides a powerful proof point. By implementing and embedding coaching as a core organisational capability, supported by rigorous ILM Coaching and Mentoring qualifications, Toyota has developed coaching practitioners who are ready to operate confidently and ethically in the workplace.
Learn more about Toyota’s coaching journey in this video
Why coaching has become a critical capability for progressive organisations
Leadership today is about more than directing work or managing performance. It requires the ability to listen deeply, ask the right questions and support others to find solutions in complex and uncertain environments.
Coaching has emerged as a leadership powerhouse because it addresses multiple organisational challenges at once. It supports performance by enabling individuals to take ownership of decisions. It strengthens wellbeing by creating psychologically safe spaces for reflection. It supports inclusion by shifting leadership conversations from instruction to curiosity and trust.
However, coaching only delivers these outcomes when it is practised well. Without structure, ethical grounding and clear standards, coaching risks becoming inconsistent or superficial. Good intentions alone are not enough.
This is where ILM’s approach steps in. It’s grounded in the belief that coaching capability must be developed through structured pathways, practical application and reflective practice. Coaching is not something practitioners simply learn about. It’s something they must practise, gain feedback through supervision and refine in everyday real work settings.
For organisations that are committed to long-term people development, this approach ensures coaching becomes embedded as a credible, consistent capability, rather than a short-term initiative.
How listening to managers led Toyota to invest in coaching
Toyota’s journey towards a coaching culture did not begin with a predefined ambition to embed coaching across the organisation. It began with listening to its people and their needs.
In 2012, engagement survey results pointed to a misalignment, not between employees and the organisation, but between employees and their managers. Rather than treating this as a surface-level engagement issue, Toyota took a more considered approach. They explored what managers themselves needed to lead more effectively. Through these conversations, a clear pattern emerged. Managers wanted to feel more empowered and trusted in their roles, and better equipped to make decisions. However, many had not experienced coaching themselves and lacked the skills to coach others.
Rachel Shepherd, General Manager, People and Workplace Experience Toyota:
We found that there was a cycle going on around needing to feel more empowered, more trusted, leading to better decision-making. The reason that was stopping them from doing this is that they weren’t being coached, and they were also asking for the skill of coaching others.
This insight reframed the challenge. Improving engagement was not simply about addressing behaviours or processes. It was about strengthening the manager-employee relationship through more effective leadership conversations.
Rachel Shepherd:
We knew that the key to people having a great experience in our organisation and feeling engaged was about the manager and the employee relationship.
In response, Toyota developed a leadership programme with coaching at its core. Crucially, this was not positioned as a soft skill or optional add-on. Coaching was treated as a core leadership capability that needed to be developed consistently and credibly across the organisation.
ILM Coaching and Mentoring qualifications were selected to underpin this approach. Accreditation and recognition were important, providing assurance that the coaching capability being developed met rigorous standards and could be trusted at scale.
Rachel Shepherd:
It was really important that it was an accredited, recognised qualification. The ILM absolutely gave us that, and our learners were proud that they could say, ‘I’ve got a recognised coaching qualification.
Beyond just recognition, ILM provided a clear framework for development, combining defined criteria, structured assignments and flexibility to support learners in applying coaching within their own organisation context.
Jill Jenkinson, CEO & Founder t-three:
ILM gave us a really clear framework and guidance and criteria, but lots and lots of flexibility and support for learners.
For participants at Toyota, this translated into a learning experience that balanced theory with practical application. Coaching was not learned in isolation, but applied, reflected on and assessed in real work scenarios. Over time, this approach supported shifts in how leadership was experienced across the organisation. Coaching influenced how decisions were made, how people felt about their roles, and ultimately, whether they chose to stay and grow within Toyota. Overall, this contributed to a culture where people felt motivated to develop and connect to the organisation.
Toyota’s experience demonstrates that effective coaching cultures are built through intentional capability development. By grounding coaching in recognised, rigorous qualifications and supporting practitioners to apply their learning in real contexts, organisations can embed coaching in a way that is credible, sustainable and impactful.
Rigour and readiness: what sets ILM coaching apart
When investing in coaching capability, credibility matters. ILM’s approach is built to prove, not just claim, coaching competence. That’s why rigour and readiness to practise sit at the heart of ILM Coaching and Mentoring qualifications.
What rigour means and what it looks like in practice
- In practice, rigour means robust assessment, work-based application and reflective practice that demonstrates genuine readiness to coach. Here’s what it looks like:
- Robust assessment: Learners evidence real competence through structured assignments, observed practice and reflective portfolios. This all helps to demonstrate how they coach, why they choose certain approaches and what outcomes they create.
- Work-based application: Tasks are designed to be used in-role, so learning translates directly into better conversations, decisions and team outcomes, all while the programme is still running.
- Structured reflection: Guided reflective practice develops the judgement and ethical awareness coaches require to make sound choices in complex, human situations.
- External quality assurance: Assessment standards are moderated and quality-assured so that outcomes are consistent and credible across cohorts and centres.
Readiness to practise – what it means
Readiness to practise means a learner has demonstrated real coaching competence, not just completed a course. They’ve applied skills in live contexts, reflected on outcomes and been assessed against clear standards.
Why it matters
- Confident, capable coaches: Learners leave with demonstrated coaching hours, feedback and assessed practice, ready to coach responsibly in real-life settings.
- Manager-ready, not just “course-ready”: As development is embedded in day-to-day work, managers quickly apply techniques to performance and wellbeing, changing how they approach and hold everyday conversations.
- Trust at scale: Credentialled, quality-assured outcomes give HR, Learning and Development heads and business leaders confidence to roll out coaching more widely.
By embedding rigour throughout the qualification journey, ILM ensures coaching capability is credible, consistent, and fit for real organisational contexts. This is what positions ILM qualifications as the standard for coaching and mentoring practice.
A structured pathway from foundational skills to senior level practice
Building a coaching culture isn’t a one-off intervention, it’s a journey. ILM Coaching and Mentoring qualifications are designed as a clear, progressive pathway, supporting individuals and organisations to develop coaching capability at every level.
At Level 3, learners build foundational coaching skills, developing confidence in using coaching conversations effectively within their role. This is ideal for team leaders and for line managers.
Benefits:
- For individuals: practical skills to lead more effectively and engage teams
- For organisations: immediate improvement in communication and morale
At Level 5, students deepen their capability, applying coaching more strategically and supporting others’ development with greater autonomy and impact. This is designed for managers, HR professionals and those with responsibility for people development.
Benefits:
- For individuals: enhanced credibility and influence in shaping culture
- For organisations: Stronger leadership pipeline and improved retention
At Level 7, individuals demonstrate advanced expertise, operating with high levels of reflective practice, ethical judgement and professional confidence in complex organisational environments. This is ideal for senior leaders and experienced coaches.
Benefits:
- For individuals: recognition as an advanced coaching professional with proven impact
- For organisations: sustainable coaching culture, reduced reliance on external consultants and measurable improvement
Ethics and impact: the foundations of credible coaching practice
Coaching excellence is built on two equally important foundations: ethical practice and measurable impact.
Ethics
Ethical coaching protects clients, builds trust and safeguards the integrity of the profession. ILM Coaching and Mentoring qualifications are aligned to the Global Code of Ethics, ensuring learners understand and apply ethical principles consistently.
Ethics are embedded within assessment and reflective practice, not treated as a standalone topic. Learners must demonstrate ethical decision-making in real scenarios equipping them to manage boundaries, confidentiality and professional responsibility with confidence. This approach ensures that practitioners are not only skilled but also trustworthy, which is a critical requirement for coaching in organisational settings.
Supervision
ILM includes coaching supervision within our qualification standards because it safeguards the quality, professionalism and ethical integrity of coaching practice. Supervision gives coaches a structured space to reflect, challenge their assumptions, and develop deeper insight—ensuring their work remains impactful, person-centred and aligned with best practice.
For employers, it supports continuous improvement, strengthens confidence, and helps coaches bring clarity and consistency to the support they offer. By embedding supervision, ILM ensures every qualified coach is equipped to learn, adapt and deliver coaching that genuinely makes a difference.
Impact
Alongside ethics, ILM places strong emphasis on impact. Coaching should deliver tangible outcomes for individuals, teams and organisations.
At Toyota, embedding coaching capability has influenced engagement, decision-making, and retention.
Rachel Shepherd, General Manager, People and Workplace Experience Toyota:
The direct effect on engagement, differences in how decisions are made… particularly around talent retention, ...people want to remain in the organisation.
However, impact goes beyond retention. Coaching drives performance, wellbeing, inclusion and cultural transformation. And in doing so, creating organisations where people thrive and leadership pipelines strengthen.
Building future ready-coaching capability
As organisations look ahead, the demand for credible, future-ready coaching capability will continue to grow. ILM’s Coaching and Mentoring suite reflects evolving best practice, incorporating developments such as systemic coaching, team coaching, psychological safety, digital delivery and emerging technologies.
By combining structured pathways, rigorous assessment, ethical grounding and real-world application, ILM qualifications equip learners to meet the demands of progressive organisations, while maintaining the highest standards of quality and credibility.
Toyota’s story shows what is possible when coaching is integrated thoughtfully and supported by qualifications that prioritise readiness to practise.
To learn more about our qualifications visit ILM Coaching and Mentoring today.
We are also updating our Coaching and Mentoring suite for 2026. If you'd like to feed into the update of these qualifications, please contact joe.ballantine@cityandguilds.com.
