The power of coaching: 25 years of transforming student success

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Over the past nearly 25 years, the state of student support has truly transformed. The overall levels of support available at colleges and universities today are significantly stronger than what we commonly saw when InsideTrack was created in 2001. Their staff, faculty and leaders remain deeply committed to their critical role of supporting students throughout their educational journey and onto their greatest potential. Amidst the persistence of age-old challenges and the emergence of new ones, it's critical that advising and student support be grounded in authenticity and trust to give rise to authentic connection and individualized development. At InsideTrack, we believe personalized, student-centered coaching is essential, because it's in those human connections that students find the support, motivation and clarity they need to succeed — someone to come alongside them and champion their success. While technology offers exciting possibilities, it's this human element — the ability to connect with and understand each student's unique journey — that truly empowers them to achieve their full potential.

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The enduring power of human connection in student support

Holistic coaching and guidance is the support provided to students that moves beyond curricular discussions of courses, schedules and requirements for a student’s chosen major. At its core, holistic advising should be about helping students imagine where they are going and what kind of person they would like to become, as well as explore some of the paths that will get them there. Inevitably, effective holistic advising should include discussions about challenges and obstacles — often beyond the classroom — which may interfere with student success and on-time degree completion, as well as  career and life readiness. When possible, the advisor’s role should be to prompt questions, and not just provide answers. In that way, proper holistic guidance is an incredible form of deep, meaningful connection that encourages students to think, imagine and often begin to address and receive support for factors that may be creating barriers to their ability to take action and move forward. This is how embedding effective coaching techniques can advance knowledge, skills and beliefs, ultimately promoting greater student self-reliance that will carry through from college to career to life.

As I prepare to move on from InsideTrack, I want to encourage institutional leaders, advisors and student-facing support staff to further lean into holistic coaching and advising methods. It is these conversations that, along with deep wraparound engagement, help students transform themselves into the professionals, citizens and contributors they want to become. As higher ed struggles with issues of affordability and as questions arise about the value of a degree, now more than ever our institutions need to double down on delivering high quality, high impact coaching and holistic advising that ultimately focuses on human-to-human connection that gives students the motivation and agency to earn meaningful credentials and accomplish their goals. 

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Empowering student support staff through professional development

To cultivate quality and sustainable coaching methods, we must further professionalize our advising teams with training and development that honors the depth and seriousness of their work. Equipping advisors with evidence-based coaching tools and frameworks helps them see the tremendous potential for impact, while equipping them with the processes, skills and techniques that can boost student confidence, knowledge, skills, beliefs and a genuine sense of belonging in transformative ways. In addition to bolstering in-house coaching and holistic advising skills, these training experiences have been shown to improve advisor professional satisfaction as well.

An increased emphasis on training and professional development is most effective when coupled with more engaged management that reinforces key learnings. Specifically, advisors benefit not just from training in a holistic methodology, but deeper visibility into their work and regular feedback from supervisors and peers. This is probably the most important way to advance the level of advisor and coach skills — observing the advising in action and providing actionable feedback. Unfortunately, this happens far too little, and when observations focused on professional development are rare rather than routine, they feel scary for advisors and create more fear than they do learning opportunities.

Increasing opportunities for safe and growth-centered learning for student support staff  might be the single most important step to drive improvements in the impact of your student success teams. When feedback sessions are treated as coaching sessions themselves, advisors begin to self-manage and provide their own self-critiques that ultimately make them stronger advocates for student agency in their coaching sessions. As a culture of continuous improvement develops, advisors and coaches begin to collaborate and lean on one another for ideas and best practices. Soon a whole language emerges around holistic advising and coaching excellence, spurring team members to prioritize their own learning and improvement, while creating energy and enthusiasm in the advising department. 

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Centering on the student voice to drive institutional improvement

An additional key component of elevating and professionalizing the role of advisors involves helping our advising teams rethink and embrace a high-impact, strategic identity. Well-trained advisors are better equipped to support students in their interactions. Equally important, advisor/student coaching sessions become an opportunity for the institution to capture the voice of the student in real time. We should not underestimate the power of what are often raw and unfiltered discussions that students have with their coaches and advisors, often revealing key areas where institutional practices and policies interfere with student success and satisfaction. Faculty certainly have the opportunity to have these discussions as well, but the advisors are not evaluating or grading students, and this provides a different dynamic. 

Insights learned from these advising sessions can be powerful, especially when anonymously aggregated into data sets that move beyond a handful of anecdotal comments or complaints. Whether these discussions cover challenges with academic pathways and course availability, financial aid, housing or social aspects of the college experience, advisors can organize the information they’re receiving from students into actionable, organized feedback that can be critical to improving institutional practices, policies and procedures. Amplifying the student voice through these improvements ensures that campus systems actively support, rather than hinder, their journey towards educational attainment and fulfilling careers.

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A legacy of impact: looking ahead

Now more than ever, we are reminded of the enduring importance of tapping into human potential to enhance student success. As student support continues to evolve, the core principles of holistic coaching — understanding the student as a whole person, empowering them to navigate their own path and fostering self-reliance — remain critical. Investing in professional development for advisors, fueling a culture of continuous improvement, and elevating the advisor's role as a strategic partner in institutional enhancement are essential steps toward ensuring that every student has the support they need to thrive. My hope for the future of student support centers on not just what we do, but how we do it — ensuring that the human element remains at the heart of the educational experience.