Further development: individual support
23. Okt 2025
How do we ensure that further development is not just a buzzword, but something we really put into practice? An important building block for this is our internal coaching offer - individual, confidential and at eye level.
Reading time: 3 minutes
Room for reflection and development
"All employees can come to me if there are issues that they are currently stuck on or simply need an outside perspective," says Marcel, describing his role. He supports colleagues who want to reflect on their collaboration, hone their role or improve their communication. It's never about rigid concepts, but about individual support. Each person brings something different to the table - and that's exactly what coaching builds on.
Some employees come to a single session with a specific concern, others use the room regularly over several months. For Marcel, one thing is clear: "It's always about finding out what the person really needs at the moment. For some, the focus is on role clarification, for others it's about finding routines that take the pressure off in everyday life. Sometimes you just need a neutral discussion partner to put things into perspective."
Managers also often use this opportunity, sometimes with sessions every four to eight weeks, not because of a specific problem, but to look at things together: What is going well? Where is there a problem? And what impetus could be helpful? This continuous support creates trust and opens up spaces in which development can happen organically - step by step.
Small steps with a big impact
It's often the small changes that make the biggest difference. Marcel talks about an employee who had difficulties perceiving positive aspects of everyday life and clearly separating himself when working from home. Together, they developed simple routines, such as making a clear and conscious cut after work, for example by going for a walk or something similar, in order to better separate private life from work. Marcel is pleased that even small things like this help to prevent overload and shows him that his work is effective.
Another topic that regularly comes up in coaching is communication. "Many managers or the management team now bring me in before they communicate important things. I then give feedback on what could perhaps be clearer," says Marcel. It is clear that this support is paying off: in the last employee survey, transparency and communication were rated noticeably better than in the previous year.
The impact of coaching can also be seen on another level - in the way people talk to each other. Many report that they later use certain reflection questions or changes of perspective that they learned about during coaching themselves - whether in team discussions, feedback sessions or in their private lives. They take the tools they have gained through coaching and pass them on, so to speak.
This effect is also noticeable in the corporate culture. Topics such as mental health, mindfulness in everyday working life, feedback and learning are gaining ground. A completely different openness to talking about stress or insecurities has now developed. Many people are actively seeking out conversations to find solutions and are taking advantage of the support on offer.
Responsible support, growing together
Marcel himself has grown with the company over the years and says of himself: "My role arose from the desire to work more with people and support them than in my previous recruiter role. We defined it together with Ralf - and bit by bit it has become established." In the beginning, a lot of things were still under construction: it was important to create trust and show that coaching is not a control instrument, but support. "In the beginning, many people didn't really know what coaching was. Now, for many, it is simply part of the process, almost as natural as a meeting or a 1:1 conversation."
empiriecom actively supported this development, not only organizationally, but also through further training. Among other things, Marcel completed training in systemic coaching, communication, syst. constellation work and mental health. This enables him to support people holistically, especially when it comes to stress or inner conflicts, and to work with them to find ways to regain their own ability to act.
Marcel is currently working on integrating learning even more into everyday life: "We notice that content from workshops quickly fades away. That's why I'm currently developing a web tool with small learning challenges that can be tried out directly in everyday working life in order to really embed what we've learned in the long term." Topics such as meeting culture and focus are also on his agenda, as he wants to encourage employees to regularly question which meetings are really useful and how they can be made more productive.
Marcel believes it is particularly important that coaching is carried out responsibly: "Coaching is not a protected term. That's why I think it's important that people in this field are properly trained and regularly reflect on themselves. Coaching means responsibility. It's not about changing others, but about showing them possibilities if they want to change something themselves."
What defines our coaching and development culture is above all openness, a change of perspective and courage. Because as Marcel very aptly puts it: "It's important that we can talk to each other critically without fear of conflict. That we are prepared to address things instead of letting them run their course. That's how development comes about, not through guidelines, but through genuine cooperation."
And that's exactly what makes us at empiriecom special: we don't learn for the job, but on the job - together, honestly and as equals.
