Recognising that they needed to increase coaching access to a broader range of staff whilst ensuring its coaching spend went further, IBM came to us looking for a new e-coaching solution.

We tested ProReal in a small pilot study (evaluated by an independent organisation) and nearly 80% of participants said the coaching was very or extremely valuable, with one participant describing it as ‘life changing’. The majority of participants found the experience of being in the ProReal world very profound – they described being able to talk freely about how they really saw things, and that they could more easily take stock of different perspectives and so shift their own, change their own self-perception and clarify their thinking.

Since then, we have ProReal-based online coaching to over 150 participants as part of a leadership development initiative. We request feedback from each participant via an anonymous survey, which shows that 100% have gained new insights and 96% would recommend ProReal to others.

The effect these insights had on participants was also direct and immediate: many felt increased self-confidence, found they had fresh ideas for handling relationships and described a new ability to perform their role in a different, more creative way. For many the ability explore the ProReal world between coached sessions was an invaluable feature and the visual element of the experience played a significant part in the positive outcomes.

In 2019, we kicked off a training programme for IBM internal coaches and facilitators…so the journey continues.