Coming of Age in the 2020’s: an ancient story retold?

Abstract

My study was based on in-depth interviews with 6 young adults who had recently moved from education into graduate training schemes in the shadow of the Covid-Pandemic. I set out to understand their experiences and how coaching had been used by their organisations to support their needs and meet their expectations. My chosen approach for analysing the data was Narrative Analysis, a less commonly applied methodology within coaching research. Taken together, the stories of the graduates provide a snap shot of ‘Coming of Age’ in a contemporary workplace setting. A significant observation was that this group of graduates entering the workplace is not so very different from their predecessors despite the challenges of accelerating social and technological change. A thread that ran through the narratives was the pivotal role of the guide, used here in its broadest sense to mean someone who provides an external source of wisdom or direction, whether they be family, friends, managers or coaches. The graduates’ need for belonging: to feel included, accepted and valued by their new social group and the organisation was significant in my findings. These basic developmental needs of young adults have often been overlooked in the coaching and career literature. Coaching and Managers adopting a relational, coaching style were found to contribute to their sense of belonging in their organisations. There is a need for coaches and organisations to be more attuned to individual perspectives.

Keywords

• coaching
• young adults
• graduate
• developmental needs