Window into Wipfli

Unleashing potential through coaching: Wipfli’s journey from pilot to practice

By Aditi Patil

At Wipfli, we believe that when you grow your talent, incredible things happen. This philosophy, championed by our firm leaders, sparked the launch of our internal coaching practice in early 2022.

The idea emerged from a challenge. Coming out of the pandemic, we saw engagement and retention decline among some of our most high-performing senior managers. We could have responded with more training or traditional development programs. Instead, we took a different path investing in a full-time internal executive coach dedicated to supporting this critical group.

It was a bold move. We launched the coaching pilot during the busiest time of the year for our tax professionals, January through March. Some questioned the timing, but we saw it as the perfect opportunity to show our people we were invested in their growth, not just their productivity.

Our vision was clear: Unlock human potential through personalized, high-impact coaching. We started with one internal coach and 22 leaders in our tax practice. The results exceeded expectations — leaders reported meaningful progress on their goals, managers saw tangible improvements, and our net promoter score soared.

What is our internal coaching practice?

Since that initial pilot, our coaching program has grown into a full-fledged professional coaching practice at Wipfli, serving more than 200 leaders across the firm. Today, we have a blended team of three internal and four external executive coaches, all certified by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) at the PCC level or higher, led by a dedicated program manager and executive coach. Ninety-five percent of our leaders achieve the goals they set during coaching sessions. And our engagement and retention metrics remain strong.

This growth didn’t happen by accident. Three key factors shaped our success:

• Leadership sponsorship — From the beginning, our firm's leaders understood that coaching isn’t just about individual growth — it creates a ripple effect across the organization. Their visible sponsorship gave the program credibility and momentum.
• A scalable foundation — We began small but intentionally designed for growth. Drawing on best practices, research and lessons from other organizations, we built a framework that could evolve without losing quality or focus.
• A personalized approach — We embraced a “one-size-fits-one” philosophy. While our sessions follow ICF standards for structure and quality, each coaching engagement is tailored to the participant’s specific needs and context. Managers are engaged as allies in the process while confidentiality remains fully protected.

Measuring and scaling

From the outset, we measured both participation and impact. Session attendance, goal completion and feedback surveys help us track immediate outcomes. But we also monitor longer-term indicators like engagement, retention and performance to assess the broader business impact.

As our program manager, Michelle Davis, puts it, “We measure what matters, because that’s how we earn trust and continued investment.”

In 2024, we expanded our capacity with a second full-time executive coach and implemented infrastructure to support sustainable growth. We built operational systems, integrated coaching into our broader leadership development strategy and created processes that allow coaches to focus on what they do best coaching.

We also aligned the practice with Wipfli’s leadership model, ensuring coaching is part of a larger ecosystem that includes manager development, flagship leadership programs and a culture of ongoing feedback. This integration makes coaching not a one-time event, but a sustained driver of growth.

Coaching innovations

The future of coaching at Wipfli is about innovation with intention. We’re exploring group and team coaching, AI-enabled tools that enhance not replace the human element and external benchmarking to help ensure we remain a leader in the field.

We were excited to announce the rollout of two custom AI agents this summer that will bolster our coaching mindset. One agent we developed will help our people managers navigate feedback and growth with clarity and confidence, and the other is a goal-setting agent that helps Wipfli associates craft smart and meaningful goals and access resources with ease.

We also launched group coaching focusing on the much-requested topic of strategic time management. Over a period of 10 weeks, participants will receive coaching from certified coaches, lean into coaching from their peers and set customized goals to improve how they best use their time.

The foundation of our work, however, remains the same. Coaching is a human-centered practice that drives growth, engagement and transformation.

As Linda Haynes, director of talent and organizational development, says: “Coaching isn’t just a skill — it’s a mindset. When we invest in the practice, we’re investing in the growth of our people and the culture we want to build.”

When I became a certified coach, I dreamed of serving in a full-time internal coaching role. At Wipfli, that dream became reality and grew into something bigger. Together, we’ve built a coaching practice that is meaningful, scalable and deeply connected to our culture.