How AI Can Supercharge Coaching & Mentoring

Kyle Plett, Director of People and Culture, Car Toys

Kyle Plett is Director of People and Culture at Car Toys. He leads strategy and strategic human resource planning, leveraging over 24 skills to enhance workforce development, employee engagement, and organizational culture to drive company performance and success.

In an exclusive interview with HR Tech Outlook, he shared invaluable insights on how AI can supercharge coaching and mentoring by streamlining matching, personalization, and measurement while preserving authentic human connection and growth.

Supercharging Mentorship with AI

Coaching and mentoring programs are some of HR’s best tools for growing talent, building leaders, and keeping people engaged. The challenge? They’re also… a lot. A lot of matching. A lot of scheduling. A lot of “Sorry, I forgot our meeting!” emails. A lot of trying to prove the program actually works.

Having run my own successful coaching business as well as implementing development programs across organizations I know the struggles, but there is hope and a lot of exciting things happening with technology to make life better for HR, coaches and our organizations.

Enter AI, not as a robot mentor ready to replace your seasoned leaders, but as the behind-the-scenes assistant HR has always wanted. When used right, AI makes coaching and mentoring smoother, more personalized, and far more engaging, while leaving the human connection firmly in human hands.

Here’s how AI can bring more energy and momentum into your development programs, without taking over the conversation.

Why AI Is Actually Perfect for HR Development (Stay with me!)

Employees today expect development to be tailored, flexible, and available when they need it. Meanwhile, HR is expected to scale programs across locations, roles, and time zones, all while proving business impact. Easy, right?

This is where AI shines. It can:

• Personalize employee experiences at scale

• Help match people more effectively

• Support coaches, mentors and managers with smarter tools

• Offer real-time insights so HR knows what’s working

• Keep participants engaged between sessions

• Measure program impact while still preserving authentic, human growth conversations, because data should inform development, not script it

“AI enhances coaching by streamlining matching, tracking progress, and personalizing learning, freeing humans to focus on authentic connection, growth, and meaningful leadership development.”

Think of it as the super-organized friend who reminds you about your goals, sends useful articles, and nudges you when you need a little push.

Better Matching: Because “Random Pairing” Is Not a Strategy

One of the biggest engagement killers is mismatched pairs. AI fixes that by analyzing:

• Skills

• Career goals

• Communication preferences

• Learning styles

• Behavioral patterns

It’s like a compatibility test for professional development, minus the awkward first date.

AI as Your Coach’s Secret Sidekick

Coaches are fantastic at helping people grow, not always fantastic at admin. AI helps by:

• Summarizing sessions

• Highlighting themes or progress

• Suggesting coaching prompts

• Recommending next steps

• Tracking goals and milestones

• Enabling coaching across teams, not just up and down the org chart, opening access to mentors and leaders anywhere in the organization

This frees up coaches to focus on humans, not housekeeping.

Personalized Learning That Doesn’t Feel Generic

Between mentoring sessions, AI can keep the momentum going through curated, tailored learning such as:

• Videos aligned to goals

• Relevant articles

• Bite-sized skill and knowledge lessons served up from the company LMS

• Stretch assignment suggestions

Its ongoing support that feels genuinely personalized not “click here for generic career tips.”

Data That Actually Tells a Useful Story

AI helps HR finally demonstrate impact with insights like:

• Sentiment trends

• Participation patterns

• Early-warning signs of disengagement

• Progress toward skill milestones

• Correlations to performance or retention

• Impact scoring that supports meaningful growth conversations, not replaces them

Data but make it human.

The Gentle Push Everyone Needs

Even the most committed participants get busy. AI helps keep the spark alive with subtle nudges like:

• “You have a session tomorrow.”

• “Here’s something to reflect on.”

• “Nice job on that milestone!”

But beyond reminders, AI also strengthens accountability by:

• Tracking two-way engagement. Did the employee show up? Did the coach follow through? Are both contributing to the relationship?

• Highlighting when communication becomes one-sided

• Surfacing patterns of missed check-ins or stalled progress

• Encouraging shared ownership of the growth journey

Keeping It Human (Because that’s the Whole Point)

Employees should understand how AI is used, have options for privacy, and trust that their conversations remain personal. AI stays backstage. Humans stay center stage.

AI enhances the experience, it doesn’t replace the people whose wisdom, empathy, and real-life experience make coaching meaningful and dare I say, relatable.

The Future of Coaching & Mentoring Is Collaborative

AI gives HR teams the ability to scale development, personalize experiences, and finally measure impact, without sacrificing authenticity.

Used well, AI makes coaching and mentoring more inclusive, more impactful, and yes, more fun. And it frees up HR and coaches to do what they do best: connect, guide, and inspire.

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