DBS launches gen-AI coaching tool for employees

Guidance will be tailored based on employees’ role and internal mobility pathways.

DBS has launched iCoach, a generative AI (gen AI) platform coaching tool.

Developed in collaboration with Marshall Goldsmith—a coaching expert with over four decades of experience working with top CEOs and executives—iCoach is available 24/7 to provide the Singaporean bank’s employees with personalised career guidance.

Guidance will reportedly be tailored to each employee, drawing context of their roles, functions and internal mobility pathways to deliver relevant and actionable career advice, according to a press release.

DBS said that it made use of gen AI to address challenges in coaching, mainly delivering it at scale in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Coaching is usually done on a one-to-one basis, and can be costly.

The bank believes that employees at all levels would benefit from coaching by receiving expert advice on career development as well as topical issues such as work-life balance, personal and small team leadership, or mental wellness.

Data from International Coaching Federation and Better Up Career Coaching showed 7 in 10 or 70% of people in organisations who underwent coaching benefitted from improved work performance, relationships and more effective communication skills.

About 8 in 10 or 80% of people who received coaching also reported increased self-confidence.