An Interview With Chad Silverstein
Explosion of workplace data — most people think of this data being a bad thing and there are many stories of companies using this data against employees, but the winners in this new era will use this data for good — specifically to help employees do better work. And employees will embrace technology that makes their lives easier and their work more effective — but technology needs to be built for the end users and not the organizations they work in.
The world of coaching is undergoing a seismic shift, with emerging trends set to redefine its boundaries and possibilities. From digital transformation and the integration of artificial intelligence to the growing emphasis on mental health and the global rise of coaching cultures within organizations, these developments are reshaping the landscape of personal and professional growth. As we navigate through these changes, understanding the forces that drive the future of coaching becomes paramount I had the pleasure of interviewing Darrin Murriner.
Darrin Murriner is the Cofounder and CEO of Cloverleaf — a technology platform that is bringing automated team coaching to the entire enterprise through real-time, customized coaching in the tools employees use every day (calendar, email & Slack / Teams). The result is better collaboration, improved employee relationships and a more engaged workforce. Darrin is also the co-author of Thrive: A Collaboration Manifesto, an Amazon best-seller.
Thank you for joining us. To start, could you share your “origin story” with our readers? How did you begin your coaching journey, and what challenges did you face in the early days?
Unfortunately I don’t have a long career in coaching, but that can often be the best in terms of providing perspective on anything. I have experience being coached by both good and bad coaches and I myself have been an effective and ineffective coach (both in youth sports with my kids and in the workplace) as an adult.
What I have found is that having a good coach can truly unlock performance but unfortunately there are a lot of bad coaches out there (in all contexts). But this is precisely why I am so passionate about what I am building today. I saw a few keys through lines in those experiences that I felt could be addressed with technology and ultimately increasing access to better coaching.
In my career I have led teams in a variety of roles at some of the largest companies in the world including Arthur Andersen, Fifth Third Bank and The Munich Re Group. What I learned in those roles has definitely shaped the person I have become today and influenced key aspects of what Cloverleaf has become and what we aspire to be.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Transparency — especially with important decisions that impact people in meaningful ways it is important to explain the why. That level of transparency helps prevent others from filling the void of the rationale with their own preconceived notions (often based on fear)
Authenticity — Oftentimes transparency requires authenticity. Being real and avoiding corporate speech allows others to have empathy and understanding that gain buy-in and trust.
Perseverance — I have never met a founder that doesn’t have perseverance. There have been many points along the journey to creating Cloverleaf (or any important project) where things have looked bleak or the odds have been long and you need the faith that good things are possible and the vision can be realized to keep you pushing towards the vision you have.
Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Why does that resonate with you so much?
Dolly Parton once said, “find out who you are and do it on purpose.” I’m not sure it is my favorite quote, but it is one that has resonance with what we created at Cloverleaf. Knowing your strengths and how those can be applied will lead to a satisfying life — even in your work. Also, any chance to bring Dolly into the conversation is a good thing.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
We just launched a new book, Thrive: A Collaboration Manifesto was launched in March. It captures a lot of the key lessons we have learned about people working together during our time serving thousands of companies and tens of thousands of teams with our automated coaching solution.
We are also launching new features and capabilities that include integrations with larger HR tech platforms like Workday and Cornerstone to provide even more personalization of Cloverleaf coaching. We are also adding an EQ (emotional intelligence) assessment in the next quarter.
Without saying any names could you share a particularly memorable success story from your coaching career?
While I am not a coach, I have had plenty of opportunities to work with and lead others with a coaching mindset. Throughout my career I have been fortunate to be able to develop those that work with me to take on greater and more challenging roles including as a successor to me. Our current Finance Director worked with me at a previous job where I helped position him to take over when I left. We enjoyed the experience working together so much that he was one of the first people I called when we needed someone to run Financial Operations at Cloverleaf and he is getting even more opportunities to grow his career at Cloverleaf.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview about coaching. How has your approach to coaching evolved over the years, and what personal learnings have you applied to your own development?
More automation that provides for scale and increased impact. One of the biggest challenges with coaching is not being able to reach as many people for increased enterprise wide impact. Because so much of a coach’s earning potential requires billed time it is often difficult to find leverage points to increase earnings beyond just charging more or billing more hours. Digital solutions are the key to increasing leverage for improved earning potential. Digital solutions also offer a way to increase impact by providing reinforcing shots of insight and learning when the coach isn’t present. Cloverleaf provides both of these solutions for coaches that want to increase the value they deliver and improve revenue potential.
How do you incorporate feedback into your coaching practice to continuously improve?
The great thing about Cloverleaf’s approach is that each coaching moment (coaching insights delivered in app) has a feedback loop associated with it. We get immediate feedback on the value of the coaching and the system continues to improve the value of the coaching over time as you respond to the coaching.
Can you discuss an innovation in coaching that you believe is currently underappreciated but has the potential to significantly impact the field?
There is a lot of buzz around AI coaching and AI is a major disruptor in the field, but the reality is that AI is nothing without the explosion of data that is now available on so many aspects of how we work. Who and how often we meet with others, the tone and tenor of our messages, how much time we are engaged in collaborative work and the outcomes of that work. These are just a few of the ways data can be used to inform how we are working and how we can be our best self.
In what ways can coaching address the evolving mental health needs of diverse populations in a digitally connected world?
The amount of connectivity and digital engagement isn’t going away. We have to find ways to use that technology to help us be better. Digital tools can help us better identify when we need breaks, how to engage with other parts of ourselves throughout the day so we can recharge and be our best in all situations — not just at the start of our workday. Whether you are a coach in a one-on-one situation or you are leveraging digital tools, the key is helping others identify the ways they can do their best work and strategies for stepping away and recharging so they don’t get burnt out or have uncontrollable anxieties.
How do you foresee artificial intelligence and machine learning transforming the coaching industry in the next decade?
AI is changing the coaching industry today — we don’t have to wait ten years. AI will accelerate trends in coaching that we are already experiencing. Tools like Cloverleaf that allow coaches to better scale impact and reach the entire enterprise are only going to get smarter and more capable. This doesn’t mean that coaches need to be worried they won’t be necessary. People are complex and there are limits to the level of nuance that technology will be able to provide in a coaching context. Instead coaches should think about how to use this technology to do more of the work that I want to do and add the most value to those I serve and let technology do the rest.
What role do you believe ethical considerations and privacy concerns will play in the future of coaching, especially with the increased use of digital platforms?
There are many data privacy and ethical considerations when it comes to the use of technology (including AI) in coaching. Some of the key aspects of ethical use includes, being transparent about what data is collected and how it is used, giving individuals the ability to opt in to any data sharing and providing as much control as possible over how that data is used and shared. We have a strict prohibition on sharing personal data with AI tools, specifically large language models that could unknowingly use that data in a harmful way. At Cloverleaf we believe it is important to use AI and the related data and digital solutions not as an easy button on the learning process, after all shortcutting the learning process is actually counterproductive since learning is as much about the process of learning as it is getting to the “right answers”.
Could you list and briefly explain “Top 5 Trends Shaping the Future of Coaching” based on your experiences and insights?
1. Explosion of workplace data — most people think of this data being a bad thing and there are many stories of companies using this data against employees, but the winners in this new era will use this data for good — specifically to help employees do better work. And employees will embrace technology that makes their lives easier and their work more effective — but technology needs to be built for the end users and not the organizations they work in.
2. Rapid advancement of machine learning and AI capabilities — there is definitely still more flash than substance when it comes to AI in the software being used by learning and development or talent management organizations, but the potential is huge and there are some initial use cases that are having a meaningful impact. Finding ways to incorporate AI into your coaching practice in meaningful ways will make coaches more efficient and increase outcomes.
3. Marketplace platforms that expand access to more traditional human coaching. There has been an explosion of marketplace companies that make accessing one on one coaching easier. This does expand the overall market and allows more people to have access to a coach but doesn’t quite live up to the promise of bringing coaching to everyone. This means more competition for independent coaches as well as some wage compression as these marketplaces put pricing pressure on the rates charged for coaching services.
4.Explosion of content and platforms to distribute content. The explosion in content has the potential to commoditize and devalue good coaching and advice. Too much content can water down the value of great content, but there is starting to be a flight to quality. The key is making it easy to consume, better personalize the content and delivering it when employees need it.
5. The evolution and role of team coaching. Because more and more work is being done in teams, collaboration is becoming a critical skill. (Quick plug for our recently published book — Thrive: A collaboration manifesto) As such there is greater and greater demand for team and group coaching. This is a way to increase the leverage of a great coach, but also people need more help navigating differences in the workplace that often torpedo effective team-based outcomes.
How do you envision the integration of coaching within organizational cultures changing the landscape of leadership and employee development?
When I think about the trends highlighted above it is clear that the increasing accessibility of coaching (as a result of these emerging technologies) across the enterprise gives coaching the opportunity to be an enterprise-wide solution for the first time. Digital solutions make coaching a via development opportunity for everyone in the organization and since the solution is digital it creates the opportunity to integrate with other enterprise solutions for even greater value for the organization.
What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the coaching industry today, and how might we overcome it?
I know I sound like a broken record, but scaling and sustaining development is the biggest challenge for coaching having a bigger impact and taking a bigger share of investment in workplace development. Embracing technology as a key way to supplement the work coaches are doing with their clients can also help scale impact and sustain performance over longer periods of time. And increasing scale and sustaining development directly translates into greater revenue opportunities for coaches running their own practice.
What is one long-term goal you have for your coaching practice, and how are you working towards it?
At Cloverleaf, we really care about making coaching accessible to everyone. As such we want to serve even more people than the 1.4 million employees that we have reached to date. We want to enlist even more coaches to use our platform to scale and sustain the work they are doing for great impact. Reaching 10 million employees will be a great milestone and something we are pushing hard to achieve in the next 5 years.
How can our readers continue to follow your work?
There are several ways that readers can stay connected with what we are doing. First, you can follow me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/murriner/ or you can follow Cloverleaf’s LinkedIn page at https://www.linkedin.com/company/cloverleafme You can also visit our website at cloverleaf.me where you can start your own free trial or just take a look at all our great content. You can also download the first chapter of our book for free at the following link.
Thank you for offering such valuable insights into the future of coaching. We look forward to seeing your work continue to reach new heights, and we wish you continued success.
About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein, a seasoned entrepreneur with over two decades of experience as the Founder and CEO of multiple companies. He launched Choice Recovery, Inc., a healthcare collection agency, while going to The Ohio State University, His team earned national recognition, twice being ranked as the #1 business to work for in Central Ohio. In 2018, Chad launched [re]start, a career development platform connecting thousands of individuals in collections with meaningful employment opportunities, He sold Choice Recovery on his 25th anniversary and in 2023, sold the majority interest in [re]start so he can focus his transition to Built to Lead as an Executive Leadership Coach. Learn more at www.chadsilverstein.com
Darrin Murriner Of Cloverleaf On The Top 5 Trends Shaping the Future of Coaching was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.