Now, the head of GIBS’ Personal Applied Learning (PAL) Centre, Alison Reid, says the pendulum is swinging back the other way, with calls for a more balanced approach.
A changing business landscape
Since the mid-2000s more is being demanded of business leaders, who need to develop a new set of leadership skills to navigate growing complexities. There is a strong call for learning approaches to be participant- and human-centric. Competencies such as greater emotional intelligence, adaptability, and the ability to connect with and lead diverse, multicultural teams are being demanded.
Reid says the creation of the PAL Centre proactively addressed these needs by innovating how GIBS offers its business education, integrating coaching and facilitated processes with its classroom teaching. The customised blended approach offers students the opportunity for personal reflection and helps them internalise what they are learning. “This enables the application of knowledge in one’s personal context and active transformation of one’s leadership styles and behaviours,” she says.
It is for this reason that the GIBS PAL Centre has, over the last 25 years, become an invaluable unit of GIBS.
The evolution of PAL
In the beginning: 2000 to 2006
The early coaching interventions GIBS introduced were facilitated group sessions for students. GIBS senior lecturer Jonathan Cook, a psychologist with vast experience in leadership, introduced the idea of combining coaching with classroom learning. In this first iteration of what was to become PAL, students would attend lectures and then break away in groups for a facilitated discussion about what had been taught in class and how it could be applied. During the group discussion, students were given goal-setting activities and discussed their personal reflections and action steps with each other.
Introducing coaching as a key component to a GIBS degree: 2007 to 2011
In 2007, as leadership development increasingly became a key focus area for the business school, personal learning processes were introduced into its academic and executive programmes. Reid, a professional leadership coach, joined GIBS, to drive coaching and facilitation approaches as a strategic component of course delivery.
Individual and group coaching and self-assessments were introduced. “The pedagogical process of coaching formats were designed to elicit deep personal insight and enable the socio-emotional and hands-on, action-orientated aspects of experiential learning,” says Reid.
In addition to the coaching, GIBS also developed an online mentor application, which consisted of 13 self-assessment tools that students could complete. “It was designed to help people assess where they are, where they are going and how to bridge the development gap for themselves,” noted Reid.
PAL becomes a GIBS centre of excellence: 2011 to 2016
By 2011, the success of the centre’s initiatives saw PAL being officially established as one of GIBS’s centres of excellence. PAL began to differentiate its offerings. “We enhanced action learning processes, personal development planning (PDP) coaching, and developed greater collaborative learning through group and team coaching,” explains Reid. One of the formats that was introduced was action learning projects, where students work in project teams to develop solutions to real business challenges while being guided by a coach, developing skills like effective teamwork, strategic thinking, problem identification, and applying learned concepts.
The centre also developed bespoke coaching modalities and created new roles. One such role was that of the learning integrator, who works with classes throughout their time at GIBS and weaves the various aspects of their learning journey, both knowledge-based and reflection-based, together, enabling an integrated experience of the learning. Reid says, “The learning integrator has become popular with clients.”
To cater for the demand, the centre needed to develop a business model that ensured that it always had enough of the best facilitators on hand. “We created an adjunct professional faculty group comprising coaches, facilitators, psychologists, and psychometrists. We have just over 70 experts we can call on to facilitate our programmes,” says Reid.
As demand from corporate clients for the PAL service offering increased, customisation became the hallmark of the centre. Programmes across the school’s academic, corporate and entrepreneurial business units incorporated PAL processes. On completion of the programmes, PAL also offers ongoing coaching support to ensure relevant and long-term change in the workplace.
Expansion and diversification: 2016 to 2020
By 2016, PAL had made the decision to create a business unit that delivered standalone coaching and coach training solutions directly to the market. The offerings include a range of short courses on coaching and facilitation skills. The centre also achieved International Coaching Federation accreditation, which allows it to offer professional coach training and allows graduates to apply for their international credentials as certified coaches.
PAL also diversified and started offering various executive coaching solutions. The most popular of these, says Reid, is the long-term coaching process, which offers 10 to 12 sessions over a year for several individuals supervised by a lead coach.
Innovation and thought leadership: 2020 to 2024
To cement its position as a frontrunner in the field of leadership development and coaching, the PAL Centre created a body of thought leadership articles, academic papers, white papers, impact reports, and guides on developing best practices for coaching and best practice leader development. A complete list of the PAL Centre’s research and thought leadership can be found on the
GIBS website.
In this way, PAL contributes to the broader dialogue on the future of leadership development. The research presented also highlights the impact PAL is having on students. GIBS studies found evidence of positive changes in leadership behaviour and organisational outcomes due to PAL’s interventions. Reid says, “These findings support the centre’s coaching models, establish a credible foundation for continued innovation and pose crucial questions for leaders about their development in context.”
The research also helps the PAL Centre to craft improved leader-focused development practices. As theory and practice evolve, PAL adds to its offerings by providing enhanced assessments, tools, simulations, games, data, and digital applications to blend into high-impact learning processes.
Beyond 2025
Reid says that PAL continues to work with knowledge and processes that deepen leaders’ levels of personal development, helping them navigate business contexts of high ambiguity and complexity. She explains that PAL is focussing on how coaching and similar participant-centred learning approaches can develop leaders to lead their organisations in sustainable and humane ways as well as in ways that augment human-centric skills with technology-driven leadership capabilities.
She concludes by saying, “The PAL Centre’s journey is one of continuous evolution and innovation. It seeks to enable conscious leadership capacity and impact and thereby cultivate thriving, inclusive, and responsible organisations.”
Notable PAL corporate solutions
The PAL Centre has become renowned for its customised coaching offering for businesses. Some notable programmes include:
- The UNICEF Global Mentorship Programme, where PAL partnered with UNICEF to design and implement a comprehensive mentorship programme for retired country managers to mentor incoming managers.
- The Standard Bank HRBP Coaching Certification, where Standard Bank’s HR Business Partner (HRBP) team was trained as internal coaches, driving a culture of manager-as-coach within the organisation.
- Vodacom’s coaching solutions, where 237 leaders have been provided with coaching over nine years.
The personal impact of having a PAL in your corner
Thousands of business leaders have benefitted from GIBS’ PAL offerings. While research has shown the positive impact coaching has had on the ability of leaders to translate their theoretical studies into leadership effectiveness, here is what a few of the 2024 GIBS cohort have to say.
On PAL and the MBA journey:
“I couldn’t have predicted how transformative the journey would be on an individual and team basis. Through structured feedback and open communication, we refined our strengths and ability to manage challenges and address differing perspectives constructively.” - Jersey Masilo
On leadership development:
“The coaching and resources provided by GIBS have been a cornerstone of my MBA journey, creating a nurturing environment for self-reflection, strategic thinking, and leadership development. These sessions have not only enhanced my academic success but also played a pivotal role in refining my personal leadership style.” - Boipelo Makasi
On goal setting:
“This was the first time in my life I learned how to set actionable and achievable goals. It helped improve my confidence in my ability and myself. The goal setting helped me to secure the highest academic marks I have ever had in my entire life. I am excited to take my newfound confidence and leadership skills to the workplace.” - Motse Selamolela
On personal coaching:
“The coaching sessions provide a unique opportunity to deepen self-awareness and process challenges within a supportive and structured environment. These sessions help you understand your responses to change, especially under high stress and pressure, and enable you to harness that change to your advantage. This insight empowers you to approach obstacles with clarity and purpose.” - Riaan Lombard
On team coaching:
“Team coaching enhanced my self-awareness and areas of strength differently from how managing in a work environment would. The peer-to-peer interphase exposed me to others’ opinions about myself in the safety of a coach, which helped in breaking down the ‘walls of safety’. It provided tools and a platform to reflect on my leadership capabilities and adapting it to various scenarios. This proved invaluable in driving team cohesion and performance.” - Jersey Masilo
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- The business landscape has changed and demands more of leaders.
- Business schools need to support their students in applying the theory they are learning in practice.
- PAL helps students generate their own insights and to embrace and internalise the concepts they learn to help them better cope with the demands of an increasingly uncertain world.
- PAL doesn’t use a one-size-fits-all approach to coaching. It customises its offering to suit the need.
- PAL has become a centre of excellence, where its work has been documented in the form of thought leadership pieces and white papers, making its practical knowledge easily accessible to business leaders.