The Coaching Gap

Before we scale AI, we must scale understanding.

Our latest Global Data Literacy Benchmark research identifies a critical challenge facing organizations worldwide: the coaching gap. Using the comprehensive Databilities® framework, we've mapped workforce capabilities across three distinct cohorts:

The Curious (those who need direction and guidance)

The Confident (those who can work independently with data)

The Coaches (those who can guide and teach others)

The reality? There are too few leaders to support too many learners. This coaching shortage creates a fundamental bottleneck in organizational AI readiness.

While technological capabilities advance rapidly, the ability to embed data use into culture and lead others through complex data challenges is not growing fast enough to match the scale of AI integration.

Organizations need more than independent workers. They need people who can establish guardrails, build data-driven cultures, and guide teams through the complexities of AI oversight.

The Coach cohort remains too small to meaningfully support the vast number of employees who require ongoing guidance. This gap extends beyond academic concern and directly impacts how effectively organizations can deploy, govern, and benefit from AI systems.

The solution requires strategic investment in developing coaching capabilities across all levels of the organization.

Full benchmark findings coming soon.