Ethical case studies - Digital and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Coaching

Editors:

Wendy-Ann Smith

Eva Hirsch Pontes, MCC, ACTC, ESIA

Dumi Magadlela PhD PCC &

Prof. David Clutterbuck

Chapter 8???

Theme: Digital and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Coaching

Case Study 26???

Managing digital records in the event of unexpected death.?

Authors: Eve Turner & David Lane

In this case study, which is based on experiences from our practices, a coach dies unexpectedly with the coach having made no provision for their death.??The coach did not have a supervisor but did have close friends who were experienced coaches.??

One of the close friends brought this situation to their supervisor.??As well as dealing with their grief at the loss of a friend, they had been contacted by the coach’s partner to ask how to deal with all the client information that was stored both in the coach’s study and digitally.??The family wanted to ensure confidentiality for clients, and also wondered how to deal with the coach’s digital footprint on social media.??

This raises questions for coaches around what needs to be in place to avoid the same situation arising in our own practices and the ensuing potential risk to confidentiality of undealt-with digital and other records.??This also includes thinking about the impact a coach’s unexpected death might have on our clients, our families and our friends.?

The case raises issues in relation to death and grieving (Berinato, 2020; Dance, 2020), the role of coaches in preparing for unexpected events (Menaul & Jo?o, 2022; Turner, 2021) and the role of Professional Bodies in coaching raising awareness in this area (Lane & Turner, 2023).

Case Study 27???

The Coach and the FinTech Digital expert.

Author: Ramon Estrada

The CEO and co-founder of a FinTech startup celebrates with his partner the launch of their company. While reading fantastic news from the press about their revolutionary tools and services, the director of a large bank calls the CEO with an apparent demand: "change the information about our products in your comparison tool or remove them, or else we’ll sue your company". The CEO calls his executive coach who promoted his coaching on the basis of his previous experience in the FinTech startup sector. However, is it coaching or consulting the CEO wanted and needed??

Case Study 28???

Handing a data breach out of your control.?

Author: Alexandra Jean Senna Fouracres ?? (Alexandra J.S. Fouracres)

The exciting, evolving possibilities of digital technology and AI also mean an expansion in the ways data (both in terms of type and volume), can be exfiltrated and exploited in a cyberattack.??Breaches of healthcare related data have shown an upward trend for over a decade (HIPPA Journal, 2022). Cyber attackers do not follow the same ethical guidelines as you do as a coach, one aim they have is finding something they can sell, which they often do via commercial marketplaces on the dark web (Ball & Broadhurst, 2021).??

As an example, in 2022, SAMH, the Scottish Association for Mental Health, a Scottish Charity became victim of a ransomware cyberattack (SAMH, 2022).??Ransomware attacks have some variation but largely involve elements of immobilisation of systems, blackmail and potential data exfiltration and leakage. Whether we are individual coaches, coaching companies or digital/AI platforms – it is no longer optional that we upskill to both defend and be capable of responding to cyber threats (Fouracres, 2022). Cyber attacks put our client data at risk, as well as can lead to reputational damage, financial loss, legal cases and emotional and mental health impacts from being the victim of cybercrime (Jansen & Leukfeldt 2017; Palassis, Speelman & Pooley, 2021).

Case Study 29???

The new team leader in an AI Environment.?

Author: Prof. David Clutterbuck

This case study is an amalgam of several from my own experience and from cases brought to me in team coach supervision. Coaches working with individual leaders increasingly get asked to help coach the leader’s team. However, team coaching requires a much wider tool kit and body of knowledge than individual coaching – to the extent that it would be unethical in many cases to take on this expanded role, on the principle of “do no harm”. One dilemma for the coach is how to acquire the necessary skills to coach the team and the leader together. Another is how to enable the team leader to make the mental shift from individual coaching client to builder of a coaching culture, in which team coaching can take root.

Case Study 30???

AI: The future of coaching??

Author: Prof. David Clutterbuck

Antoinette is coaching six managers in a digital technology company. They range in age from late twenties to early forties. All are highly ambitious and competitive – reputation management is a common theme alongside behavioural development.?

In Antoinette's normal coaching until this time, she has conducted interviews with a selection of the client’s stakeholders – typically, some direct reports, some peers and the manager’s boss. She finds these invaluable in understanding the context of the assignment.?

However, this time using AI (Artificial Intelligence) is fundamental to the assignment and written into the contract. Antoinette was sceptical and unfamiliar with many technologies, in particular, virtual reality and an AI assistant. But because of the industry the client company is in, Antoinette has agreed to employ technologies, and attended several crash courses to become sufficiently comfortable with the technology to apply it in her coaching sessions.

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