Navigating the Intersection of Coaching and Technology: Insights from the 2023 NYU Coaching and Technology Summit - Part 1/3

In the rapidly evolving landscape of coaching, technology is playing a pivotal role in reshaping the industry. The 2023 NYU Coaching and Technology Summit served as a platform for startups, investors, academics, regulators, business leaders, coaching sponsors, coaches, and other stakeholders to come together and discuss the profound implications of technology on the art and future of coaching. This three-part article series will delve into the key discussions and reflections shared during the summit, shedding light on the opportunities, challenges, and ethical considerations arising at the intersection of coaching and technology.

Conference Hosts & Moderators:

The summit was hosted and moderated by distinguished individuals in the field, including Anna Tavis, Ph.D., and Dr. Woody Woodward, Ph.D., PCC. Their expertise and guidance ensured that the conference provided valuable insights and thought-provoking discussions for all attendees.

AI & Regulation

Conversation with the guest speaker: Keith Sonderling, Commissioner, US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

• Technology in HR: Technology is inserting itself between humans. The question is not when but how we will implement AI in HR.
• For companies rushing to implement AI in their products: just because there are no new laws yet doesn’t mean the present laws don’t apply. ?
• AI in hiring and biases: the work on looking for and eliminating AI biases in hiring. This topic is a high priority in corporate governance and AI regulation discussions. ?
• Sponsored coaching as a valuable talent benefit: HR leaders need to be mindful. If coaching is a valuable employee benefit that can help employees retain their jobs or access internal opportunities for growth and advancement, then it is important to be fair and transparent about who gets the coaching, how, and why.
• Immediate benefits of AI in organizations: communication assistance, improving effective communication, facilitating trust through better communications

My reflections

On data gathering and privacy: Compared to browsing, information searching, e-commerce, social media browsing, and marketing, the present and new AI technology in coaching (and similar services) might take personal data collection to a whole new level (capturing the innermost human desires and needs). It is very important that coaching data collection and data governance practices are actively discussed and appropriate standards set for the industry.

On AI-assisted hiring for potential: Foresight is not always continuity of hindsight. Prediction of a person’s future performance is not something we can quite extrapolate based on the track record of previous accomplishments. The risk of using AI and machine-assisted systems to “predict” one’s leadership or talent potential and the likelihood of future success will introduce a new type of bias (the AI authority bias).

Industry Leader Panel: The Evolving Business of Coaching in a High-Tech World

Moderator

• Dr. Woody Woodward, PhD, PCC

Panelists

• Sinead Keenan - Chief Innovation Officer?and Head of EZRA Labs
• Jonathan Kirschner - Founder & CEO, AiiR Consulting
• Pam Krulitz - Co-founder & CEO, Optify
• Parker Mitchell - Co-founder & CEO, Valence
• Alex Pascal, PhD - Founder & CEO, Coaching.com

Panel highlights

• Technology is driving the coaching business industry today. Many new tech & digital coaching companies were launched less than five years ago.
• Applying basic technology, such as video conferencing and seamless customer experience, is not enough to differentiate a coach today in the marketplace.
• In the corporate world, we see a shift from instructional to apprenticeship models of people development, and coaching is a part of it. Corporate coaching is more and more focused on team coaching. Learning and Development leaders need integrated solutions and a holistic approach to talent and people development. Enterprise coaching solutions are now fully digital.
• Many organizations are working hard to develop their next-generation leaders. Many are trying to figure out what it takes to make great future leaders. With technology integrated with talent development, there are many ways now to understand and measure the connection between coaching, leadership competencies, and leadership effectiveness.
• In terms of tech coaching platforms, Alex Pascal of Coaching.com thinks that the coaching ecosystem and coaches would all do better if digital coaching companies were focused on differentiating themselves on the coaching and not on their technologies. In his opinion, a platform should be neutral and should not create a barrier for coaches, clients, and vendors to participate in the coaching marketplace seamlessly. Some tech coaching companies disagree as they seek to lock in their market leadership by differentiating themselves on their fully integrated tech coaching platform products and solutions.
• It is hard to build a neutral platform compared to designing a specific solution. The key problems the coaching platforms need to solve: Integration, aggregation, and differentiation.
• 1:1 coaching is disrupting traditional learning and development. Coaching is being used to develop leadership competencies based on organizational leadership development models.
• Context matters in coaching. With so much disruption and change in the world, coaching helps leaders focus on adaptive challenges.
• A strong trend in coaching: Data-informed development. Technology is a powerful data collector. Data can be valuable for everyone (coachees, sponsors, coaches). Not all key ecosystem stakeholders have equal access to their (relevant) data.
• Generative AI in coaching: We need to be intentional with AI. Generative AI offers indulgence and attractiveness. We need to watch for fads, safety, and scalability. Generative AI coaches can offer between-session support to clients, and they can augment coaching when needed. We are in an AI coaching assistants transition phase. We are less than one year away from having an AI that can replace basic leadership development coaching.
• AI as an assistant to Human Coaches: AI coaching tools can also be used to support clients in goal attainment, as a supervision tool for coaches, or as a chatbot assistant that sends nudges to coaches and clients between coaching sessions.

My reflections

On coaching market knowledge and industry foresight: Coaches who want to stay at the forefront of the coaching industry need to pay attention to consumer sentiment shifts and massive technological disruptions that are rapidly reshaping the coaching ecosystem. For this purpose, I created a Platform Coaches Club, where coaches can come together to keep the pulse check on the coaching industry trends and stay on top of the latest technology and regulatory shifts.

On fast experimentation: Coaching technology startups are still experimenting with business models and getting their B2B unique value proposition right. New business models and capabilities are being tested daily. Business growth strategies are also rapidly adapting and evolving.

On industry dynamics: Competitive business forces in the digital coaching space are palpable and dynamic. The pioneers and first market movers still hold a strong market position. However, new contenders are entering the industry space, ready to bring fresh ideas and innovative solutions to the coaching world.

Asymmetric competitors to the coaching tech industry players are currently not discussed. They could take the industry by surprise – or maybe not if they are already factored in as a part of the exit strategy.

Despite the massive growth of corporate-sponsored coaching and the popularization of coaching among private and the direct-to-consumer market segment, I am missing to see clear, strong indicators of the real network effect within the platform coaching industry.

The elephant in the room: The principles and practices of coaching data gathering, data value, and data governance. In this and other forums, platform coaching companies often talk about evidence-based coaching and data-informed people development. When user data plays a key role in the value proposition, the user data is the integral part and value generator of the coaching platform product. The data ownership principles, however, and the value generated from the coaching data are still somewhat obscure (knowing they vary based on the business model). This, clearly, is a complex industry problem, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the International Coaching Federation plans to facilitate forward-looking multi-stakeholder solutions.