Will our models and tools survive AI! If not, how will coaches survive?

Wow! It's already the end of February but, as a client said to me the other day, it feels like April already. I hope the year has started well for you.

At one of the February of t sessions he Tuesday club, a community of coaches that I established in 2023, we had a rather interesting discussion in trying to answer the questions above. For me, this particular topic arose from David Clutterbuck’s first paragraph in his foreword to the book, The Human behind the Coach, by Claire Pedrick and Lucia Baldelli:

“One of the things that distinguishes a human coach from an artificially intelligent (AI) robot is our humanity. Yet, coach education predominantly focuses on equipping coaches with processes and models, which an AI robot can replicate with relative ease.”

And a little later:

“The model was driving the coaching; to the extent that it appeared at times to be robotic.”?

Just what is driving our coaching? Many, if not most, coaches base or structure their coaching programs around assessments, models or tools of some sort. If I'm right about this, then these drive their coaching, with their humanness being a complimentary factor at best.

@ Tom Denysschen, who very ably facilitated this particular Tuesday Club discussion, looked at it from a different, and very interesting, perspective. He introduced a concept called Seventh Generation Thinking which, if I summarize my understanding, is about developing thinking and making decisions with seven generations in mind. Put simplistically, in general terms, people think for now and often don't consider the consequences and repercussions in the future. Climate change, of course, is a disturbingly great example. Accordingly, if we extend our clients’ perspectives to incorporate the future, or the “big picture” if you like, we might be able to stay ahead of AI. Peter Hawkins, in discussing systemic coaching, encourages us to help our clients think of their stakeholders, both current and future, again a bigger picture that includes the consequences of the decisions we make now.

So, how do we survive (and thrive) as coaches in this environment? My personal conclusion is that coaches need to focus on developing their humanness in their coaching so that this drives their coaching and so that they are less reliant on their assessments, models and tools. I think this would mean that the focus of their coaching would be their client rather than the issue so that they move from transactional coaching (which AI will be able to do soon if it can’t already do so) to more transformational coaching. Importantly, this does not mean that we should dispense with assessments, models and tools. I think our focus should be

on how we use them. Imagine if we keep finding different ways to experiment, different ways to add value when using these potential crutches! That could differentiate our value not only from what an AI robot can offer, but from our colleagues too. What an opportunity for us all to improve what we do, and the profession at the same time!

What do you think? I would love to hear what your thoughts are. Please share them with me using [email protected].

Let’s all make a world of difference.

Until next month

Take care

Lauron

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