It might just be my social media algorithms, but it feels like as soon as I entered the world of coaching I started being presented with the tantalising clickbait headlines that promise miraculous transformations.
Unlock Your Six-Figure Coaching Blueprint in Just 30 Days Or Your Money Back! (or something along those lines) turns out to be an instruction to personally call a million people to get a dollar from each one, and if you don’t do it you’ve not fulfilled your side of the bargain so can’t claim a refund.
The sensationalisation and reality of AI in coaching
More recently I’ve seen webinars emerging claiming that AI Will Revolutionise Your Coaching Business Today! As someone who spends a lot of time looking into this subject I can find myself tempted by their allure, and yet the titles of the webinars I offer still have mundane titles like Coaching and AI. I clearly have a lot to learn about marketing but believe that the over-simplicity of some of the content I see floating around sometimes overshadows the nuanced reality of (a) what truly drives success in coaching, and (b) what AI even is in the first place.
Because the clickbait doesn’t just go one way. It’s not all an unreasonably optimistic sales pitch for the latest ChatGPT prompt that’s marketed as an AI product. Some of the perspectives being offered are more along the lines of Alexa, How Will Civilisation End?
With both of these approaches it occurs to me that we’re giving AI far too much agency. It absolutely presents intriguing possibilities – I recently posted about how I’ve literally created a Sales Director to chase me on a regular basis – but it’s not magic (humans are).
AI could help at many stages in a coaching offer. It could be used a thinking partner to brainstorm some ideas. It could help to design a structure. It could create some visuals, case studies, exercises and a mobile app. It could turn unstructured feedback into structured data for advanced analytics.
AI could do plenty to increase efficiency and capacity, but I’m sorry to be the bearer of news (I don’t think it’s bad news necessarily, although it might be for some people). A coaching programme that uses AI and is successful isn’t going to be successful because of the AI, it’s going to be successful because of the human(s) behind it. AI can increase scale, impact and efficiency, but only if framed coherently within a sound strategy rooted in authenticity and ethical practice.
A different way to engage
I think we need to adopt a more balanced perspective about AI. Let’s increase our understanding about the ways AI can be wielded effectively, without falling prey to exaggerated fears or overly simplistic promises. The more aware we become of what AI is truly capable of – and how – the visions of robots replacing us are revealed as cynical and shortsighted. Coaching is sometimes (often?) more than we give it credit for.
With this in mind, let’s acknowledge that it’s our responsibility to use technological developments of all kinds ethically and mindfully. Indeed, we can and should explore genuinely helpful strategies for leveraging AI, but I think we should pause before acting as if it will become an automatic solution or an existential threat.
A topic that came up strongly in last month’s gathering of the Coachtech Collective was Meta’s demonstration of its Orion AR glasses, which will allow remote meetings to be initiated literally through thought, and which will be experienced in a deeply embodied, sensory way. This sort of technology development feels huge precisely because the awareness of the technology will be taking a back seat to the experience of connection with a human.
A suggested next step
Here’s my encouragement to coaches, therefore. Reflect on your coaching practice: What problems do you aim to solve? What is your offer for your clients? Now, how could integrating AI amplify that without presenting unacceptable risks?
If you want an action to take, I’d love to invite you to join the Coachtech Collective or even book a 1:1 session with me to create an AI colleague with you! And there’s plenty to do alone. Start experimenting. Ask ChatGPT to become your AI mentor (tell it to stop waffling in its responses and it’s a bit less annoying). It can even walk you through building an app yourself, step by step. If you’ve already created a 6-figure coaching programme, it will probably speed up your process of creating another one. If you haven’t, your ability to create one might be helped by some intelligent application of AI but it will be you that makes it work, not a machine that can’t tell you how many Rs there are in strawberry.
Some might find comfort in dismissing AI as a passing trend or an unacceptable risk simply because of how much feels unknown. But burying our heads in the sand isn’t sustainable, and presents its own risks that are much more likely. The landscape of coaching, leadership and business is extremely volatile, and clinging to what once worked won’t serve us forever. I was attending a workshop recently where somebody tried to make the case for an outright halt to AI developments. While that might feel tempting, and no doubt has good motives behind it, that plea won’t yield results and doesn’t offer to mend the gaps in our systems that require innovation.
The key for us lies in taking a mature, measured approach. We must embrace technology appropriately, while fostering what makes us magic. Doing this paves the way for having a greater impact on our coaching clients, and on the widest systems within which they operate. AI should take the place of a thoughtful enhancement, not a standalone solution. Sensationalising narratives I’m sure sells tickets but we do have the power to shape the conversation around AI in an ethical way. When we embrace the challenge, we open up the opportunity to leave a positive legacy and significantly impact the lives we touch.
