Tasks |
Coach |
AI |
Coach & AI together |
Establish purpose and goals |
Effective coaches work with context and values before agreeing goals
|
Focus on the goal and routes to achieving it
Unable to work easily with evolving goals |
Deeper exploration of context and purpose
Able to look beyond initial goals
|
Building client self-awareness |
Uses diagnostics alongside intuition to guide the client towards self-insight.
Builds on insights to shape new horizons |
Uses standard tools and questions to help the client become more self-aware. Stops at the point of potential insight. Unable to check how deep the insight has been.
|
Identify new avenues to explore. When bot brings the client to an insight, it creates the platform for the client to explore it more deeply with the coach |
Decision-making & critical thinking |
More creative, but more susceptible to failures of reasoning and decision-making traps |
Follows logic and decision-making processes more closely. Unable to include tacit knowledge or “unknown knowns” |
Better at finding solutions that are both/and rather than either/or |
Generating options |
Intuitive understanding of client of possibilities in light of cultural variables and values; and of what does and doesn’t work |
Offers both “liner thinking” (obvious) options and “way out” options |
Coach can moderate and add to AI suggestions to create a wider palette of options. Capacity to be genuinely innovative |
Motivating |
The Pygmalion Effect – motivating power of one person’s belief in what another can achieve |
Client has to generate own motivation |
Combining intrinsic and extrinsic motivation |
Follow-up |
Coach acts as a conscience to the client. Difficult to keep reminding the client without appearing to nag and taking responsibility from the client to the coach |
More rigorous at reminding |
Easier to monitor progress and give continued support without seeming intrusive |
Skills |
Coach |
AI |
Coach & AI together |
Listening |
Has wider store of mental associations to aid sense-making
May filter out important data |
Has large, but narrow store of associated algorithms and data to draw upon.
May pay too much attention to irrelevant data |
Shifts focus more towards how the client makes sense of their issue |
Questioning |
Intuitive recognition of the “right” question
Intuitive understanding of when not to ask a question |
Able to draw upon a large database of questions from previous conversations. Difficulty in deviating from the “script”. |
Coach spends less time worrying about the next question, knowing that, if they don’t have one, they can fall back on the AI |
Rapport building |
Building deep trust enables the client to delve further into issues and face their fears |
AI can seem less judgemental, but can only build “transactional trust” |
A big unknown! However, rapport with a coach may be undermined, if the client suspects “collusion” between coach and AI. Transparency is vital |
Giving feedback |
Coach gives feedback both on aspects previously agreed and on other things they notice |
AI gives feedback only on what it is programmed to do. Can make comparisons with other people in its database, to provide a sense of proportion. (E.g. 83% of people fall into this category…) |
Automating multirater feedback and analysis can put ownership of the process firmly in the client’s hands and suggest topics to discuss in coaching |
Use of self |
In Gestalt mode, the coach is able to use their own feelings and associations to generate new avenues of enquiry |
AI lacks a sense of self and can only draw upon observation or comparison with other similar conversations |
Coach can use AI’s observations to check their intuitions. (E.g. when the coach a sense of discomfort, does the AI observe relevant changes in the client’s tone or micro-expressions?) |
Being a role model |
More an aspect of being a mentor than a coach |
N/A |
N/A |
Qualities |
Coach |
AI |
Coach and AI together |
Credibility |
Combination of who the coach is and the experience they bring — leads the client to place more weight on their guidance |
The Wikipedia effect – generally helpful but not to be trusted! |
Likely to increase client confidence – but needs research to verify |
Compassion |
Feeling for the client and understanding their perspective |
Rudimentary understanding of the emotions people generally in this situation may feel |
May help the coach avoid over-sympathising and losing their objectivity |
Curiosity |
The instinctive desire to learn more and to follow a conversational path wherever it may lead |
Algorithms require AI to follow the mist logical path |
May make explorations more thorough. High potential to ensure that the conversation comes back to “parked” issues that might otherwise be forgotten |
Courage |
The instinct to do or say what feels right |
N/A |
AI could potentially act as the coach’s own conscience, prompting them to reflect on their own motivations both during coaching sessions or in reflection afterwards |