With AI coaching bots hot on our heels and everywhere I look in the media the question of the role AI can play in coaching is hotly debated and rightly so. It left me musing on the role of humans in coaching.

One of the first things new coaches often ask is what is the coaching process and what happens if the conversation moves away from the process. For those trained by Developing Success you will hear us say, hold the coaching process lightly. Focus on the relationship between the coach and coachee for this is where the magic can happen. If as coaches we just follow process and focus on asking the next ‘right’ question, we shouldn’t be surprised when coaching bots outperform us.

Instead how can we become fully present with our clients, really hearing them so they feel heard? How can we tune into our experience of being with them, emotionally, physically and intuitively?  Rather than being neutral, as I hear many coaches strive to be, how can we use our experience of being in relationship with our client to help build awareness in service of their growth.

I think what will help us to stand out from the coaching bots is our ability to dance exquisitely with our clients. Being attuned to their every move, helping them to be curious about what might be going on for them. But how can we dance? By being curious ourselves, by having the confidence to know we won’t always get it right and that’s okay. To grow our confidence to experiment, to challenge, to work in the zone of uncomfortable debate as *Blakey & Day called it.

What does that require of us as coaches? We need to do the work on ourselves, understand our own triggers, biases, values and our views of the world. Only then can we dance knowingly with our clients, not unconsciously getting them to dance to our tune.

So, finding space for human coaches to coexist with AI bots requires us to lean into being fully human with all its imperfections and learn to dance. 

* Blakey J, Day I. Challenging coaching: going beyond traditional coaching to face the FACTS. Nicholas Brealey Publishing; 2012.