Coaches Fear Not: AI as a Transformative Agent in Coaching

Authored by: Roger Pearman

As in many applications, artificial intelligence based on Large Language Models (LLM), may become a transformative source of information and guidance. This may be especially true in talent development, as individuals ask various AI companions about therapies, tips, and research summations. Coaching, a specialized development relationship, can also lean into the AI to transform the experience and enhance coaching services.

What is coaching?

Coaching others takes many forms. In general, it is a deliberate relationship between a learner and a coach to gain deeper personal insights. To explore possible courses of action to enhance effectiveness and create a development plan for ongoing growth. Before looking at the tactics for using AI coaching companions, it is important to set the stage for using such tools.

Coaches need to ensure that any AI companion they use relies on a curated, research-based database. It must cover the behaviors critical throughout the arc of a career and in many settings. Coverage of all aspects of development and all levels of organizational positions is essential to get the most productive insights. Open-source AI companions like those on public platforms such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Claude, Google Gemini, Perplexity, Jasper, and others scrape the internet for sources. Most of which are not vetted or based on juried research. These tools simply pull on those key terms associated with the question put to the companion, often creating these frustrating outcomes:

They hallucinate, generating incorrect, incomplete, and misleading answers and summaries.
Their guardrails are weak. People can “jailbreak” with clever tactics (which I’ll not review).
They pose security risks as bad actors have learned to embed links that lead to no good outcomes.
As a coaching information source, their answers vary greatly and often miss the mark of the learner’s context-specific needs.

Using an AI companion that analyzes research-based, practice-proven tips and has been created using a specific set of attributes of a coaching “voice” can be a transformative aid in the coaching relationship. Such an AI companion will provide accurate, comprehensive, well-integrated syntheses using evidence-based sources. Here are some of the ways this kind of AI companion can be useful:

Coach Utilization

Any coach using an AI companion as an aid and guide will be:

Asking well-designed questions for analyzing assessment data and identifying custom tips for a learner.
Looking at alternative ways of providing feedback and guidance to a learner.
Identifying patterns in data efficiently to aid in understanding learner behavior.
Enriching cultural awareness and sensitivities for coaching conversations.
Customizing for each learner an action-oriented development plan.
Leveraging the best tips provided to inform development through coaching.

An AI companion with the characteristics outlined above can help a coach save time and resources by focusing on the exact needs of a given learner (coachee). Such a tool can aid all aspects of a learner’s needs, from job interviewing to skill development, mindset reframing, and effective career planning based on aligning development with forthcoming challenges.

Coaches using an AI companion may also arrange for the coachee to access the AI system for a broad array of needs. As such, the learner sees the coach as bringing a great resource to the engagement that enriches conversations and deepens insights between coaching sessions.

Learner Utilization

The learner using an AI companion with a coach can focus and clarify for:

Enhancing self-awareness through identifying behavior patterns that are strengths and potential blind spots interfering with effectiveness.
Clarifying goals by customizing action steps and appropriate metrics for progress.
Enriching communication insights to boost relationships at work and home.
Addressing conflict management with concrete, action-oriented steps to lead to better relationships and effective decision-making while reducing interpersonal “noise”.
Deepening an understanding of cultural differences and approaches toward others to boost empathetic regard.
Generating innovative ideas and suggestions for actions to take that enhance teaming, decision-making, and strategic planning.
Gaining access to a 24/7 source of continuous support for long-term development and growth, an AI companion during and beyond the coaching engagement.

These are just a few of the benefits of using an appropriately developed AI companion that uses a curated database. With these benefits, the coach and coachee can quickly gain data syntheses and customized action tips to elevate the coaching experience.

What we’ve built

TalentTelligent has developed a comprehensive, curated database that includes our Founders’ collective 100 years of work, research, and experience. Our AI coaches (Career Architect, EQ Architect, and coming soon…Personality Architect) provide support for coaches and learners and can be counted on as a private, reliable, and protected source of guidance.

What’s “in there?”

The beauty in what we’ve built, and what coaches should look for in any AI solution, is that it is agnostic to any coach’s orientation. So, whether you prefer a Personality (trait or type)-based, EQ-based, Team-based, Competency-based, Sales-based, Strengths-based, or any other behavior-based approach to coaching, we have you covered. Our responses return rich and actionable content in specific contexts to any situation and for any organizational level for coaches to integrate into their coaching approaches.