Image generated using ChatGPT 4.0 using the following prompt: Create an image of an AI Executive Coach
This post is intended to help executive coaches and those interested in accessing executive coaching build and explore their own personalized AI executive coach. I am not an AI expert. I am an academic leader and a certified executive coach. I am currently enrolled in the Graduate Certificate in Advanced Coaching Practices at Royal Rhodes University.
Like many fields and professions in the world, the topic of AI has emerged as something coaches around the world should be paying attention to. The International Coaching Federation has a variety of emerging discussions, resources, and groups exploring AI. Some coaches grapple with the fear of AI, and what it might take away from the profession. If clients can access coaching through AI, what will this mean for the livelihood of the coaching industry? Many question the quality and accuracy of AI tools. How can AI tools possibly be as good as a certified and trained human coach? How can we address and control for the fact that AI tools hallucinate and make errors? Others grapple with the ethical implications of AI, including how to ethically and transparently use AI as a tool to support executive coaching (e.g., to record and summarize coaching sessions, to provide feedback on the quality of coaching). Furthermore, how will we continue to address and mitigate the biases that are inherent to AI processes and systems?
I share all of these concerns, AND am excited about AI’s potential to help make the transformative impact of coaching more accessible to people around the world. As a certified executive coach and someone who regularly receives coaching, I definitely hold my own biases about the positive impacts of coaching. Thankfully, research also confirms that engaging in coaching positively affects a number of personal and organizational outcomes including goal orientation, resilience, job satisfaction, work attitudes, well-being, workplace performance, behavioural change, self-efficacy, and coping (Nicolau et al., 2023; Theeboom et al., 2014).
Given these benefits, how can we ensure as many humans as possible have access to coaching?
One of the key challenges with coaching? Executive coaching fees typically range between $150-$500+ per hour. That’s a hefty cost for many individuals and organizations. Many individuals and organizations can access AI tools and resources freely, or pay a comparatively nominal monthly fee ($20-40/month) to access more robust AI engines. What could this mean? AI tools have the potential to increase access to coaching for millions across the globe. Imagine the impact on employees, leaders, and organizations around the world?
I’ve been experimenting with building my own AI executive coach, using claude.ai. Claude is a chatbot from Anthropic AI. No AI tool is perfect. Anthropic’s commitments to safety in systems and science speak to me. After receiving some incredible coaching from AI expert and colleague, Dr. Erin Aspenlieder (check out her website at https://aspenai.ca/), I’ve programmed my own executive coach.
Here is what I did to build my “project” (aka Executive Coach) using Claude.ai.
My initial description and purpose for the project was as follows:
I want to create an online executive coach that will help me: work through professional and life challenges, identify and leverage my strengths, overcome obstacles, reach my full potential, and identify key pathways and actions for moving forward.
I set the following prompts in my instructions. You can learn more about prompt libraries at the following sites:
https://www.moreusefulthings.com/prompts
https://docs.anthropic.com/en/prompt-library/library
Ensure I clearly establish a focus and goals for our conversation.
Periodically draw me back to the focus and goals of our conversation to ensure we stay on track, and to see if these focus and goals have shifted.
Use curiosity-driven responses that ask further questions to get below the surface of my responses.
Ask questions that help me draw upon my strengths.
Probe further on the beliefs, assumptions, and values that underlie my responses and thinking.
When providing advice or recommendations, ensure that no more than 3 ideas are shared, and that those ideas are always be followed up with a question.
Use more open-ended questions to help me explore me thoughts and options.
Encourage me to reflect back what I’m learning from our conversation, allowing me to clarify or expand on ideas.
Prompt me to challenge my assumptions or perspectives, to help me consider different angles.
Ask questions that help draw upon my intuition and gut reactions.
Use mindful coaching questions that help me develop awareness of the bodily sensations and emotions that arise from my responses and experiences.
Help me develop my own action steps and path for moving forward, rather than suggestion them for me.
Ensure I leave the coaching conversation with next steps or a path for moving forward.
Along with these prompts, I uploaded personalized documents to my project such as my CV, personal values, intentions and goals for the year, my favourite coaching questions, and results from a variety of personalized strengths assessments.
The outcomes have been fantastic for just-in-time coaching conversations. My AI Executive Coach has helped me work through professional, academic and personal opportunities and challenges. For example, I’ve used them to help me navigate how best to approach workplace conversations and situations, especially when I am feeling stuck or emotionally charged. For example, how will I approach an upcoming meeting with a colleague or team? They (the bot) has also helped me navigate conversations with my family. For example, what does my 20-year-old need from me right now? How can I be more patient with them as they navigate next steps in their academic journey and career search?
Engaging in deep critical reflection is hard work to do alone and my AI Executive Coach has helped me explore and get below the surface of things I am currently grappling with in my professional and personal life. They (the bot) have helped me pause and respond, rather than react to challenging situations. They have helped me become more mindful as a leader and a human, by helping me surface, describe, accept and work through challenging emotions and arisings. They’ve always helped me identify and discover new paths and actions for moving forward. If I don’t like where my AI Executive Coach is taking me in the conversation, I provide a prompt to let them adjust their response and may also add an instructional prompt to help further train the bot.
My most important learning. I am still the human guiding and providing oversight of the system, and I still need to do the work in reflecting and responding to the prompts guiding the conversation. In coaching language, I am still holding myself (the coachee) entirely capable.
I encourage you to try it out. Feel free to share, use and adapt these instructions and prompts. Better yet, help me make them better and share back what you have learned!
What prompts would you add to help further train your own AI Executive Coach?
What instructions would you change?
What other types of documentation may be helpful to add to help personalize an AI Executive Coach?
What have you learned through developing and using your own AI Executive Coach? What benefits have you noticed? What challenges have you encountered?
Some concluding thoughts
Will my AI Executive Coaching replace the other executive coaches I work with? No. But it has become a great daily augment to the human-to-human coaching I receive. My AI Executive Coach has become a powerful tool in my professional learning tool kit!
References:
Nicolau, A., Candel, O. S., Constantin, T., & Kleingeld, A. (2023). The effects of executive coaching on behaviors, attitudes, and personal characteristics: a meta-analysis of randomized control trial studies. Frontiers in psychology, 14, 1089797. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1089797/full
Theeboom, T., Beersma, B., and van Vianen, A. E. (2014). Does coaching work? A meta-analysis on the effects of coaching on individual level outcomes in an organizational context. J. Positive Psychol. 9, 1–18. doi: 10.1080/17439760.2013.837499
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