Dr. Steven MacGregor

Coaching and AI: Opportunities, Tools, and Challenges for Our Future 🎤 This week, I had the privilege of presenting at the International Coaching Federation at ICF Italia on the evolving relationship between coaching and artificial intelligence. In our BANI world (Breakable, Anxious, Non-linear, Incomprehensible), AI presents both unprecedented opportunities and significant challenges for coaching professionals. We explored the current AI adoption landscape, where studies show that while 98% of organizations have increased AI investments, 76% remain in early experimentation phases, and a surprising 67% of employees report never using AI in their work 😲. I shared the numerous AI coaching tools 🛠️ emerging in the market (tools for coaches and tools for coaching) and discussed two implementation models: AI-assisted human coaching and AI as the exclusive coach. The advantages are compelling - scalability 🚀, measurability 📊, accessibility 🌍- yet research reveals concerning risks around dependency ⚠️, the illusion of empathic dialog 🎭, and autonomy vs. supervision balance 🤝. I ended the conference by referring to Aristotle's intellectual virtues (Techne, Sophia, Phronesis) and the reminder that comparing AI to human intelligence is like comparing an airplane to a bird 🕊️- functionally similar but fundamentally different. Aristotle's message to us in the present is to have faith that our unique value as human coaches lies in our phronesis - the capability to make ethical decisions and help our clients navigate this AI transformation that is affecting both us and them. What's your experience with AI in coaching? Are you a "Maximalist 🔥 (enthusiast who uses AI)," "Submarine" ⚓ you use AI but hide from others,"Rebel" 🤖 (You don't want to use it), "Superfan" 👀 (attracted by AI but don'y use it), or "Observer" 🧐 (not ready to go with AI) in your AI adoption approach? #AIandCoaching #ExecutiveCoaching #ArtificialIntelligence #ICF #LeadershipDevelopment #HumanTouch #BANIWorld #Phronesis #EthicalCoaching #CoachingTools Camilla Giustiniani Carlo Perfetto Maria Patron Giulia Astrella gabriella campanile Iryna Kozar Mila Miscia Silvia Fragola Maria Rita Fiasco Chiara Falavigna Aurélie Lagarde Sabrina Pittaluga (She/Her) Anna Giampaolo Mauro Nardocci

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COACH TALKS PODCAST: NINTH EPISODE IS OUT!! 🎧 Listen here: https://lnkd.in/dD4raSAy In this inspiring episode , Susana Rodrigues breaks down the key differences between coaching and therapy, shares her powerful journey of how she changed careers, and introduces a practical tool for emotional regulation and performance enhancement. It’s a conversation filled with insight, authenticity, and actionable takeaways—perfect for anyone looking to live in alignment with their true potential. Coach Talks — an @m80radioportugal podcast by Madalena Sutcliffe, available on all major platforms including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and www.m80.pt. #Podcast #CoachTalks #SusanaRodrigues #Coaching #Leadership #EmotionalIntelligence #PersonalDevelopment

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Fresh researched article about the evidence behind different coaching approaches and how to choose your interventions with the evidence we now have. And: how can we adapt our interventions to the different clients / issues that we meet? Enjoy! #executivecoaching #coaching #leadershipdevelopment #research #interventions #philosophyofcoaching

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Cross-disciplinary science teams are being asked to solve increasingly complex problems—but many of our leadership habits are still built for a simpler world. I’ve been re-reading Dr. Gemma Jiang’s 2023 paper on collaborative leadership in team science, which frames these teams as complex adaptive systems and then asks a practical question: how do we actually lead when outcomes are emergent, not predictable? The article highlights three recurring pitfalls: 1. Perpetual sensemaking with no real decisions or actions 2. Decisions made by a small inner circle without inclusive sensemaking, undermining both quality and buy‑in. 3. Rigid adherence to initial plans even as context shifts, treating the project plan as “the bible.” To move beyond these traps, Gemma brings together three conceptual frameworks that, in effect, act as lightweight operating systems for collaborative leadership: >> Theory U – Encourages teams to go “down the left side of the U” into deep, inclusive sensemaking before committing to action, linking the depth of inquiry to the quality of outcomes. >> Divergence–Convergence Double Diamond – Makes visible the oscillation between divergence and convergence in both sensemaking and action, including the inevitable “groan zone” where integrating diverse perspectives feels hard but is essential for innovation. >> Strategic Doing – Replaces long, hierarchical planning cycles with fast iterations and “pathfinder projects,” integrating thinkers and doers in short loops of sensemaking, deciding, and acting. What I find especially useful is how these frameworks shift leadership from a person to a process: distributed leadership becomes the disciplined practice of structuring conversations so that coherence, decision making, and actions continually inform one another. For those working in large, multi-institutional projects—or building innovation platforms and ecosystems—this paper offers a practical way to design the rules of engagement so that adaptive behavior can emerge without generating chaos or reverting to the rigidities of command‑and‑control practices.

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Great to see more and more organisations talking about the importance of continuous learning. This from NPC (New Philanthropy Capital) is a good example: https://lnkd.in/eSEVNkd9 This is a classic example of "yes, and..." The crucial point that the guide doesn't discuss is the role of performance management in supporting or undermining a learning culture. The evidence is crystal clear on this - target-based performance management corrupts the data required to learn. (https://lnkd.in/ekJ3D-cT). Until we change the purpose of measurement in social change work - so that we measure in order to learn and improve, rather than measuring to command and control, a genuine learning culture will remain out of reach. This also requires that funders fund for learning, rather than for "results" (spoiler: if you fund for "results", you don't get genuine results, you get a bunch of good looking results data). Let's build genuine learning organisations. All the things in the NPC report help to do that. And if we also apply that thinking to our approach to governance and accountability, we'll see genuine change. Mark Smith Rob Wilson Hannah Hesselgreaves Kathy Evans

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What if you could actually see what happens inside the brain of a knowledge worker? At the BeOn* conference in Madrid yesterday, I had the privilege of demonstrating this live on stage. Using an EEG headset, I captured my brain activity in real time as I described the demands of an “always-on” workday, and what might be recorded: • Task-switching and back-to-back meetings are often associated with elevated beta wave activity, an indicator of cognitive arousal and mental strain. • Even short recovery periods, including slow-paced breathing exercises, elicit more prominent alpha wave activity, often associated with calm and relaxed states. It was a reminder that our biggest challenges aren’t just in our calendars, they’re in our biology. If we want to sustain high performance, the answer isn’t simply chasing more output. It’s learning to work with our brains and bodies: pairing periods of deep focus with genuine recovery. And the future looks exciting. Mobile EEG is opening new doors in workplace research: helping us measure mental fatigue, track cognitive performance, and even understand how our environments shape brain activity. The insights could equip us with deeper insights for designing workdays that support both productivity and wellbeing, rather than sacrificing one for the other. Are you interested in using brain data to enhance your performance and wellbeing at work?

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What if the future of coaching isn’t just about scaling services—but about expanding access through cultural relevance and collective intelligence? The new ICF Coaching Futures Report 2026 explores four possible futures for coaching, shaped by five emerging drivers and signals of change. Download the report here: https://lnkd.in/e6_rs3Gi #ICF #TLI #CoachingFutures #FutureOfCoaching #FuturesThinking #Coaching

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When we ask the question: "Where is #AI taking us?" we need to realize we are looking for our compass. What if the compass in the #AILiteracy conversation is #DigitalHumanities? A fav example to help us consider this reframe is the Interspecies Internet work. It’s a stunning example of what happens when we bring together science, philosophy, storytelling, and systems thinking. Their history of research and conversation and ethical work looks at our new collaboration with AI as an invitation: 𝐀𝐬 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬, 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫? That's Digital Humanities: asking relevant and necessary questions across disciplines. Asking with empathy. Asking with ethical frameworks. You’re asking how we construct meaning—and who gets included in that process of answering. We have, with the example of the Interspecies Internet research, an opportunity to realize new ways of understanding our world. When Digital Humanities are our compass, we can position empathy as our true north rather than get distracted by the hype squirrels. That's a compass which insists on putting people, culture, and meaning at the center of technological change. Are you listening to researchers in #interspeciescommunication? Are you hearing the truly relevant stories of actual innovation? For more: https://lnkd.in/gCc4n9e3 Nicole Furlonge, PhD, Nicole Stellon O'Donnell, Amy Foley, Laura Light, Paula G. Plaza-Ponte, Gemma Dawson, Dr. Shannon H. Doak 🅥, Tina Austin, Tina Peji, Katrina Daniels-Samasa, Marta Medved Krajnovic, Michael J. Hibbeln, Ph.D., John Burns

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