Welcome to this week’s edition! 👋

Today, we will deep dive on Coaching, and why it will have a big role in the future of work. We’ll run through:

• Why online courses won’t be sufficient to learn new skills

• Coaching’s three key problems

• Do AI-coaching apps work?

• Evolution of Coaching platforms and an interview with Talent Development pioneer NickDeWilde

Let’s dive in! 👇🏻

Coaching: A Big Role in the Future of Work

Coaching will become huge in the next few years: in a world where uncertainty and the pace of change are so high, technical information and front-end learning are not sufficient.

Why? Coaching is different than training because it has a personal, 1-1, and human element to it which sets it apart from other types of learning.

Even though we've got a lot of benefits from Massive Online Courses (MOOCs) and AI-driven learning, we're going to quickly realize that you can't erase the human element from learning, because it's simply in our nature.

Social learning significantly affects human development: people learn through observing, imitating, and modeling others' behavior. This theory (by Albert Bandura) suggests that individuals acquire new skills and behaviors by paying attention to the actions of others and the consequences of those actions.

More specifically:

1. Sense of Belonging: Exposure to positive role models in education enhances a sense of belonging, especially for groups subjected to negative stereotypes like women and racial minorities in STEM. For instance, women who read about successful female physicians in male-dominated careers felt a stronger connection to their paths.

2. Self-Efficacy: Self-efficacy, the belief in one’s abilities, greatly influences whether a person will imitate an observed behavior. Women in calculus classes reported higher self-efficacy and participation when taught by female professors compared to male professors. The women’s identification with their female professors significantly predicted this increased belief in their abilities. 

3. Increased Achievement: Students who read about the challenges overcome by famous scientists performed better than those who read only about their achievements. Observing perseverance fosters personal performance.

4. Perceived attainability: Role models’ successes should be achievable. If aspirants believe they can attain similar success, they’re more motivated. For example, college freshmen were more motivated by successful seniors than fourth-year students were, likely because the freshmen felt they had more time to achieve similar success.

5. Perceived similarity: An effective role model is someone others see as similar or relatable. This perceived similarity, whether through shared group membership, experiences, or interests, boosts motivation. For example, women were more interested in computer science when interacting with relatable models, like a casually dressed and socially skilled computer scientist, than with stereotypical ones.

This goes to show that learning happens all the time and reinforces the importance of managers as coaches for their teams.

Employees who report to managers who coach effectively are 40% more engaged, exhibit 38% more discretionary effort, and are 20% more likely to stay at their organizations.

However, this is not likely to be sufficient, given time constraints, or even worse, cases of bad role models.

Right now, coaching has three problems.

Culture: It carries a significant stigma, often dismissed as poorly practical, or reserved for those perceived as incapable. This viewpoint mirrors the historical skepticism towards therapy in mental health. However, just as attitudes towards therapy are gradually shifting towards acceptance, cultural perception can change, especially when individuals witness the benefits experienced by their peers.

Costs: Cost concerns are understandable, yet the landscape of coaching has significantly evolved. With the advent of numerous platforms and increased coach availability, coaching is no longer an exclusive service reserved for hefty budgets. Today, it can be seamlessly integrated into a company's wider training and development budget, making it a more accessible and feasible option for organizational growth.

Complex: Navigating the complexity of finding the right coach can be challenging. Questions like who is a good coach and where to find one that truly understands your needs are common concerns. Although platforms and marketplaces have made strides in addressing these issues, often promising personalized matches, they sometimes fall short of delivering on these promises.

High-profile CEOs such as Steve Jobs, Eric Schmidt, and Bill Gates have all benefited from working with personal coaches to enhance their leadership skills and decision-making abilities, so why shouldn't any other ambitious-driven individual?

Remote Work: A new Variable

The surge in remote work presents two significant challenges: the increased need for coaching to support remote work effectiveness, and the necessity for coaching to adjust to the demands of effective communication and relationship-building from a distance.

The rise of remote work has fundamentally changed the landscape of the modern workplace, bringing with it a greater need for coaching, as well as necessitating significant adaptations in coaching methods to suit the remote environment. Here are the key reasons why the increase in remote work requires more coaching for employees and how coaching needs to adapt to be effective remotely:

1. Navigating New Challenges

- Adapting to Isolation: Remote work often leads to feelings of isolation and disconnection from colleagues. Coaching can provide a vital support system, helping employees navigate these emotional challenges and stay engaged with their work and team.

- Time Management and Productivity: Without the structure of a traditional office, employees may struggle with time management. Coaches can offer strategies for effectively organizing workloads and maintaining productivity in a less structured environment.

- Technical Skills Development: The reliance on technology in remote work is higher than in traditional office settings. Coaches can play a crucial role in helping employees develop the technical skills necessary to efficiently use remote work tools.

2. Supporting Career Development:

- Career Progression: With fewer opportunities for in-person networking and visibility, remote employees might feel their career development is hindered. Coaching can help them strategize ways to advance and remain visible within the organization.

3. Enhancing Communication Skills:

- Effective Digital Communication: Remote work relies heavily on digital communication, which comes with challenges. Coaching can help employees develop clear and effective communication skills tailored to digital mediums.

4. Building Remote Relationships:

- Establishing Trust Virtually: Building trust and rapport in a remote setting can be challenging. Coaches need to find ways to create a strong connection through the screen, perhaps by being more proactive in reaching out and showing empathy.

AI in Coaching: Does it Work?

These tools use machine learning algorithms and natural language processing to analyze data and provide personalized coaching, real-time feedback, and accessibility.

Here are a few examples:

RockyAI - AI coaching platform designed to assist individuals in attaining their personal development objectives. It facilitates the acquisition of new skills, habits, and mindsets through daily coaching questions and tutorials. Users are encouraged to reflect and journal their answers as part of the coaching process.

Poised - an AI-powered software focused on communication skills that enhances users’ confidence and effectiveness when speaking by analyzing video and audio and providing feedback in real-time. Highly valued and praised for executive coaching, Poised can assist in brushing up on your public speaking and coaching skills. More on this in this issue of Work3.

CareerHub AI- personalized career guidance, discover ideal career paths, receive custom-made advice, and estimate your salary potential with AI.

WonderWay - This is a specialized 'Sales' AI coach, which gets automatic scoring and feedback on sales calls.

ChatGPT / Agents - With the rise of easy-to-build GPTs, a lot of celebrities, influencers, and other individuals have been building their versions of AI-based coaches. The idea here is that you're giving away specific and personalized knowledge. Example: AskGaryVee.

Just looking at the ProductHunt page, there are tons out there, going from broad to more specialized tasks (Interview Coaching, etc. - which we covered here).

The real question is: does it work? What can it be useful for really?

24-7: One of the promises, is it can be available at any time you need it. While we do live in an era of perceived urgency for almost anything (go watch comedian Ronny Cheng's video on AmazonPrime for a good laugh about it, with a good example: we're getting used to ordering and getting it after one hour) and that there are good use cases where you may need a coach urgently, the majority of cases, can wait. And, I think you should wait. You get more time to digest, reflect, and ponder on what you need and how to ask for it if you have a specific appointment.

Personalization: The 'P' word that goes hand-in-hand with AI. True, but only if you feed it the right info. True, but you're still speaking to a machine, which won't be able to capture non-verbal communication (remember, that can take up almost 80% of communication).

I could go on, but as with many other things, we're coming to terms that AI and chatbots will be able to do just some parts and be a companion, versus completely substituting the human elements that make us so beautifully complicated.

Coaching Platforms 2.0: Technology meets Humans

These are marketplaces where you can find human coaches based on your objectives. It's usually built around a mix of human advice and technology, with some initial questionnaires and onboarding calls to drive you in the right direction. There are tons out there, but in a recent interview, I had the privilege of diving into the world of talent development and the future of work with Nick DeWilde, founder of Exec.com. With a rich background in talent development, including running immersive training programs and collaborating with prominent organizations like Guild and Invisible College, Nick shared valuable insights into the evolution of coaching and its pivotal role in shaping the future of work.

The problem: Nick's journey with Exec.com was born out of a keen observation of the challenges organizations face in crafting customized talent development programs. He saw ‘more messy people problems’ coming around in conversations, and traditional options—building in-house, resorting to pricey boutique services, or relying on inflexible tech platforms—weren’t solving them. So he went out to build a solution to provide the best of both worlds: the customization and flexibility of boutique services combined with the scale, cost advantages, and data gathering of tech platforms.

Crafting a Cohesive Coaching Ecosystem: Exec.com doubles down on the coach selection process: Nick emphasizes the importance of coaches with impressive professional trajectories, promotions, and backgrounds mirroring successful individuals within organizations. The selection process includes a thorough evaluation of coaching credentials, in-depth personal interviews, background checks, and continuous feedback collection from clients. Yes, they all have ICF (International Coach Federation) certifications, which sets a standard, but the true assessment is on their ‘capability to solve real-world problems’ and he specifically looks out for successful individuals who want and learn how to do coaching, not those who may have ‘fallen into it’ somehow.

Integrating Web3 Concepts: When it comes to leveraging experience in Web3, a clever idea was to operate the platform on a unique credit system, which is an innovative approach to internal economies within the organization. This helps both manage the costs but also use the ‘tokens’ to make them exchangeable, much like if it were a cryptocurrency for learning.

Coaching and AI: Complementary Forces, Not Competitors: I asked Nick how he saw the landscape of coaching evolve with AI. While acknowledging the potential of AI in specific coaching functions, he greatly highlighted the value of human connection and the motivational aspects that coaching uniquely provides. He spoke about embedding AI into the product to enhance coaching and training within organizations - again, as a 'companion' just like we said before.

Trends Shaping the Coaching Landscape: Career and job search coaching have seen a surge, especially as we live in more uncertain times. An interesting one is succession planning: this is quickly becoming a hot topic, particularly in industries experiencing a demographic shift. Plus, remote work coaching has evolved from addressing burnout to nurturing and retaining high performers in the current landscape.

Exec is also a good example of what I wrote about on 'Exponential Organizations' (or ExOs - full deep dive here): with just a few people in the team, they're running a successful global business and he stressed how AI and current technologies are enabling their capabilities to go deep and re-skill on some particular areas on their own. Whether that's content strategy, growth, or business development, they're keeping the costs lean and therefore being able to bring down costs to clients and coaches on the platform.

The coaching landscape is shaped by the dynamic interplay between technology and human elements. We shouldn’t miss that.

As we navigate these complexities, coaching will emerge as a fundamental lever for individual and organizational success, but we will need to address these open questions before throwing things out there and seeing what sticks:

1. In a world increasingly reliant on AI, can technology truly replicate the empathetic and motivational aspects of human coaching that drive personal and professional growth?

2. As coaching becomes more accessible, how can organizations overcome cultural stigmas and encourage a widespread acceptance of coaching as a valuable tool for development?

3. With the rise of remote work, can coaching effectively fill the void left by in-person interactions, or does it risk becoming a temporary solution to the deeper challenges of isolation and disconnection?

Have you tried any AI or Human coach? Let me know in the comments 👇🏻