Reflections on NYU’s 2023 Coaching and Technology Summit
By:
Lisa Banks,
Optify’s team enjoyed another thought-provoking day at the second annual NYU Coaching and Technology Summit on June 16 where innovators, entrepreneurs, and practitioners in the coaching and technology space convened to share ideas and debate the coaching industry’s future – and speed of transformation – at the hands of technology. We were honored to once again be among the sponsors and panelists for the day.
The conference’s engaging hosts Anna Tavis, Ph.D, Academic Director of NYU’s Human Capital Management Department, SPS and Dr. Woody Woodward, Clinical Assistant Professor and Program Lead of NYU’s MS in Executive Coaching and Organizational Consulting program, cheekily dubbed the day a convening of “frenemies,” and challenged attendees to find ways to “innovate together” to serve the world of work and humanity at large.
Panel discussions revealed the many ways that companies and entrepreneurs are thinking about and evolving talent development in our swiftly changing world. Vendors shared where they sit among the different combinations of leadership models, levels of service, methodology, and use of coaches, and/or technology to develop leaders.
The debate around aggregators and integrators continued, with “customer trust” highlighted as a critical element when unique companies like Optify offer both coaching services and a tech platform for other coaching service providers and enterprise customers.
Here are our other key takeaways from the day:
✅ Human Coaches and Coaching Bots
What to know:
Increasingly, companies are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Large Language Models (LLMs) in some form to enhance talent development. There are five ways that companies and coaches are currently experimenting with or using AI:
Assessing leader readiness for coaching. This is a valuable way to help organizations and leaders determine when coaching is right.
Coach matching for scaled operations.
Human-coach assistance. AI can augment coaching with nudges, questions, check-ins and learning for clients
Coach professional development and supervision. Technology can analyze coaching session recordings and share insights on coaching habits such as talk time, question stacking, and missed opportunities to deepen client learning. Check out Ovida for this technology.
Analyzing results of coaching and development programs.
Even the most traditionally minded coaches are challenging their assumptions about how to bring value to leaders. Emma Weber, founder of Coach M was a staunch believer in one-to-one in-person coaching. However, she challenged her beliefs, built AI driven Coach M, and started testing it out with her coaching company’s clients. She was floored to discover that clients were keen to engage with the bot, choosing to take advantage of all mediums – human, AI, and a combination of both to accelerate their leadership.
AI technology is moving at the speed of light and will continue to add to the coaching industry. Panelists agreed that the landscape will look vastly different in six to nine months. We were reminded of Amara’s law that “We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.” Let’s ponder that one.
Our Bottom Line: Buckle up and stay curious. As our own Pam Krulitz wisely noted in her remarks on the first panel, “Tech is the price of admission today.” It’s up to us to devise ways to create opportunity and progress without diminishing our humanness and the value of interpersonal connection.
✅ Regulating AI
EOC Commissioner, Keith Sonderling, gave opening remarks about how the law is responding to the rapid emergence of AI, and particularly its subset of LLMs, which are finding application in new use-cases at break-neck speed
Three points made by Mr. Sonderling caught our attention:
The frenzied pleas for immediate regulation of AI are a “distraction.” He reminded the audience that our current Civil Rights Laws are firmly in place to protect employees from the discriminatory or other adverse impact of any practices – including the use of AI technologies.
Companies and innovators simply “can’t be competitive without AI today” and for this reason must be diligent in asking themselves:
How do we use it?
For what purpose?
How do we train users in its “fair use”?
Companies acquiring and deploying AI technologies internally are responsible and liable – for its fair use – NOT the vendors who make the technology and sell it to the marketplace. Therefore, companies must be savvy buyers, be trained in fair use, and monitor their employees who use AI to hire, review, promote, train and coach their employees.
Our Bottom line: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is alive and well and employers remain in the hot seat to show its use does not have an adverse impact on employees.
✅ Elevating Humanity
At its core, the coaching industry aspires to improve how individuals live and lead. This shared purpose was on full display at the conference and we expect that it will continue to inspire and guide coaching companies and the organizations that are building “coaching cultures.”
To that end, here are some nuggets about coaching and the companies who are all-in:
Companies are assessing what drives employee engagement so they can deliver value to their people. One company doubled down on communicating “We Invest in Talent” after internal surveys revealed that the number one driver of engagement was a perception that growth and development opportunities exist. This corporate panelist noted that “the companies that are outperforming the market are sold on coaching.”
Coaching within the unique business context of an organization is critical. Whether a company is focused on innovation, role confidence, inclusivity, resilience, agility, or strategic thinking, organizational culture and goals will drive development initiatives in the future.
Companies are increasingly aware of the need to humanize their organization and are tapping coaching practices to develop a leadership culture that is open, curious, and willing to challenge its assumptions. Panelists recognize that much of their technical expertise may end up supplemented or replaced by machine learning, but people will always need the skills to strategize, negotiate, collaborate, and influence.
Our Bottom Line: By remaining focused our collective mission to help organizations and humans grow and develop while at the same time staying open to how technology can enhance that ambition, frenemies can indeed find ways to work together for good.
Co-Founder Champion of Leadership Excellence
Lisa Banks brings to Optify a wise perspective and agility cultivated through a multifaceted career in business and leadership. Prior to becoming a leadership coach, facilitator, and trainer, Lisa practiced corporate law, built a business, and sharpened her leadership skills while directing and growing businesses in the nonprofit space. She is a mindfulness practitioner and meditation teacher committed to promoting resilient leadership.
Having coached across many industries, Lisa understands that organizations are eager to give more leaders the chance to expand their leadership capabilities and influence. She is proud that Optify answers this call. Lisa earned her Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center and Bachelor’s degrees in Communications and International Relations from the University of Virginia. She is a certified leadership coach and facilitator through Georgetown University and a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coach Federation. In addition, Lisa is a certified Polarity Thinking coach and Conversational Intelligence enhanced practitioner. She is a mentor coach for the Georgetown University Institute for Transformational Leadership.
