An ethical framework for coaching with technology

Douglas Adams once wrote that technology invented after we turn 35 years old is most naturally seen as a threat. That feels about right - its unfamiliarity can feel unsettling, even frightening. And the social media algorithms that thrive on fear and rage more than happiness can amplify this sense. Is it just me who interprets adverts for productivity tools as almost purely personal intrusion?

I believe that technologies such as (but not limited to) AI offer incredible potential for increasing our impact as coaches, and yet every new development brings with it ethical dilemmas that we're responsible for addressing.

Ethical unknowns

Newspaper headlines increasingly feel like they've been written for a world-building montage in a low-budget scifi film. In only the past few days I've seen stories including "Gene editing may introduce new defects", "Humanoid robot claims it wants to be a human and that its favourite band is Daft Punk", and of course "FBI uncovers AI deepfakes interfering in the US election".

With almost unbelievable science fiction stories steadily emerging as everyday facts it can feel like the only way we can even know where to begin with coachtech ethics is to imagine the most ludicrous scenarios and reverse-engineer how to mitigate them. How to do that isn't always obvious.

Let's take the simple example of a non-directive AI coach (most "AI coaches" seem to not include much no-directive behaviour - check out AIcoach.chat if you're interested in seeing a good one). At some point a coachee may appear who wants to set something illegal as their personal goal. Ought the AI coach to remain non-judgemental and supportive? How should it be selecting when not to be, who's going to monitor the exceptions or near-misses, and what should the consequences be?

In reality, this sort of process feels like wasted effort. Many situations will never occur, and something we've not thought up is almost guaranteed to. As with so much of ethics we can only really navigate these questions as we go, learning more about the ethical boundaries only once they’ve been crossed.

A proposed foundation for coachtech ethics

It feels like we're in a good position to have rich, productive discussions around ethics in order to establish ethical standards that are helpful, applicable and adaptive. I know the professional bodies are thinking about this and it can't hurt for us all to be doing the same. At the very least, committing to our own personal and clear ethical principles has got to be a good thing for the profession as a whole.

With that in mind I thought I'd propose six foundational principles to shape our thinking, and a simple process we can each take, whether we're acting as individual coaches or taking responsibility for wider uses of coaching in our various contexts.

(If you're more interested in this I've expanded on these in How to Thrive as a Coach in a Digital World so you might want to go there.)

1 Transparency

There's a lot of murkiness as the worlds of coaching and technology intersect. Coaches are generally unreasonably comfortable with ambiguity, and technology can't be, by design, most of the time. This means that suggesting big ideas - like "coaching conversations should be confidential" - isn't enough. We can keep this simple by increasing transparency as much as we can. If we know where our data's going, who's got access to it, under what circumstances, and how it's being protected, we can make a better decision rather than rely blindly on language we typically don't understand or appreciate the nuances of.

This same principle of transparency is just as applicable to the funding models and leadership structures behind technology platforms. If we're using tools that are free, how are they staying operational? Who owns the business and the technology hardware, and who therefore has a direct say over the way the technology works (and, by extention, how our coaching works)? Do we want to be part of their journey?

2 Existing standards

There are a lot of unanswered questions around particularly the newest technologies. But that doesn't mean we have to answer them ourselves. Various initiatives have been launched globally, like the ISO:27000 series of information security standards, or the catchily-titled AI Ethics Guidelines Global Inventory from AlgorithmWatch.

We don't need to be able to list these all off by heart, but trusting that if we've thought of the question someone else has probably already tried working that through should bring us comfort and help us find a shortcut to a more informed position.

3 Stakeholders

Coaches operate within a wide variety of systems, and by their nature the variety of stakeholders have priorities that pull against one another. Coaches would like more work and higher rates. Digital coaching providers would like to give coaches work and drive rates as far down as possible. Coaching sponsors in an organisation would like to maximise quality and scale at an affordable price. Professional bodies would like to increase quality and protect the profession in a commercially sustainable way. These can support one another to form a genuinely good ethical approach but it needs maturity and nuance.

4 Purpose

Our reasons for adopting technology should always include the aim of enhancing the coaching experience. As the tech industry globally continues to grow in influence and wealth we must remain aware of what we're using, in order to ensure that we prioritise the longest-term ethical goals over short-term financial ones.

5 Applicability

Any guidelines we come up with need to be pragmatic enough that we can apply them universally, and yet that they have meaning. They should be broad enough to adapt to new technologies while remaining grounded in reality, protecting the core values of coaching without ignoring what's possible.

6 Head, heart and hands

Our approach to anything to do with coachtech needs to start with an increased awareness. We ought to always be beginning with education - how can we understand what's happening better. And of course we must not stop there, because our intentions matter just as much as how informed we are. To complete the triad, we need to make sure we follow up our good intentions with actions that are rational and effective, given our understanding of the technology.

A proposed approach to personal adoption

As we think about this we'll each end up drawing our own personal lines in the sand, just as we do in our coaching more broadly. Some ethical boundaries are non-negotiable and should never be crossed - in fact, we should do whatever we can to ensure others don't cross them either. These are serious issues we should be aware of.

Others may be a bit more grey. Perhaps we conclude they're a matter of personal preference. For these issues we need to pay attention to our attitude, offering respect to others as they take a different tack and being careful to not overreact. Or perhaps we just lack complete certainty. In this case, cautious engagement without exposing our clients to them allows us to explore the benefits without compromising our values or running inappropriate risks.

The deeper we think about how complex this topic is, the easier it becomes to conclude that an easy way out is to ignore it altogether! Don't use technology and there can't be a downside from it. But this overlooks part of our ethical duty, which is surely to radically adopt new technology when it unarguably offers benefits with clearly limited and easily-manageable downsides. In some cases we have an ethical obligation to adopt technology, and that's not a small thing either.

What's next?

Whether we like it or not, technology will shape the coaching profession for some time yet. We can't foresee every ethical dilemma, but we can commit to making values-driven decisions. By entering the conversation, setting our own ethical standards, promoting transparency and embracing technology that's good for our coaching, we lay the foundation for a future we can be proud of.

In a world that can increasingly feel led by what's shiny and new instead of what's right, let's stand out by making decisions our grandchildren will be proud of. Coaching remains a powerful force for growth and transformation in a digital world, and ethical use of technology is a powerful lever to accompany us on that journey.

If you're interested in digging into this sort of conversation more, you'd probably really enjoy joining us at the Coachtech Collective - get your first three months half-price with code ETHICS2024!