{"id":5701,"date":"2026-05-15T03:51:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T07:51:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/?p=5701"},"modified":"2026-05-15T03:53:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T07:53:49","slug":"why-ai-doing-90-of-your-coaching-is-the-best-thing-to-happen-to-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/2026\/05\/15\/why-ai-doing-90-of-your-coaching-is-the-best-thing-to-happen-to-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Why AI Doing 90% of Your Coaching is the Best Thing to Happen to Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anxiety is creeping into leadership circles. A late-2025 study by The Conference Board suggests that AI can now handle up to 90% of routine career coaching tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ll be honest: the knee-jerk fear of obsolescence was <em>exactly<\/em> my response recently. A client told me she was looking into AI to scale coaching across her organization. In her company, coaching has historically been locked behind a velvet rope, available only to those who reach a certain hierarchical level. She wanted to democratize it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was skeptical, but I investigated. And frankly, I was blown away. I found a platform that is incredibly effective if you want your people to practice soft skills, like navigating a difficult conversation with a colleague, or nailing a sales pitch, rather than practicing on actual prospects and customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My initial fear quickly gave way to a counterintuitive observation: <strong>AI isn&#8217;t here to kill human coaching or leadership; it&#8217;s here to save us from our own transactional mediocrity.<\/strong> The algorithm is forcing a brutal but necessary question: <em>If a machine can do my job, was I operating like a machine?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Framework<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Integral Institute offers a brilliant framework for navigating this shift. They divide our development needs into two distinct lanes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Top-of-Funnel (How do I think about this problem?):<\/strong> The realm of performative, cognitive coaching.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Bottom-of-Funnel (Who am I becoming as a leader?):<\/strong> The realm of existential, transformational coaching.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Researcher Tatiana Bachkirova (HEC Paris) draws the absolute dividing line at &#8220;embodied empathy.&#8221; AI possesses flawless <em>syntactic empathy: <\/em>It knows exactly what words to string together to validate an emotion. But it has never lived through anything. It doesn&#8217;t know risk, loss, or mortality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Reframe: The Signal Behind the Threat<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fear of being replaced isn\u2019t a bug; it\u2019s a signal. It tells us we\u2019ve spent way too much time in the &#8220;performative&#8221; zone: optimizing skills, running role-plays, and offering cognitive behavioral tweaks. AI excels here. It treats symptoms, optimizes metrics, and operates 24\/7 without burning out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The positive side of this &#8220;threat&#8221; is liberation. By offloading habit tracking and cognitive prep to an algorithm, human leaders and coaches are forced to step up and do their actual jobs: <strong>navigating the messy reality of human identity.<\/strong> An AI can give you ten perfectly structured frameworks for delegating tasks, but it cannot help you when your nervous system is terrified of losing control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Leadership Application: The Hybrid Model<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In organizational life, this demands a shift in how we build and support our teams. The future belongs to a tiered, hybrid model:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Phase 1: AI as the Pre-Coach (Performative).<\/strong> The tool is used for onboarding, baseline skill assessments, and goal-tracking. It handles the &#8220;presenting problem.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Phase 2: The Human as the Alchemist (Transformational).<\/strong> This is where you step in. You use the AI&#8217;s data as a baseline, but focus entirely on the human. You read the shifting energy in a room, spot systemic power dynamics that an algorithm is blind to, and possess the courage to sit in the discomfort of silence to force a real breakthrough.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Phase 3: AI as the Accountability Partner (Continuous).<\/strong> Post-breakthrough, the AI steps back in to provide the daily nudges and micro-learning needed to turn a transformational epiphany into a sustained habit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Takeaway (TL;DR)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If coaching and leadership are just about giving advice and tracking KPIs, the algorithm wins. If they are interpretive, embodied, relational practices meant to reinvent how a human operates in the world, you are irreplaceable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Leave the tasks to the bots; keep the identity for the humans.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Coaching Prompt: The Impact Audit<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Take five minutes before your next 1:1 or team meeting and ask yourself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Looking at my meetings last week, which ones were just information transfer or checklist tracking (things an AI could easily do)?<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>When a team member struggles, do I rush to hand them a &#8220;solution framework&#8221; (bot mode), or am I capable of sitting in the discomfort and listening for the &#8220;unsaid&#8221;?<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Am I trying to optimize this person&#8217;s symptoms, or am I trying to help them transform their professional identity?<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>P.S.<\/strong> If you are curious about the AI simulation tool I mentioned earlier\u2014the one that blew me away for safe, scalable soft-skill practice\u2014just reply to this email. I will gladly introduce you to the people behind the solution. Ironically enough, they are fantastic and very human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">P.P.S. Speaking of doing the deep, human work: if you haven\u2019t yet taken the <a href=\"https:\/\/navigator.pearlside.fr\/\">\u200b<strong>Emerging Leadership Navigator<\/strong>\u200b<\/a> from last week\u2019s newsletter for a spin, consider this your gentle nudge. It\u2019s designed specifically to help you map out your own leadership bottlenecks and identity shifts: exactly the kind of &#8220;bottom-of-funnel&#8221; inner work an algorithm can&#8217;t do for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anxiety is creeping into leadership circles. A late-2025 study by The Conference Board suggests that AI can now handle up to 90% of routine career coaching tasks. I\u2019ll be honest: the knee-jerk fear of obsolescence was exactly my response recently. A client told me she was looking into AI to scale coaching across her organization. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/2026-03-24-Alexis-et-Isabel-MONVILLE-Pearlside-2-.jpg?fit=2500%2C1667&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paNjQG-1tX","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4991,"url":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/2023\/12\/04\/ioanna-mantzouridou-on-revolutionizing-leadership-with-ai\/","url_meta":{"origin":5701,"position":0},"title":"Ioanna Mantzouridou on Revolutionizing Leadership with AI","author":"Alexis","date":"December 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"In our latest episode of Le Podcast on Emerging Leadership, I am honored to feature Ioanna Mantzouridou, Co-founder & CEO of Dextego. Join us as we delve into Ioanna's inspiring journey from her roots in HR to leading an innovative AI coaching platform. Key Highlights of the Episode: Journey to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Le Podcast&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Le Podcast","link":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/category\/podcast\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/Le-Podcast-Ioana.png?fit=400%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4974,"url":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/2023\/11\/19\/unleashing-leadership-potential-a-conversation-with-ali-schultz-from-reboot-io\/","url_meta":{"origin":5701,"position":1},"title":"Better Humans, Better Leaders: A Conversation with Ali Schultz (Reboot.io)","author":"Alexis","date":"November 19, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Some leadership conversations stay with you because they don\u2019t add more techniques. They change your attention. That\u2019s what happened for me with Ali Schultz, co-founder of Reboot.io. Reboot has been around for ten years now, and their work has influenced an entire generation of founders and leadership teams. But what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/category\/all\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/11\/Le-Podcast-Season-Ali-Schultz.png?fit=400%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5668,"url":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/2026\/03\/16\/stop-trying-to-outrun-your-shadow-the-first-lie-we-were-told-about-leadership\/","url_meta":{"origin":5701,"position":2},"title":"Stop Trying to Outrun Your Shadow: The First Lie We Were Told About Leadership","author":"Alexis","date":"March 16, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"We\u2019ve all heard it. Maybe it was on the playground after a scraped knee, or at the dinner table after a frustrating day at school: \"Don\u2019t cry.\" \"Be a big girl\/boy.\" \"Don't get angry. It\u2019s not a big deal.\" From the time we can walk, we are taught that \"strength\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/category\/all\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/martino-pietropoli-pirWeToS2mA-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/martino-pietropoli-pirWeToS2mA-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/martino-pietropoli-pirWeToS2mA-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/martino-pietropoli-pirWeToS2mA-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/martino-pietropoli-pirWeToS2mA-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3442,"url":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/2020\/09\/07\/human-centric-agility-coaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":5701,"position":3},"title":"Human-Centric Agility Coaching: The Expert Paradox and the Ideology Paradox","author":"Alexis","date":"September 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Geof Ellingham, Business agility champion and leadership coach, gave his insights about Agile Coaching in this new episode of Le Podcast.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Le Podcast&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Le Podcast","link":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/category\/podcast\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/09\/Le-Podcast-Geof.png?fit=400%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5696,"url":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/2026\/05\/10\/where-are-you-hiding-in-your-leadership\/","url_meta":{"origin":5701,"position":4},"title":"Where are you hiding in your leadership?","author":"Alexis","date":"May 10, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"We all have a default setting. When the pressure dials up at work, we unconsciously retreat into the tasks that feel safe. The visionary strategist ignores the operational messy work; the relentless executor ignores team morale; the empathetic people-pleaser avoids hard business metrics. We usually dress this up as \"playing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/category\/all\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/compass.png?fit=1200%2C686&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/compass.png?fit=1200%2C686&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/compass.png?fit=1200%2C686&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/compass.png?fit=1200%2C686&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/compass.png?fit=1200%2C686&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4066,"url":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/2023\/01\/05\/this-is-season-three-of-le-podcast\/","url_meta":{"origin":5701,"position":5},"title":"This is Season Three of Le Podcast!","author":"Alexis","date":"January 5, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Season 3 of Le Podcast on Emerging Leadership features interviews with experts on leadership and related topics. 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