R Karl Hebenstreit Of Perform & Function On The Top 5 Trends Shaping the Future of Coaching

An Interview With Chad Silverstein

Shift to AI-enabled coaching for scalability in coaching delivery as well as for the development of existing coaches. We’ve already discussed this powerful game-changer earlier in our conversation, along with its potential and watch-outs.

The world of coaching is undergoing a seismic shift, with emerging trends set to redefine its boundaries and possibilities. From digital transformation and the integration of artificial intelligence to the growing emphasis on mental health and the global rise of coaching cultures within organizations, these developments are reshaping the landscape of personal and professional growth. As we navigate through these changes, understanding the forces that drive the future of coaching becomes paramount. I had the pleasure of interviewing R. Karl Hebenstreit, PhD, PCC.

Karl is a certified Executive Coach, Leadership/Team/Organization Development Consultant, best-selling author, and international speaker who has over 25 years of experience coaching leaders and their teams (from Individual Contributors to CEOs in myriad industries and sectors) to work better together and consistently exceed their organizations’ goals. He holds a PhD in Organizational Psychology and has authored two books: “The How & Why: Taking Care of Business with the Enneagram” (now in its 3rd Edition!) and “Nina and the Really, Really Tough Decision” (now available in English, Spanish, and Greek!). Karl is motivated by seeing his clients achieve their fullest potential, professionally and personally.

Thank you for joining us. To start, could you share your “origin story” with our readers? How did you begin your coaching journey, and what challenges did you face in the early days?

My coaching journey was definitely an organic evolution. When I was growing up (in the 1970s and 1980s), going to college (in the 1990s), and even during my first few jobs (1990s — 2000), I had never heard of the term “coach” used outside of athletics. I was introduced to the concept of Executive Coaching during my Ph.D. studies in Organizational Psychology — but even then, my program at the California School of Professional Psychology (now Alliant International University) did not include a component or elective in Coaching. Upon attaining my degree in 2007, I decided to complement and supplement my Ph.D. with a Certificate in “Evidence-Based Coaching” — a year-long program at Fielding Graduate University (which I totally recommend, by the way). Finishing this program resulted in my ACTP (Accredited Coach Training Program), and eventually my ACC (Associate Certified Coach) and PCC (Professional Certified Coach) designations through the ICF (International Coaching Federation). That even led to me teaching “Coaching & Mentoring” at CSPP/AIU as an Adjunct Professor in 2019 and 2020! A challenge faced by most coaches is finding coaching clients. I was very fortunate to be able to practice my coaching with internal clients at my day jobs in Human Resources, Leadership Development, and Organization Development at Kaiser Permanente, EMC Corporation, Bio-Rad, and Genentech/Roche. And my network provided me with additional work as an external coach at Cisco, Sony Playstation, Pattison Sign Group, and the San Francisco Unified School District.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

1. Openness to new opportunities, especially in times of potential adversity. This includes going the non-traditional route of crafting my own 2-year long temporary employee rotation program in Human Resources in a major pharmaceutical company (after not being able to secure a more “permanent” situation during a bad economy), moving cross-country to take on a new job in a state where I had no friends, family, or support network, changing jobs when it was clear that the entirety of what I brought to the table was not being appreciated (even when a new job wasn’t yet secured), and launching my own solopreneurship in 2022. All of this was a result of intuition, too, which is of critical importance in coaching.
2. Continuous learning, including listening. Being open to learning and growing, challenging my existing mindset, exposing myself to new tools and frameworks, immersing myself in new environments and learning from them and others, have all been instrumental to my success. PLUS, the people I have met in these same journeys have contributed to point 3. The listening component in this area is also of critical importance as a transferable skill to my coaching.
3. Relationship-Building, Nurturing, and Networking. It’s not about what you know, it’s also about WHO you know. The people I’ve had the good fortune of meeting, working with, and learning from over the course of my career (including during my schooling and certifications) have all become a treasured part of my vast network. There is mutual respect and willingness to help each other as much as possible. As an entrepreneur, I have come to find that all of my work can in some way be attributed to my network. And it goes both ways. I receive work or referrals from them and I refer work to them as well. I have been more successful in engaging in projects from them (as they reach out to me based on their knowledge of my experience and reputation) than from reaching out to people who don’t know me.

Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Why does that resonate with you so much?

In addition to the Platinum Rule (“treat others the way that THEY want to be treated”) — which has been a game changer in emotional intelligence development for me and my clients — I also find comfort in the concept of “readiness.” Instead of getting frustrated with a client, potential prospect, or situation, I remind myself that they may not be ready for this at this time (and may become ready at a later point in time). Readiness and openness to be coached is also a prerequisite for coaching success.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?

I am excited to be working on a few projects right now:

• I have a new book coming out soon called “Explicit Expectations: The Essential Guide & Toolkit of Management Fundamentals,” which will include — you guessed it! — a chapter on Coaching.
• I am still working on getting more exposure and visibility for my children’s book, “Nina and the Really, Really Tough Decision.” It’s a powerful story that uses the Enneagram as a way for children (and adults!) to learn about the diversity of perspective and motivations that exist in all human beings, and how to tap into and integrate them all into our own way of seeing and experiencing the world, so that we have a clearer understanding of the world and better relationships. Not to sound cheesy, but if everyone understands this, we may be able to achieve world peace … The book is now available in English and Spanish. I’m looking for a Greek publisher for the Greek version, and it’s currently being translated into French. Who wants to help make the world a better place with me and get the story out there?
• In addition to my executive coaching and leadership/team/organization development consulting practice, I’m also focusing more on speaking engagements at corporate events, conferences, and cruise ships! Who wants to book me? I promise it will be life-changing!

Without saying any names could you share a particularly memorable success story from your coaching career?

Just this past week (and totally unsolicited!), a long-term coaching client told me how much he appreciated the coaching I provided him and his leadership team. He credited my coaching with opening up his and his leadership team’s minds to thinking differently, more inclusively, more empathically, and more strategically, ultimately resulting in an incredible turnaround story and the highest financial performance the company has ever experienced. Of course, this could never have been achieved without each of the coachees being ready and open to it and doing the hard work themselves and the company’s investment in them — it’s always a two-way street, and I LOVE seeing the results when everything comes together!

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview about coaching. How has your approach to coaching evolved over the years, and what personal learnings have you applied to your own development?

I think all coaches progress through an evolution of purism, where there is a voice inside your head constantly criticizing you about how there could have been a better, more powerful question to help your client achieve a breakthrough, you could have listened better, you didn’t get as far as you wanted or expected to as fast as you hoped to. As you coach more and more, you learn to relax more and be more present with your client where THEY are; you meet them there and then experiment with what questions will work in the moment. Use and trust your intuition more. If you think you see something and the client says that wasn’t it, just pivot until something does make sense. Basically, it’s getting yourself out of the way of the coaching and allowing it to organically and naturally progress to where it needs to at the pace it’s meant to … and, with experience, you learn when you can push for more, and when that won’t be appropriate in that moment.

How do you incorporate feedback into your coaching practice to continuously improve?

In addition to asking my clients for live feedback, I send them a gForm that they can take their time to fill out on their own. I review this to see what’s working for them and what more (or less!) they might need from me to be a more effective coach. This, in addition to feedback and evidence I collect from speaking to their bosses and colleagues, provides me with directionality on what I can do to improve and become even more effective in my coaching.

Can you discuss an innovation in coaching that you believe is currently underappreciated but has the potential to significantly impact the field?

At this point in time, it’s definitely AI. Last year, a vendor reached out to me to find out if I was interested in scaling my coaching business. Basically, I would continue to focus on coaching the executives and top leadership at a client company, and all of my knowledge, models, books, articles, education, and style would be used to create an AI version of me (a mini-Karl, if you will) that would provide coaching at all other levels of the organization. The themes of the coaching would then be collected and reported back to me so I could see what’s going on throughout the organization, what all the different levels needed, what kind of training and development or other organization development interventions and solutions I could recommend to make the organization more effective and its employees more satisfied and engaged. Intriguing and scary at the same time, no? So many implications and considerations, too. A few months later, I attended the International Coaching Federation’s Converge Conference and experienced a product demonstration that records and transcribes each of your coaching sessions and provides you with feedback at the end of each one: how much air time did you take as a coach? How much air time for the coachee? How many interruptions? How many powerful questions were asked? In what amount of time? How many epiphanies were made? How many pauses before questions? Were the questions succinct and well-though out, or rambling and confusing? Fascinating, no? A really useful tool for the coach’s self-development, for sure. And scary if the data is breached and gets in the wrong hands, being used for nefarious purposes. When all these issues are addressed appropriately and satisfactory safeguards are put in place, these would be some very intriguing options to consider … coach development, better service to our coachees, clients, and their organizations, greater scalability, etc.

In what ways can coaching address the evolving mental health needs of diverse populations in a digitally connected world?

As a coach, you become privy to all aspects of a coachee’s life that are affecting their overall state of being. At times, we may find out some things that are outside our area of expertise or comfort. At these times, being careful not to cross the line into psychological counseling, and providing tools, methods, and referrals as necessary is a critical service we can deliver. More and more of these services are being made available to employees of organizations as part of their corporate offerings, medical insurance providers, especially digitally. This makes these programs far more accessible than they have been in the past — and our world now needs them more than ever.

How do you foresee artificial intelligence and machine learning transforming the coaching industry in the next decade?

I recently attended the International Coaching Federation’s Converge Conference where this was a major topic of interest and discussion — there were several sessions about it. As we discussed earlier, there are positive opportunities in coach development, availability, improved service and impact to clients and their organizations, among others. The areas of concern to be figured out involve privacy, ethics, hacking, unauthorized access to and distribution of private conversations and confidential data, etc.

What role do you believe ethical considerations and privacy concerns will play in the future of coaching, especially with the increased use of digital platforms?

There is a lot of concern, for sure, about this. As coaches start using AI assistants to take automatic notes during sessions, as AI conducts some of the sessions itself, what happens to that information that is collected? Who gets to see it? What if there is a hacking incident? How does the confidentiality of the conversations stay guaranteed? There are a lot of unknowns in this fledgling area that still need to be worked out.

Could you list and briefly explain “Top 5 Trends Shaping the Future of Coaching” based on your experiences and insights?

1. Shift for companies to train their leaders and managers in coaching techniques (and even paying for coaching certifications) to provide coaching to their team members. I experienced this personally while in my last corporate role. My organization went from an express aversion to internal coaches, exclusively utilizing external executive coaches, to a 180-degree change of policy where all managers — and even individual contributors — were encouraged to attend some sort of coach training so that they could provide coaching to their teams and peers. Many even had their coaching certifications paid for by the organization (hint, if your company or department doesn’t have budget to pay for your certification, and has a tuition reimbursement program, find an accredited university that offers an ICF-approved ACTP coaching certification and do it that way!).

2. Shift for coaching availability throughout the entire organization, not just for executives, Directors and above, or “high potentials” (yes, that cringeworthy term is sadly making a comeback). In addition to encouraging employees and managers to train in coaching skills themselves, coaching is now being democratized and made available to all levels of the organization. No, it’s not the same ultra-expensive in-person coaching offered to executives. The pandemic and our now native comfort with using Zoom and Teams has led to coaching being delivered virtually, instead of in-person. Companies like BetterUp, Torch.io, CoachHub, MentorCity, Nudge Coach, and Optify.io are providing the platforms to enable this democratization, at a fraction of what traditional executive coaching engagements typically cost. As companies recognize the value of coaching for employees at all levels of their organization, especially during these ultra-volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) times, more and more are offering this service to support their employees’ wellness, professional development, engagement, satisfaction, and effectiveness.

3. Shift for virtual / online coaching, and expansion into wellness coaching (EAP +). As we just discussed, the democratization of coaching has been made possible by leveraging technology. And there has also been an expansion of scope of coaching. Coaches tend to specialize in one or more areas: executive coaching, career coaching, life coaching, spiritual, mental health, health and wellness, wealth, relationship, personal development, skills, etc. In the past, managers were provided with an “Employee Assistance Program” telephone number or website to offer to their team members if/when they felt they might need some extra help. Now, organizations make coaching services in wellness coaching services far more prominent in their benefits offerings, removing any stigma that may have been associated with using them. Medical plans, too, offer their own support in these areas.

4. Shift to team coaching and coaching supervision. Coaching supervision — coaches engaging with other coaches as an objective sounding board and accountability partner to develop and ensure their on-going coaching effectiveness with clients — has become even more prominent in the industry now, even though it’s been around for the past 20-ish years. Team coaching is also a newer trend, and has been recently more officially acknowledged by the International Coaching Federation with the creation and publishing of its 2021 Team Coaching Competencies. Today’s global, virtual, and matrixed organizations require that employees are part of many different teams as part of their roles. Each team is comprised of different team members, with varying perspectives, needs, motivations, and styles affecting the team’s dynamics and effectiveness. Team coaches help each team work through all of these so that they can optimize their effectiveness and meet the organization’s performance expectations of them.

5. Shift to AI-enabled coaching for scalability in coaching delivery as well as for the development of existing coaches. We’ve already discussed this powerful game-changer earlier in our conversation, along with its potential and watch-outs.

How do you envision the integration of coaching within organizational cultures changing the landscape of leadership and employee development?

For the better, for sure! The adoption and integration of coaching into organization cultures (as long as it’s confidential and not weaponized), will create more open and inclusive organizations that encourage people to grow, develop, and come up with solutions on their own, rather than being (co-) dependent on their managers and leaders to do so. As long as the culture and leadership encourage this empowerment and support their peoples’ innovative ideas, experimentation, and solutions, rather than blaming or punishing good faith efforts that may lead to mistakes and failures, positive breakthroughs are bound to be experienced all around us.

What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the coaching industry today, and how might we overcome it?

From the standpoint of organizational adoption, readiness and busy-ness, for sure. Readiness in the sense of openness to change and development, challenging and letting go of current, outdated mindsets, and adopting and integrating new perspectives. Readiness happens when you realize that the pain of growing and changing is less than the pain of continuing the way you have been — when you realize that you’re not achieving what you want, that your approaches are no longer as valid, useful, or effective, that you may be causing others pain, and that there may be other ways to be better. Readiness, also, of the organization to be willing to invest financially and time-wise in coaching for its employees.

Busy-ness comes into play with all the competing business priorities, deadlines, changing goals and directions that keep us running around and prevent us from taking a pause to THINK and REFLECT about how we could be more effective, strategic, better leaders, better humans, etc. These two components are huge barriers to effective coaching and we need to educate our clients and organizations as much as possible, while patiently waiting to see when the readiness is there to be able to help our clients move forward and make their needed changes. They, in turn, need to commit making the coaching sessions a priority for them and to do the work.

What is one long-term goal you have for your coaching practice, and how are you working towards it?

Growing and scaling my practice, especially within client organizations. I have seen the difference and impact I can make when I work with leadership and then cascade our work throughout the organization — opening and changing mindsets, increasing emotional intelligence, encouraging systemwide and critical thinking that is task- and people-inclusive.

How can our readers continue to follow your work?

Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/in/rkarlhebenstreit), via my website (www.performandfunction.com), and check out my books: “The How and Why: Taking Care of Business with the Enneagram (now in its third edition!), “Nina and the Really, Really Tough Decision” (in English, Spanish, and Greek), and be on the lookout for “Explicit Expectations: The Essential Guide & Toolkit of Management Fundamentals,” coming soon!

Thank you for offering such valuable insights into the future of coaching. We look forward to seeing your work continue to reach new heights, and we wish you continued success.

It was my pleasure, Chad! Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to your series.

About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein, a seasoned entrepreneur with over two decades of experience as the Founder and CEO of multiple companies. He launched Choice Recovery, Inc., a healthcare collection agency, while going to The Ohio State University, His team earned national recognition, twice being ranked as the #1 business to work for in Central Ohio. In 2018, Chad launched [re]start, a career development platform connecting thousands of individuals in collections with meaningful employment opportunities, He sold Choice Recovery on his 25th anniversary and in 2023, sold the majority interest in [re]start so he can focus his transition to Built to Lead as an Executive Leadership Coach. Learn more at www.chadsilverstein.com