The future of workplace coaching – an explorative Delphi study

ABSTRACT Current mega-trends and the Covid-19 pandemic are influencing the future of work. Workplace coaching is directly and indirectly affected by these changes in numerous ways, which is why we have conducted a Delphi study about the future of workplace coaching. We followed the standard procedures for this technique, using 16 structured interviews and identifying 15 future workplace coaching scenarios. These scenarios were evaluated for their estimated prevalence in 2020 and 2030 and desirability by N = 822 (before the pandemic) and N = 337 (during the pandemic), with market participants from German-speaking countries. To explore different perspectives, four different groups were recruited: coaches, HR professionals, representatives of coaching associations and coaching institutes. The prevalence of digitally-related scenarios is rated significantly higher for 2030. At the same time, artificial intelligence, algorithm-based programs, online coaching and online coach training are rather disliked, especially by coaches who prefer high quality, face-to-face coaching processes. During the Covid-19 pandemic, these scenarios were estimated to be more likely than beforehand.