The rise of AI is transforming how coaching and leadership development are delivered — from coach matching and feedback analysis to microlearning and session preparation. These advancements bring real value, especially in scale and efficiency.
But executive coaching at the senior level operates in a different league — one shaped by nuance, trust, and the stakes of strategic leadership. In this space, how we use AI becomes just as important as whether we use it. Understanding this distinction is crucial as we consider how to thoughtfully integrate AI into coaching.
“At SMG, we view AI as a powerful tool that complements, but cannot replace, the depth of human insight and experience that executive leaders require. As technology transforms coaching and mentoring, we believe the real opportunity lies in balance, not substitution,” Virginia Mansell, SMG Founder and Senior Partner.
Executive coaching and leadership development are evolving rapidly. AI is now integrated into nearly every aspect of the HR and talent lifecycle, including recruitment, onboarding, performance management, and learning and coaching, and coaching is no exception.
Recently, AI-driven coaching platforms have reshaped the delivery of leadership development, especially at scale. Algorithms, personalised learning, chatbot coaching, and analytics now enable coaching across organisations. This is driving a broader movement to democratise coaching.
At the executive and C-suite level, where decisions carry strategic weight and leadership is intensely relational, human coaching continues to play a pivotal role. Here, AI supports but does not replace the work of coaches addressing complex interpersonal dynamics.
AI is making coaching scalable, insightful and efficient
AI is already proving to be an asset for HR leaders, teams, and coaching providers at scale. Some of the primary benefits of AI tools and platforms include:
- Intelligent coach-coachee matching to improve and expedite chemistry and fit
- Personalised content delivery tailored to individual learning goals
- Automated session preparation and follow-up for coaches
- On-demand coaching support via chatbot interfaces
- Real-time learning ‘nudges’ and behaviour prompts for coachees
- Faster analysis of 360° feedback and assessments, removing bias
- Automated development plan generation aligned to leadership competencies and organisational goals
- Progress tracking dashboards for HR and coaching ROI visibility
- Administrative efficiency, including research, note drafting, messaging, and scheduling support
- Access to expansive datasets and research-backed insights
Coaching at the top: where experience and insight matter
At the C-suite and board level, including in fast-growth and private equity-backed environments, coaching is less about skills training and more about identity, presence, influence, risk navigation, and strategic clarity. It’s also about trust: in oneself, in others, and in the support around you.
The best coaches and mentors bring leaders:
- Lived executive experience that creates instant credibility and relevance
- The ability to build psychological safety through trust and rapport
- Deep listening and sharp, situational accountability
- Political and cultural awareness that helps leaders navigate complexity
- A grounding presence for high-stakes conversations and decisions
- Empathetic, confidential spaces to work through ambiguity and pressure
Skilled coaches deliver these as critical success factors in executive performance and resilience.
“Top leaders face nuanced, high-stakes challenges, not just in strategy, but in team dynamics, identity, trust, and risk. These are issues that benefit from peer-to-peer connection and discussion, elements that AI can’t provide,” Virginia Mansell.
This mirrors what we see in our work with clients: while many leaders value AI’s benefits, many still prefer a hybrid coaching experience that combines AI-enabled and human-led support. Our in-house research suggests that at senior levels in particular, a clear majority prefer human-only coaching engagements.
Where experience matters most
While many coaching moments can be structured or enhanced with AI, there are contexts where lived experience makes the difference between surface-level advice and deep, strategic impact.
SMG coaches bring insight from navigating complex business realities, not just from observing them. They combine business and commercial acumen with deep psychological insight, enabling them to navigate both strategic decisions and the interpersonal dynamics that shape them.
Their experience allows them to:
- Coach CEOs with strong vision but limited operational depth, especially in fast-growth or founder-led businesses
- Support leaders in driving transformation without turning into bureaucrats
- Help executive teams weigh risk and opportunity during periods of change
- Work inside family-owned or PE-backed organisations where emotional, financial, and governance dynamics often collide
- Identify low organisational maturity and coach through it with clarity and empathy
- Navigate high investor pressure and performance expectations alongside senior leaders
- Facilitate complex triangular meetings between the leader, manager, and coach, ensuring alignment and progress
- Identify and surface organisational dysfunctions or unresolved tensions through real-time observation and evidence-based hypotheses
- Call out difficult behaviours — such as narcissism, passive-aggression, micro-management or control tendencies — in a safe, constructive and actionable way
These environments require more than a framework or feedback loop. They demand presence, pattern recognition, and the confidence to speak into high-stakes moments. This is where experienced human coaches are irreplaceable.
Inside the work: coaching leadership presence at the top
In one recent engagement, Virginia worked with a senior female executive navigating fractured trust dynamics at the ELT level.
The client was navigating a team culture where constructive conversation had broken down. Psychological safety was low. Virginia’s role involved helping the leader reshape her executive presence: how she set boundaries, asserted her expectations, and influenced others without emotional volatility.
The work required not just techniques but shared experience, feedback, and relational trust. An AI agent could not have interpreted the political nuance or supported the leader through the real-time tension of confronting unspoken dynamics.
Reflections for talent leaders navigating the AI shift
As AI continues to reshape leadership development ecosystems, many HR and talent leaders are exploring how to integrate digital tools without losing the relational core of coaching. At SMG, we see a few emerging patterns:
- Consider using AI to enhance program scale, efficiency, and insight
- Encourage coaches to leverage AI thoughtfully to support preparation, progress, and analysis
- Recognise where the human factor remains vital, such as executive trust, team dynamics, and complex transitions
At the senior levels, leadership is a ‘contact sport’. It is contextual, behavioural, and commercial, and is much more effective when supported by coaches who’ve walked the same halls, sat in the same chairs, navigated the same board tensions, held the same titles, and led through similar uncertainty.
A blended future for executive coaching and mentoring
The takeaway isn’t a binary. AI brings real and growing value to coaching—enabling scale, structure, and efficiency. But for complex, human-centred executive growth, presence, trust, and discernment remain essential.
A blended model, with AI as a strategic assistant and human coaches as trusted interpreters, is where leadership development will thrive.
Executive coaching’s future isn’t AI versus humans. It’s a blend.
“We believe in the power of technology and the irreplaceable value of lived experience, trust, and presence. The best outcomes happen when human coaches harness AI’s insights. In our view, and in conversations with Board and C-suite leaders, we don’t see this changing anytime soon,” Virginia Mansell.
Explore what’s possible with executive coaching at SMG
Our executive coaching programs are designed for C-suite leaders navigating complexity, high-stakes decision-making, and transformation. Grounded in experience and behavioural science, our coaching delivers measurable impact where it matters most.
