Futures Thinking Wheel of Well-Being: Six domains shaping the future of coaching
The ICF Thought Leadership Institute’s Future’s Thinking Wheel of Well-Being explores global trends shaping the future of holistic well-being and coaching.
Well-Being and the Future of Coaching
What lies ahead for coaching practice and the future of well-being? Modern coaching, rooted in the human development movement, has focused on client well-being, addressing values, relationships, and personal and professional goals. As client needs evolve, coaching adapts and expands to address emerging needs. Early signals of this evolution in coaching application include:
- Strengthening organizational resilience and preventing burnout
- Integrating coaching methods into the health and wellness industries
- Committing to human and planetary well-being
These signals highlight the megatrend of global interconnectedness, emphasizing mutual reliance among individuals, communities, economies, and ecosystems across borders.
Futures Thinking Wheel of Well-Being
Centered around Ethics of Care, the ICF Thought Leadership Institute’s Wheel of Well-being emphasizes the importance of relationships. Coaches can navigate change in an interconnected world by adopting Ethics of Care principles including:
- Moral responsibility to care for others and the planet
- Dependency and interdependency as natural in living systems
- Both caregiving and care receiving
- Addressing inequality and prioritizing equitable relationships
Six domains shaping the future of coaching
The Wheel highlights six domains shaping the future of coaching. Each domain represents aspects of client well-being expected to revolutionize the future of coaching practice. The Wheel provides a holistic view of well-being, illustrating how each domain interacts with the others.
Click through the tabs below to explore each domain.
Health technology, youth mental health engagement, and community care models are redefining wellness.
- How might wearable health technology impact client goals?
- What role can coaches play in future well-being?
- How can coaches guard against compassion fatigue and burnout?
Dig deeper: Redefining self-care: Coaching for community and individual well-being
Rising burnout and workplace anxiety are prompting changes like banning after-hours emails and adopting a four-day workweek.
- How are remote work and digital communication affecting workplace well-being?
- How can coaches help clients shift from burnout to sustainable performance?
- How might reimagining the work week improve community health and ecosystems?
Dig deeper: The Future of Coaching: Envisioning workplace well-being for a new era
Severe weather events, droughts, and rising temperatures are disrupting supply chains, damaging communities, and impacting human health.
- How might coaches promote resilience among current and future climate leaders?
- How does climate coaching differ from other coaching niches?
- How can coaching approaches address challenges like climate anxiety?
Dig deeper: The Future of Coaching: Nurturing ecological well-being through regeneration
The blending of physical and digital lives brings new challenges, from hyperconnectivity to verifying trustworthy information.
- How is technology shaping client relationships and self-image?
- How can coaches help clients build awareness around their digital habits?
- How might coaches apply principles from digital ethics?
Dig deeper: The Future of Coaching: Digital well-being in a hyperconnected world
In a connected world, social isolation, loneliness, and inequality drive poor health.
- How can coaches promote social skills-building?
- What might a future community coaching practice look like?
- How can coaches support greater equity and collaboration?
Dig deeper: Coaching for social well-being: A path to a thriving community
Existential well-being is evolving as communities become religiously diverse and more individuals affiliate with no religious community.
- How might coaches support existential well-being in a diverse group context?
- What does it look like to cultivate inner peace?
- How can existential well-being address challenges like global collective trauma?
Dig deeper: The future of existential well-being: Coaching through global challenges
Transformational Questions:
Adopting a tool from futures-thinking, Futurists use “what if” questions to envision and prepare for potential future scenarios. Coaches can use this same approach to consider how each segment of the Futures Thinking Wheel of Well-Being might shape the future of coaching practice.
- How might coaching change if individual and collective well-being were the primary measures of coaching impact?
- What if coaching were integral to company culture?
- What if future coaching ethics included digital empathy?
- What if ecological awareness were part of holistic well-being coaching?
- How can coaching strengthen social cohesion and collaboration?
- How might coaching support existential well-being for diverse clients?
- What other futures can you imagine for the future of coaching?
Continue exploring the Future of Well-being
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