Executive Summary
#StrongerTogether, we can move coaching from a practice of individual growth to a catalyst for collective, systemic change.
Expanding Access through Cultural Intelligence and Collective Impact
The world is changing rapidly. So is the coaching profession. The 2026 ICF Annual Futures Report explores how efforts to expand access to coaching might evolve by 2036, shaped by powerful global forces that are redefining how we live, work, and grow. At the heart of this report is a call to expand access by cultivating cultural intelligence, or the capacity to recognize, understand, and adapt to cultural differences with curiosity, respect, and intentionality, and designing inclusive pathways that invite broader participation in coaching.
Objective of the Report
This inaugural report seeks to equip the coaching profession with foresight tools to anticipate change, reflect on multiple plausible futures, and align today’s choices with long-term aspirations for greater access, equity, and impact.
Key Insights
- By 2036, coaching will be reshaped by technology, cultural intelligence, and systemic collaboration.
- Access and inclusion will define who benefits and who leads.
- Five guiding actions offer a strategic compass for navigating an uncertain future.
Why This Resource Matters
Coaching is, at its core, a future-facing practice. Whether helping clients imagine new possibilities, shift mindsets, or take intentional steps forward, coaches work every day in service of the future.
Futures thinking shares this orientation, looking beyond the individual to shape the very systems in which coaching operates. It offers a structured, creative way to explore uncertainty, imagine multiple outcomes, and align today’s choices with long-term aspirations.
You will not find predictions here. Instead, you are invited to use this resource as a futures thinking tool to stretch your imagination and envision multiple possible tomorrows. Through research, expert insights, and scenario storytelling, these insights equip coaching professionals and stakeholders to anticipate change, navigate emerging challenges, and lead with greater foresight and intentionality.
We invite you to apply futures thinking to coaching practice, equipping yourself to navigate complexity with foresight, creativity, and purpose.
Why Access? Why Now?
As coaching grows globally, its benefits remain unevenly distributed. Barriers like cost, cultural fit, technology, and credentialing continue to shape who receives coaching and who can become a coach. For example, despite a 2024 global coaching market of $6.25 billion, coaching remains inaccessible to large portions of the world’s workforce and communities. The long-term relevance, legitimacy, and impact of coaching depend on the profession’s ability to serve a wider range of people, contexts, and communities.
What is “Coaching?”
This work uses the International Coaching Federation’s definition of coaching:
“Coaching is partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”
This report focuses primarily on human-to-human, professional coaching engagements. Technology may support coaching , but its role is complementary. While AI and digital tools will increasingly shape coaching, they cannot fully replicate the relational, intuitive, and ethical foundation that defines coaching as a professional human practice.
What You Will Explore
- Five Drivers of Change: Core forces shaping the future of coaching.
- Four Future Scenarios: Provocative futures based on tech integration and ecosystem collaboration.
- Five Guiding Actions: Practical steps to shape access, innovation, and equity in coaching.
5 Drivers of Change
While many global forces are shaping the future of coaching, the 2026 ICF Annual Futures Report focuses on the five key drivers most identified through research, expert interviews, and global trend analysis. Each driver is especially relevant to the challenge and opportunity of expanding access.
While this report emphasizes opportunities, it also acknowledges counterforces such as polarization, mistrust in institutions, and de-globalization. These dynamics will shape coaching’s future alongside collaboration, inclusion, and systemic innovation.
| Driver | Description |
| Collaborative Ecosystems | The rise of interconnected networks and cross-sector partnerships that emphasize shared value creation, co-learning, and collective impact. |
| Economic Disruption & Evolving Work | Structural shifts in labor, business models, and leadership norms driven by automation, globalization, and socio-political turbulence. |
| Technological Acceleration | Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and digital platforms transforming human interaction, service delivery, and decision-making. |
| Globalization & Cultural Intelligence | Increasing global interconnectivity requiring deeper cultural fluency, contextual awareness, and relational adaptability. |
| Regulation & Trust in Expertise | Emerging models of governance, credentialing, and ethical oversight aimed at rebuilding trust in institutions and professional services. |
4 Future Scenarios: A 2×2 Framework
The scenarios explore coaching in the year 2036. A 10-year time horizon strikes a balance between imagination and action. With technology accelerating, demands for access growing, and global systems under stress, decisions made in this decade will influence what coaching becomes in the next.
Scenarios are based on two of the five drivers of change: technological acceleration and collaborative ecosystems. These drivers were identified as especially critical to access, and together they form a 2×2 matrix with four plausible coaching futures:
| Scenario | Description |
| Global Coaching Commons | High collaboration + High tech: Coaching thrives in open, tech-enabled, collaborative ecosystems |
| Digital First, Human Optional | Low collaboration + High tech: Scalable, automated coaching dominates |
| Local Roots, Human Touch | High collaboration + Low tech: Coaching is hyper-local, human-centered |
| Digital Divides | Low collaboration + Low tech: Coaching access remains fragmented and limited |
5 Guiding Actions
Your journey concludes with five strategic guiding actions designed to help you transform insight into impact. These directional prompts prepare you to navigate complexity with intention, aligning coaching practice with a changing world. The five guiding actions invite you to:
Collaborate. Adapt. Innovate. Localize. Diversify.
Looking Forward
This inaugural edition of the ICF Annual Futures Report launches foresight practice for the global coaching profession. As a strategic learning partner, we invite you to explore what is possible and to help shape a more inclusive, bold, and visionary future for coaching.
#StrongerTogether