Learn More: A Bite-Sized Collection
A curated collection of essential readings and resources at the intersection of coaching and futures thinking. This guide is not a comprehensive reference list, but a launchpad to dive deeper into key ideas that inform our approach at the ICF Thought Leadership Institute.
ICF Thought Leadership Institute Futures Methodologies
These selections offer direct insight into how the ICF Thought Leadership Institute is framing futures thinking for coaching.
- Beyond Prediction: A New Paradigm for the Future of Coaching Research
Explore how our approach challenges traditional forecasting and calls for new ways of anticipating and shaping the future of coaching. - The Futures Thinking Loop
Apply this tool to recognize and respond to early signals of change in your practice. Learn to work with uncertainty, not against it. - Futures Thinking Framework: A Coach’s Guide to Navigating Disruption
Reflect on our foundational model for coaching in an age of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.
Coaching Knowledge Sources
Explore select organizations, journals, and frameworks that inform coaching practices across contexts.
Select Coaching Organizations
- International Society for Coaching Psychology (ISCP): Advances the practice and science of coaching psychology.
- Universal Coaching Alliance: Advocates for the professionalization and ethical standards of coaching globally.
- ICF Foundation (Ignite Program): Connects coaching to social impact by focusing on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
- Sustainability Coaching Coalition: Represents a collective commitment to address sustainability needs across the world through professional associations.
Select Open-Access Coaching Journals
- International Journal of Coaching Psychology
- International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education
- Journal of Positive Psychology Coaching
- International Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring
Select Research-Informed Coaching
- Coaching 5.0: Coaching for the Fifth Industrial Revolution (2024)
Explores coaching’s role in humanizing technology-infused futures. - The Grand Challenge for Research on the Future of Coaching(2022)
Peer-reviewed article in The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science outlining research imperatives for the future of coaching. - The Future of Coaching: A Conceptual Framework for the Coaching Sector From Personal Craft to Scientific Process and the Implications for Practice and Research (2021)
Offers a conceptual framework from “personal craft” to “scientific process,” redefining coaching research and practice. - Coaching for Emancipation: A Framework for Coaching in Oppressive Environments(2016)
Advances coaching as a liberatory and systemic intervention tool.
Futures Thinking Essentials
Discover core institutions and thinkers shaping foresight practices relevant to coaching.
Select Futures Thinking Institutes
- Institute for the Future: Dive into a diverse archive of foresight research and forecasting tools.
- Metafuture: A global think tank led by Sohail Inayatullah offering futures-oriented methods.
- Future Today Strategy Group: Start with the annual Tech Trends Report.
- Future Investment Initiative Institute: Explore their Knowledge Center for global future-facing reports.
Select Futures-Focused Resources
- Andy Hines: Ten Books for Prospective Futurists: A highly regarded expert offers a starting point for building foresight fluency.
- Journal of Futures Studies: An international peer-reviewed publication that integrates theory and practice in futures thinking.
- Association of Professional Futurists (APF): Offers a curated podcast list featuring applied foresight across industries.
Guiding Frameworks and Mindsets
Deepen your understanding of coaching’s relationship with systemic change and global transformation.
- The Wellbeing Project: A global initiative supporting inner development for change makers.
- Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Nations): A critical backdrop for coaching’s contribution to global well-being and resilience.
- Navigating Existential Well-Being Through Coaching: Reflects how global thought leaders, such as Viktor Frankl, Thich Nhat Hanh, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Sobonfu Somé, Pema Chödrön, and Brené Brown, inform coaching’s evolving role in cultivating meaning, presence, and cultural intelligence in times of uncertainty.
- Ontology as a Theoretical Basis for Professional Coaching: Frames coaching through the lens of being and human potential.
- Jean Gebser’s Integral Consciousness: Explores the evolution of consciousness and offers intellectual depth aligned with our implicit worldview.