Exploring how AI coaching promotes emotional intelligence awareness of contact centre team leaders

Purpose Team leaders in high-pressure contact centres must balance operational demands with people management, requiring high emotional intelligence (EQ). While traditional coaching can support EQ development, it is often costly and inaccessible. Generative artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled coaching offers a potential alternative, yet its role and underlying mechanisms in fostering EQ remain underexplored. This study aims to examine which EQ competencies participants became aware of through AI coaching and which coaching competencies the AI used to support this awareness. Design/methodology/approach Ten team leaders used an AI coaching chatbot over four weeks to work on EQ-related development goals through reflective coaching conversations and weekly check-ins. Semi-structured interviews explored participants’ experiences and perceived EQ-related learning. Deductive, summative content analysis was applied using established EQ and coaching competency frameworks. Findings Participants reported increased awareness of eight EQ competencies, most notably emotional self-awareness, emotional self-control and achievement orientation, alongside social competencies such as empathy, influence and developing others. Analysis identified 169 instances of EQ awareness and 267 instances of International Coaching Federation (ICF)-aligned coaching competencies. The competencies that evokes awareness and facilitates client growth accounted for three-quarters of all coded coaching behaviours, suggesting that reflective questioning, insight generation and goal-focused action were key mechanisms through which AI coaching promoted EQ awareness. Participants also described the AI coach as a psychologically safe space for reflection and self-disclosure. Originality/value This study provides early empirical evidence that AI coaches can emulate core coaching competencies and facilitate EQ awareness through reflective, goal-directed conversations in demanding workplace environments.