Coaching in Change Management
The Bridges’ equation of “change + human beings = transition” (Bridges, W. & Bridges, S., 1991/2009, p.141) is a succinct expression of the elements in play when change happens. The “human beings” part of the equation always involves emotions. Such emotions can range from fear of change to lack of trust for the organization. Coaching can turn those emotions into a powerful impetus for change.
By active listening and powerful questioning, a coach helps the coachee clarify the meaning of the change to him; and gain awareness of his own values, beliefs, identity, behavior, fears, barriers, priorities and choices, all of which affects his perspectives. Coaching provides the distance and emotional stillness for the coachee to reframe his perspectives. Once there is alignment of the individual’s goals with the organizational objectives, collaborative action for change will follow.
In addition, coaching can reinforce and sustain changes through accountability and follow-up. “One of the defining qualities of coaching is that it creates accountability, a measuring tool for action and a means for reporting on learning.” (Kimsey-House et al, 1998/2011, p.82). What’s more, the follow-up aspect of coaching “gives us the momentum, even the courage, to go beyond understanding what we need to do to change and actually do it, because in engaging in the follow-up process, we are changing.” (Goldsmith, 2007, p.62) Professionally, once a coach is aware of situations where coaching may not be the best solution, e.g. issues requiring the attention of other professionals, the coach would raise that issue and even consider terminating the coaching relationship.
Notwithstanding its advantages, coaching will not be adopted if the organizational goals are not addressed. Organizations expect coaching to achieve measurable results linked to their identified business objectives. These expectations can be conveyed in three-way meetings among the organization, the employees and the coach. “The coach can play a central position between organizational and individual need, and be able to work with the individual across this boundary, combining both the corporate and the personal agenda.” (Shaw & Linnecar, 2007, p.40-41) The benefits for both the organization and the employees will be the clarification of “the vision or overall strategy: e.g., working from the organization’s strategic purpose into clarifying a personal vision consistent with both the organization’s aspirations and the individual’s contribution” (Shaw & Linnecar, 2007, p. 28). As coaching aims to create clarity and alignment for the coachee through considering all perspectives, it is beneficial for the coachee to understand his organization’s objectives and expectations as well. Once employees are clear about what their organization expects of them during the change and what is truly important about the change to them, they will be able to make meaningful connections and modify their behavior to back the change.
Coaching Options
To contain the costs of one-on-one coaching for the employees, an organization can opt for group or team coaching by an external coach. Alternatively, it can consider coaching the line supervisors and team leaders who can then provide internal coaching to the employees. When internal coaching is used, the organization must be sensitive to the difficulty of attaining that true and open coaching relationship. Potential conflicts arise when the internal coach is also the person responsible for the same employee’s performance evaluation.
Benefits of Coaching
A 2001 Manchester study, involving 100 executives, mostly from Fortune 1000 companies, demonstrated an average return of 5.7 times the cost of executive coaching. (Work / Life Solutions, Inc., January 4, 2001). This finding is supported by the results of the MetrixGlobal Study of a Fortune 500 company which determined that coaching produced a return on investment of 529%. (Anderson, M., n.d.) Other significant intangible benefits like improvements in productivity and organizational strength are also recorded. Better returns and improved productivity also come from engaged employees.
Unfortunately, according to a Gallup survey reported on October 28, 2011, seventy-one percent of American employees are “not engaged” or “actively disengaged” in their work, meaning they are emotionally disconnected from their workplaces and are less likely to be productive. An organization in transition cannot afford to have less than thirty percent of its employees engaged.
Wagner and Harter (2006) of the Gallup Organization, list 12 elements of great management vital to employee engagement in their book. Most of the elements can be accomplished through coaching as its process requires a coach to acknowledge the coachee, create clarity with the coachee, provide feedback to the coachee, and encourage the coachee to learn and grow.
Building trust is also fundamental for encouraging change actions. According to Stephen Covey, trust within organizations has sharply declined and research shows that only “51% of employees have trust and confidence in senior management” (2006, p.11). When an employee experiences the safe, non-judgmental and trusting space of coaching provided by his organization, he may be more likely to begin trusting his organization.
Besides moving employees from paralysis to action in support of the change, an organization also enjoys the benefits of having multi-fold returns from its coaching investments,engaged and productive employees, and a more trusting employer-employee relationship. Expanding the use of coaching from the executive suite to the employees across the board appears to be the obvious choice.
Changes are great opportunities for organizations to engage their employees by motivating their Elephant (emotional) side, participating in their realignments and re-patternings, and supporting their rewiring. By attending to the emotional side of the employees, an organization can reap rich returns and emerge from the change as a better-integrated, more- productive and thriving entity.
Many great coaches and authors like the Bridges, the Heaths, Goldsmith and Rock, encourage organizations to attend to their employees’ emotions and recommend coaching as an effective way to deal with transitions.
Coaching is an ideal approach to managing transitions during change as it is inherently dynamic, highly adaptable to the demands of change, and intrinsically a learning and growth experience for all involved.
Bibliography
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