Coaching is the most helpful activity in achieving the goals of change management initiatives, according to research.
Addressing leadership style, strengths and blind spots; overcoming resistance; building resilience and change readiness, and finding processes and tools, are the most frequently cited reasons for using coaching activities for change management, according to a survey by the Human Capital Institute and the International Coach Federation on coaching cultures in organisations.
Activities include professional one-on-one coaching, team coaching and work group coaching.
“Coaching is a powerful tool to develop the potential of employees, modify behaviours and drive business success. Because of this, it can help individuals, teams and organisations explore resistance, enhance communication and promote resilience in the face of change,” says the report, Building a Coaching Culture for Change Management.
It surveyed more than 430 participants including HR, L&D and talent management professionals; internal coach practitioners; managers, and individual contributors.
Some 77% of HR practitioners and leaders report that their organisation is in a state of constant change, with priorities and strategies continuously shifting, according to the study.
Using coaching to lead an agile culture is correlated with greater confidence in employees’ capabilities in planning and executing change.
Organisations with strong coaching cultures are more likely to have better talent and business outcomes, with success at large-scale strategic change and other outcomes associated with being a high-performing organisation. Some 15% of respondents have a strong coaching culture at their organisation, and among these, 61% are also classified as high-performing organisations.
Communication, leadership and planning represent three core features of change management initiatives which determine either their success or failure. Further descriptors of successful change management initiatives included focus, consistency and innovation.
Typically, three different coaching modalities are present within organisations: internal professional coach practitioners, external professional coach practitioners and managers and leaders who use coaching skills with team members.
While nearly two in five organisations use all three modalities, this figure rises to 92% among organisations with strong coaching cultures. Organisations with more employees appear more likely to use all three modalities.
Some 83% of respondents to the survey said that their organisations plan to expand managers/leaders’ scope in using coaching skills in the next five years.
In terms of access to coaching, 22% of respondents (and 71% of those from organisations with strong coaching cultures) report that everyone in their organisation has an equal opportunity to receive coaching from a professional coach.
Some 22% of organisations have coaching as a dedicated line item in their training budget. However, high-performing organisations are more likely than all other organisations to dedicate resources to coaching – with 44% doing so compared to 17% of all other organisations.
The report’s recommendations included considering how coaching can be a part of change management initiatives at every stage; scaling employee access to coaching by training managers/leaders to use coaching skills; helping managers/leaders understand that when they use coaching skills, they are present and focused on the conversation; actively listening to words, body language and tone, and asking questions to move the team member towards his or her goals.