Embedding an organisational coaching culture that supports the ‘Green Transition’ can deliver benefits including reducing systemic climate and environmental footprint, and supporting employee effectiveness and wellbeing, according to a report.
Rather than relying on technical skills, organisations need to adopt a ‘soft skills for all’ perspective, urges the report, Holding Back Climate Progress: sustainability’s critical skills gap, a research project by Oxford Brookes Business School in partnership with Climate Change Coaches, a certified B Corp.
OECD (2023) defines Green Transition as “activities that contribute to reducing the climate and environmental footprint of individuals, business and the society as a whole, to achieve a low-emission society while maintaining biodiversity”.
A Green Transition coaching culture involves all employees, generating conversations and innovative solutions in meeting climate targets. Empowering everyone to address climate-related work leverages enthusiasm and creative thinking to drive meaningful progress and bring staff along in change more comfortably, says the report. Such behaviours can become a mechanism to create a positive culture in which morale and efficacy are maintained, irrespective of climate-related challenges and the emotionally taxing work.
Practitioners working in a highly emotionally charged field require more support in their work, particularly as it can be uncomfortable to communicate data based on future predictions and not known facts. This work also takes place in a global crisis, which creates many emotions for the staff engaging in the subject. It can also be isolating and intimidating for practitioners to take on the responsibilities of climate leadership in organisations.
Organisations can provide support through coaching-style leadership, peer mentoring, internal and external coaching and other pastoral interventions to help practitioners stay well while doing their jobs. Supporting practitioners with these challenges can also address employee ‘overwhelm’ and ‘burnout’ risks as practitioners grapple with existential responsibilities transversing personal and professional lives.
The report presents findings from a survey of 138 respondents and 21 interviews in global organisations across sectors, including solo business owners and multi-nationals, undertaken between December 2023 and April 2024.
Just 8% of survey respondents said technical skills are the most important skill set.
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