In today's fast-paced business environment, organizations are constantly navigating major changes that impact their operations, strategies, and, most importantly, their people. The entire business ecosystem is undergoing transformations at unparalleled speed, challenged to navigate through constant uncertainty, adapting to the new, integrating the old, crafting pathways, and pivoting between profound wisdom and loud cliches – all while making the numbers and ensuring its own vitality, productivity, and sustainability.
Oh, and let’s not forget – ensuring the well-being of their people, too.
In such volatile and challenging times, coaching emerges as a valuable tool for supporting individuals, teams, leaders, executives, and organizations through these transitions. By offering a safe, exploratory environment for crafting creative solutions, providing personalized support, and encouraging learning, resilience, and adaptability, coaching offers a range of benefits that contribute to individual and organizational well-being.
The global business landscape was becoming customer-centric, agile, lean, and …enthusiastic about mobile-first strategies, digital marketing, cloud computing, big data, and e-commerce. Uber gigged the market. Cybersecurity, automation, and machine learning were trending. Raising demands for sustainability, corporate social responsibility, diversity, and inclusion were starting to dominate the policy-making. Our understanding of leadership was changing. Yet, there was no pandemic, no war at Europe’s gates, and no AI…yet.
Ten years later, we live in a world that has witnessed the birth and death of stars, dictators, currencies, ideas, platforms, philosophies, technologies, and epochs. We see the world on a digital screen in the palm of our hands, and parts of that world die and emerge transformed in nanoseconds every day. We change the world we live in and the world, in turns, changes us at unparalleled speed, across all facets of our lives. We leave jobs, create new ones, fear AI, trust AI, work from home, work from everywhere, go hybrid, go eco, go back to nature, go back to the office. We chase ‘security’, ‘purpose’, ‘fulfilment’, ‘success’. We never retire. Never retreat. Mentor the youth. Fear old age. Practice yoga. Run. Cook at home. Travel light. Sleep screens-on. Never sleep. Buy books. And never read them…
In such volatile and challenging times, helping professions are experiencing a significant rise. Employee-centric economy, increasing stress, anxiety, and burnout levels since the COVID-19 pandemic, labour market dominated more and more by Millennials and Gen Z who are changing the workplace dynamics, hybrid work models, digital nomadism, the great resignation, the freelance boom, and the AI impact on jobs – all of these factors and more brought people’s wellbeing into the spotlight for business strategists, HRM specialists, and DEI advocates.
Among other disciplines focused on emotional and mental support, coaching emerges as a valuable tool for supporting individuals, teams, leaders, executives, and organizations through the many transitions, shifts, and transformations we face daily. It provides a safe and exploratory environment for crafting creative solutions, shifting perspectives, fostering collaboration, encouraging learning and adaptability, and ultimately building our capabilities to pause, reflect, feel, look inwards, imagine what’s next, and decide how to achieve it.
Listed below are some of the benefits of coaching that I believe contribute to individual and organizational well-being in times of change and uncertainty.
Through supportive conversations, a safe and open environment, and reflective practices, coaching offers quality thinking time, fostering the ability to bounce back from setbacks, maintain a positive mindset, and recognize growth opportunities during crises. By exploring their strengths, aspirations, and resources, coachees – be employees, leaders, or organizations, gain a deeper understanding of their capabilities. They learn how to act on their values and visions, and adapt their skills to meet the evolving demands of life.
By empowering individuals, coaching facilitates their active engagement in the change process, leading to an increased sense of ownership, satisfaction, and commitment. Encompassing key aspects of organizational life – such as products development, process improvements, audits, restructuring, M&A’s, or branding, this “concept of ownership through self-discovery is critical for the change process” (Bennett & Bush, 2011).
Communication Mastery
Coaching’s reflective and exploratory environment, with its potential to help clients slow down, think things through, shift perspectives, explore new avenues, expand their vision, and craft solutions enhances awareness of the many (often unnecessary) communication challenges we all face today. Coaching can serve as a catalyst for preventing unproductive conflicts prevention, offering a safe space to address misunderstandings, integrate different opinions, and improve collaboration.
Raising awareness that we are all unique in how we express ourselves – yet often driven by similar values and desired outcomes, is a significant and positive shift in today’s corporate communication, which is dominated by expectations for data-driven decisions, short, concise messages, and over rationalized work ethics that often overlook essential cultural and communication layers.
Moreover, organizational change often involves complex relationships between diverse stakeholders, each with unique areas of influence, periods of involvement, contributions, and tasks. Coaching the ‘agents’, ‘advocates’, ‘sponsors’, and ‘targets’ (per Bennet & Bush, 2011) engaged in the organizational change process, can help each role maximise its impact and streamline the overall process of organizational transformation.
Leadership and Career Development, Growth Mindset and Accountability
Major business changes often require shifts in job roles, responsibilities, and organizational
structures. Coaching plays a pivotal role in supporting individuals' career development and growth during these transitions. Coaches work with individuals to identify their career aspirations, explore new opportunities, and develop the necessary skills and competencies for their desired career path. Coaching also encourages individuals to develop a growth mindset, embracing continuous learning and new skills acquisition, which is essential for career advancement in dynamic business environments.
A more recent dimension of coaching that has attracted academic and business contributors’
attention is its potential to develop leadership skills in everyone, regardless their actual roles in
organizations. Positive influence, open and focused communication, offering support and
guidance, fostering engagement, enthusiasm, and motivation are becoming more important and valued than simply giving orders and making judgments.
“Rapid, constant, and disruptive change is now the norm, and what succeeded in the past is no longer a guide to what will succeed in the future. Twenty-first-century managers simply don’t (and can’t!) have all the right answers. To cope with this new reality, companies are moving away from traditional command-and-control practices and toward something very different: a model in which managers give support and guidance rather than instructions, and employees learn how to adapt to constantly changing environments in ways that unleash fresh energy, innovation, and commitment”
(Ibarra & Scoular, 2019).
Understanding the Art of Goal Setting and Achievements
What coaching ultimately focuses on is guiding clients from where they are today to where they wish to be tomorrow. Along the way, coaching helps them strengthen their goal-setting skills – clarifying what their actual goal is, what are the elements, aspects, and steps they need to consider, and why their goal is important, assessing whether it is the right time to act on it, who can help, and what are their capabilities in bringing it to life.
As mentioned earlier, coaching aims to help individuals and organizations develop their own strategies and tactics by setting clear, present, meaningful, and actionable goals. It encourages trust in the process of taking small focused steps towards those goals, and discipline to consistently work towards achieving them. By helping individuals and organizations master goal-setting and cultivate an accountable and proactive mindset, coaching interventions have the potential to positively impact key organizational metrics such as performance, engagement, adoption rates, retention, and task completion time.
Building Learning Organizations
One of the most important aspects of coaching is its non-judgmental and non-directive approach that, creates opportunities for learning – through experimentation, improved resilience to go beyond one’s comfort zone, and support to explore alternatives and see beyond obstacles, facts, and constraints.
Developing learning agenda is a key element of intentional, motivation-driven change. The process often involves envisioning one’s ideal self, exploring current reality, experimenting, and practicing newly acquired skills and competencies (Boyatzis et al, 2019). Building the capability within an organization to recognize learning opportunities, encourage risk-taking, and nurture growth mindset is often attributed to a broader cultural shift. The explorative nature of coaching has the potential to contribute to such cultural transformation in organizations, helping them embrace a learning-oriented ethos, which can lead to lasting and meaningful change (Ibarra & Scoular, 2019).
Coaching is based on the foundations of equality, trust, and openness which form the core of the so-called coaching alliance. While there are good practices established throughout the years, professional codes of ethics, and international bodies that set standards and regulate accreditation, the profession remains largely unregulated. There is no mandatory education or certification required before someone can call themselves a coach.
A coach might have been trained by another coach whose training program isn’t officially recognized, or they could have completed training with an accredited organization. Those who earn certificates or diplomas from accredited training organizations have the opportunity to pursue professional accreditation from the International Coaching Federation (ICF).
This lack of regulation is why coaching is often referred to as a non-regulated profession. My advice? When choosing a coach, ask about their credentials and accreditations, then decide whether they meet your expectations and needs.
Confidentiality in Coaching within Organizations
Although coaching is a strictly confidential process, in an organizational context, it requires clearly defined confidentiality rules and regulations. These rules should apply to both internal employees who incorporate coaching principles into their work (to prevent retaliation or misuse) and external coaching professionals, who are likely to have access to sensitive organizational and personal information throughout the process.
External business coaches, who often collaborate with organizations on a project basis, typically have GDPR-compliant practices and Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs). It’s advisable to request these documents in advance to review and negotiate terms that suit your organization, safeguard your employees’ privacy, and enable the coach to adhere to the ethical standards of their profession. From my experience, two critical details are often overlooked in such agreements:
- NDA terms in lieu – specifying how long the non-disclosure clauses remain in effect after the coaching intervention ends.
- Social media and public communication guidelines – coordinated actions regarding announcements, acknowledgments, endorsements, or publications related to the coaching partnership.
Choosing Between Internal and External Coaching
If you are considering building the coaching potential of certain employees or partnering with an external coach, each option comes with its pros and cons and is suitable for different circumstances. Since investment comparisons depend on too many specifics to be addressed in a blog article, I prefer to focus on other distinct benefits each approach offers.
External coaches can identify recurring patterns and blind spots that may remain unnoticed by those who work in the company. Conflict management, leadership development, and team collaboration are likely areas where external coaches may successfully step in. The lack of organizational context allows them to bring fresh perspectives and foster creativity. Similarly, for strategic changes or discussions around values, mission, and vision, maintaining objectivity and avoiding bias is easier for an external coach. An external coach, unacquainted with your company’s slang, stars, and the usual ways of doing things, is more likely to help you shed light onto hidden issues, blind spots, comfort zones, and ‘this is how we‘ve always done it’ mindset. External coaches can support organizational leaders to move beyond the constant vetting of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, enabling them to explore, reflect, and ultimately learn from different perspective.
Conversely, having internal coaches simplifies many confidentiality concerns. Investing in building your own organizational coaching capacity ensures that the exploratory, open, and focused goal-setting nature of coaching becomes embedded within the organization. Over time, it can potentially influence the organizational culture and enhance collaboration. Such a shift may transform leadership styles and improve retention, particularly among younger generations who value support, encouragement, and collaboration over traditional direction-based approaches.
Internal coaching can also contribute to achieving operational goals, boosting engagement, improving performance, and reshaping organizational values. Since employees stepping into internal coaching roles are likely familiar with the organization’s operation, interpersonal relationships, and culture, they can provide invaluable support into addressing everyday conflicts, fostering creativity, and preventing a blame culture – key intervention areas that only an insider’s perspective can effectively address. Additionally, an internal coach would know how and when to approach individuals, enabling them to sense negative shifts in dynamics, culture, or motivation. In times of mass change, an insider coach can quickly assess how people are likely to react and help guide them through those transitions more effectively.
***
Coaching, whether internal or external, is a valuable asset in an organization’s toolkit, helping develop agile, adaptive, and empowered individuals, and fostering a learning mindset in the face of the constant uncertainty and disruptions that dominate our lives.
The dynamic and volatile nature of today's business landscape demands effective, collaborative, and integrated strategies to navigate the ongoing organizational changes. In such times, the powerful framework of coaching can be seamlessly combined with other interventions, such as consultancy, counselling, or mentoring, to address key challenges in the implementation of an organization’s overall change strategy.
Contact me today to explore how tailored coaching solutions can help your organization navigate change, enhance collaboration, and build leaders, teams, and culture that inspire, achieve, and grow.
Useful Resources:
Bennet, J. L., Bush, M. W. (2011). High-Impact Coaching for Organizational Change. International Journal of Coaching in Organizations, Issue 32, 8(4), 114-123
Boyatzis, R. E., Smith, M., Van Oosten, E. (2019). Coaching for Change. Harvard Business Review. September-October 2019 Magazine Edition. https://hbr.org/2019/09/coaching-for-change
Hitt, M. A., Ireland, R. D., Hoskisson, R. E. (2009). Strategic Management: Concepts & Cases (Competitiveness and Globalization). 8th Edition. South-Western Cengage Learning
Ibarra, H., Scoular, A. (2019). The Leader as Coach. How to unleash innovation, energy, and commitment. Harvard Business Review. November-December 2019 Magazine Edition. https://hbr.org/2019/11/the-leader-as-coach
Inglehart, R. (1999). Globalization and Postmodern Values. The Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Washington Quarterly. 23:1, 215–228
Whitmore, J. (2017). Coaching for Performance. The principles and practice of coaching and leadership. 5th Edition. Nicholas Brealey Publishing
