Managing Change | The Ultimate Leadership Test (Part 3)
Quick Summary
A leader's ability to coach serves as the foundation for sustaining organizational change while nurturing a culture of continuous learning.
This is Part 3 of a three-part series on how leading through change is the ultimate leadership test and how to strengthen your ability to lead through change. While it takes many skills to lead through change, we're highlighting one final skill in this series.
In Part 1, we explored the importance of practicing emotional intelligence (EQ) while managing change. In Part 2, we delved into how motivation helps us lead through change. In Part 3, we examine how coaching helps to sustain change and build a learning organization.
Coaching & Why It Matters
Sustaining change to ensure it has a lasting impact poses one of the most significant challenges in organizational change management for leaders.
Often, the initial momentum wanes as the novelty of change wears off, leaving leaders grappling with how to maintain progress and embed new practices.
One essential way to sustain change is through coaching.
Rather than prescribing answers or offering directives, coaching leverages the power of questions to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills among our teams.
By asking thought-provoking questions, we can empower our teams to find solutions and build confidence, as highlighted by Michael Bungay Stanier in The Coaching Habit.
The real power of questions is not in their ability to give you answers; it’s in their ability to unlock the potential of the person you’re talking to. - Stanier
Another invaluable benefit of coaching during times of change is its profound impact on shaping a culture of continuous learning within your organization.
In today's fast-paced world, change is not just inevitable; it's constant.
Coaching can transform the way your team perceives and responds to change.
By coaching team members to see challenges as learning experiences, you empower them to approach change with a focus on growth and development.
Rather than viewing change as a disruption or a threat, they can see it as a catalyst for growth and transformation.
This shift in perspective fosters a culture where curiosity, experimentation and continuous learning are not just encouraged, but celebrated.
Real World Example
We'll explore an example to show how coaching can sustain change and build a learning organization.
In this example, your customer success team has been tasked with proactively engaging customers in a more systematic way to increase retention.
You'd be able to coach your team to adopt the new SOPs to engage clients through dedicated meetings.
You could ask questions such as:
Notice that none of these questions are about you, the leader, or about sharing your ideas.
While you can certainly offer ideas if they ask and need help, start by empowering your team to come up with their own solutions.
Guiding your team to reflect on their experiences and devise their own solutions to challenges encountered during the learning process proves to be immensely impactful in the long run.
Coaching builds ownership, self-sufficiency and mastery over time.
You'll want to continue dedicating time to coach your team through the change until they've mastered the new SOPs and feel confident in their approach.
By investing in coaching, leaders signal their commitment to the outcome of the change and the success of their team, while fostering a culture of continuous learning and growth.
How to Apply It
Incorporating effective coaching strategies is essential for leaders seeking to successfully navigate through periods of change with their teams.
Here are three strategies for coaching as you lead your team through change:
Active Listening: Practice active listening to understand the concerns, aspirations and ideas of team members during change.
Author and communication expert Stephen R. Covey advises,
Seek first to understand, then to be understood. - Covey
Guiding Reflection and Learning: Facilitate opportunities for individuals to reflect on their experiences and learning during times of change.
As psychologist and educational reformer John Dewey aptly stated,
We do not learn from experience... we learn from reflecting on experience. - Dewey
Encourage your team to explore their thoughts, feelings and insights gained from navigating changes to guide them towards deeper understanding and growth.
Empowerment Through Accountability: Hold your team accountable for their actions while providing them with the autonomy to navigate change in their unique ways.
Author and speaker Simon Sinek is a strong advocate for this approach:
Empowered teams focused on the right thing will naturally make the right decisions. - Sinek
Bottom Line
Coaching empowers your team to navigate uncertainty and cultivates a learning culture, ultimately driving sustained success and growth amidst change.
As leaders, our role is not just to manage change, but to empower our teams to master it, fostering a culture where continuous learning becomes our greatest asset. - Peter Senge