At the recent Association of Change Management Professionals Global Conference, Mark Ruth, the International Coach Federation’s (ICF) Director of Research and Education, and I co-facilitated a presentation and a masterclass on Building a Coaching Culture for Change Management.”  I’ve written about this topic in three previous newsletters (links below), and for a quick summary of the ICF/HCI research on the subject including bottom line benefits of “coaching for change” click here to view an excellent 4.3 minute video synopsis.

During our presentation, Mark explained how although “training” is the most common way organizations attempt to build change capabilities, “coaching” is actually rated as far more effective in achieving this goal.  As we know, it’s not either/or, it’s both/and – our individual and collective ability to execute change is accelerated through the powerful combination of training in the classroom PLUS coaching in the field.  Towards that end, I shared an example of how a client organization (who’s Organizational Development & Learning team was certified in Change Intelligence and then delivered CQ training and coaching inhouse), used this potent one-two punch and the results they achieved.  I invite you to click here to view an 8-minute excerpt from our presentation, highlighting benefits realized in the words of members of the client organization themselves, including:

*Leaders explored the emotional journey of change and were equipped with tools to ask powerful questions to understand sources of resistance and help employees embrace change;

*Individual teams built their ability to cooperate in implementing change together and cross-team collaboration was enhanced by learning how to partner across functional divides;

*Developing a common language allowed the overall system to build an enabling foundation to lead not only the changes of today, but moreover all the changes sure to come;

*Leading change more effectively made it possible for the overall system to not only execute change more quickly and more smoothly, but moreover to more effectively serve their patients – that is, to achieve the mission of the healthcare system.