Change Management. Why coaching will help.

Change Management. 

That corporation buzz phrase so many of us are familiar with and one that can make some people cringe. Over all most  people struggle with change. If this was not the case then the term and process of change management would never have become necessary.  I  believe we struggle with change for the following reasons.

WHY WE DON’T LIKE CHANGE 

1. We didn’t get a say/choice in the matter. 
2. We don’t get to choose how it’s going to go down or happen.
3. We may not think the change is for the better. We feel the status quo is fine.
4. We probably didn’t get time to prepare for it, it just showed up. 

I have a client who is working on behavioural change in himself. In his process of researching making behavioural changes he came across information on change management. What he was finding sounded like it mostly pertained to business. Until he read me the five steps and I pointed out a connection. 

5 STEPS IN CHANGE MANAGEMENT 

He shared an article entitled 5 Change Management Process Steps, that has resonated for him. These were the 5 steps. 

1. Awareness
2. Desire
3. How to change
4. Implement it
5. Reinforcement to sustain it 

 “This is coaching,” I said. “How so?” he asked.  

COACHING AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT 

“Well,” I said, “firstly when you reached out to me for a sample session you already had an awareness within you that something had to be different in your life. The status quo was no longer enough for you. Secondly, once you had that awareness it created a driving desire to make a change in your life.  You had some idea of what you wanted that to look like but it needed some fine tuning. And thirdly you reached out to a coach, someone to help you with the next steps; how to change, implementing it and reinforcing it so it was sustainable. These 5 steps are exactly what we are doing in our coaching relationship.”

He had what we call in coaching an ah ha moment. 

HOW IT WORKS 

As each session passes with a client we talk about how that individual wants things in their life to be different. What they want to change, and then we dig deeper into the why of change, the desire that is driving them to make this change. When they can connect to the desire they become committed to seeing it  happen. Together we determine how they are going to implement it. We uncover what resonates for each client so that they can own it and want to do the work. The from this we can create an accountability for them to work on in between sessions.  

The following session we review how it went for them and if their different way of approaching a situation worked or didn’t work for them. What were the results and what  lesson do they see from trying? Do they need to make a shift or keep going on the path they are on? Throughout the coaching relationship we work at reinforcing this new belief or behaviour so they can sustain the change without me there when the coaching ends. 

HOW THEY TIE TOGETHER 

So why, you ask, does coaching work but so many of us struggle with major changes at work? Let’s go back to my reasons above. 

1. We didn’t get a say/choice in the matter. (When choosing to work with a coach you DID get a say in the matter,  because you got to choose the change.)

2. We don’t get to choose how it’s going to go down. (You do in coaching! You’re  in the drivers seat, not your coach. You lead the session, you determine your accountability for the next session and you dive into the work.)

3. We may not think the change is for the better. (As the change was your choice you will be more on board with making it happen. You want it, therefore for you the change is for the better.)

4. We probably didn’t get time to prepare for it, it just showed up. (You did in this situation. You had time to mull it over, reach out to a coach to discuss your desire and then after a sample session determine if you were ready to go forward and make it happen. It didn’t just show up, you made it show up.) 

A coach is therefore an agent for change. But  the reason people will have success when working with a coach to make a change, rather than on their own, is because the process both supported and empowered them along the way. 

A coach’s number one job is to create awareness in their client. 

I hope I have succeeded in creating some awareness for you here. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

Know someone this blog post may benefit? Feel free to pass it along.