Coaching Skills Can Make

The Difference Consultants With

I know of many organisations that are disappointed with the results of their organisational change exercise after having spent a huge sum of money, time and effort on it. What is even more disappointing for them is it has gone from bad to worse, like a deteriorating bottom-line, lower production, higher expenditure or even a sharpening dip in staff morale.

So what is missing in this exercise? On the surface, everything seems to be good. The “hardware” side of results looks impressive for there are full reports submitted, important findings made, better procedures in place, new policies for implementation and programmes for future actions.

But beneath all these, lies the “software” side of people who is often ignored, overlooked or even taken for granted. This relates to people’s feelings, emotions, relationships, ego, acceptance and so forth, which are badly missing.

Without these two big areas of hardware and software coming together, any change exercise will seldom succeed. Even if this is forced on them, it is a matter of time the entire system will collapse.

This sad state of affair of not paying enough attention to the “software” or people aspect is common. It is often a low priority area in many organisations of many consultants who are engaged to do this exercise. If there was ever one, it is usually a touch-and-go treatment of skimming through the surface of the people dimension in the change exercise, without much emphasis placed on it.

A key reason for not prioritising attaching sufficient importance to the “software” aspect is attributed to the fear of some leaders who are afraid to lose their power bases as they still want to cling on to the traditional “command and control” leadership practices. Without a change to this, the change exercise can hit a roadblock.

Many leaders do not want to rock the boat as they fear that this could break their rice bowls. Consultants with coaching skills are the most capable lot to help these leaders make the transition to a change in leadership style, without the fear of losing their powers. They know the great importance of this as without a corresponding change in the leadership, the right corporate culture will not emerge, and instituting change in the organisation will not be possible.

There is a need for organisations to either engage coach-consultants or consultants together with coaches to deliver a good balance of the hard and soft sides of the change exercise. The presence of this means the ability to go down to the intrinsic level of the change process to attend to feelings, emotions and deeper issues, while attending to the strategic planning and the management aspects of change at the same time.

Coaches, or coach– consultants, can put their best skills at play: listening, questioning, observing and feeling the environment. They keep tab on the pulse and heartbeat of the organisation.

Add on to this, they will be most competent to enhance the leaders with new age leadership qualities and competencies to make them more engaging, accepting and more innovative to lead the new generation of workers for the present and the future. Gradually, a new corporate culture will take root that is driven by new age leaders who are in sync with changes made in the organisation.