The contribution of coaching to change in organizations Introduction

The contribution of coaching to change in organizations Introduction

The contribution of coaching to change in organizations
Introduction
Organisational change can be seen as stimulated by major detrimental external forces such
as funding cuts or decreased market competitiveness but there is a growing literature
expounding change as a critical driver of organisational successiand an important variable in
creating organisational advantageii. However, recent studies reveal that change is difficult to
achieve and research suggests conservative estimates of between one and two-thirds of
major change efforts failiii. Higher rates of failure of 80% - 90% have also been put forwardiv.
These statistics take on even greater resonance when studied in conjunction with the
effects of organisational change management history in shaping employee attitudes and
behaviour. Bordia et alvfound that the history of change management and individual
change-related activities within an organisation can have significant lasting effects on
employee attitudes of trust, job satisfaction, turnover intentions, change cynicism, openness
to change and actual turnover.
Change in organizations
Change can be incremental and continuous over a period of time, or transformational
requiring a break with the past and a radical and fundamental shift from the current
paradigmvi. We present this as a dimension, as shown in Figure 1.
FIGURE 1 Incremental and transformational change
Incremental change occurs over a period of time but on a regular and continuous basis.
However, such changes may hardly be noticed except that people are ‘doing things better’
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through a process of ‘tinkering, adaptation and modification’vii. There is a link between
change and continuous improvement and this is sometimes formalized in continuous
improvement teams (CITs) and the Total Quality Management (TQM) principle of kaizan. By
contrast, transformational change is considered to be a disturbance to the present and the
creation of new dynamics that requires a break with the past. Rather than doing things
better, the key question is: what can be done differently?
Crucial to understanding change is the impact and response of people who must undergo
transitionviii. Most organizations underestimate the significance of the transition stage for
those going through change activityix. Employees need support to realise that transition
means letting go of something in order for them to move on to the next phase. Individuals
accept change in different ways and at varying rates and that acceptance of change occurs
in stagesx.
Malonexi argues that organisations do not change but that people do. ‘Individual behaviour
is a prerequisite for major improvements in organisational performance’ xii. Leaders and
managers are central to the successful implementation of any significant change process.
Leaders inspire the transition and provide energy and sustenance for changes in behaviour
and managers help to make things happen and provide order and systems for change to
become embeddedxiii.
Models of change management
If change can vary between incremental and transformational, models of change can also
vary and one way of considering appropriate models is to explore how managers and
leaders might approach change. Here we can make use of a well-known dimension drawn
from the industrial relations literature between unitarist and pluralist perspectives. The
former assume a single and unified view of an organization, so models of change can be top
down.
Pluralist perspectives assume that organizations composed of different views,
different understandings with a variety of interests and goals.
We can combine the dimensions to suggest different models of change in Figure 2:
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Unitary
Formal Logic
Planning and
Transmission
Simple
Complex
Action Modalities
Culturally
Enhanced
Translations
Pluralist
Given the variation in types of change, it has become quite normal in the past 20 years to
veer towards the transformational view, which provides a link to ideas about leaders who,
through their vision, can inspire and motivate others for change (Stewart and McGoldrick,
1996). Transformational leaders connect strategy to culture and commitment. It is not
surprising that one of the most well-known change models in organizations is concerned
with ‘leading change’, based on the work of Kotterxiv. The organizations he studied failed to
achieve transformational change because of mistakes, which provided eight steps that
leaders could follow to ensure success. While focusing on leaders, the model is very much in
tune with other models of change based on the view that stages or steps can be used to
guide change. There is a range of other change models that provide stages or steps and this
tends to reinforce the view that change can be planned or programmed and managed from
the topxv.
Interestingly, the recently developed NHS change model also has eight parts or
componentsxvi. Based on evidence gathered within the NHS, the model seeks to guide large
scale change. While it is still early days for this model, a recent review of change
programmes in the NHSxvii suggest some support although there was a tendency for partial
use or implicit use and this is often the case in change programmes.
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Models of change tend towards neat and tidy versions of the world but if a pluralist view is
taken, change can be seen as ‘messy and untidy’, with projects rarely following predictable
stagesxviii. History, culture and contextual factors all have a role to play, so it becomes
difficult to provide ‘universal rules’ for change management and leadershipxix. In a pluralist
world, change has to be seen as continuous and/or rather unpredictable. In an attempt to
bring about deliberate change, if there is a first step, it should be investigate and make
visible what is happening, with rebalance concerned with reinterpreting and reordering
activities but emergence must be understood and appreciatedxx. Models of change that
assume plurality are less likely to be used and given the poor record of transformational
models of change, the use of action modalities of research informal methodologies such as
action research, action learning and appreciative enquiry might hold more promisexxi.
The role of coaching
A recent study found that 80% of the 250 UK companies surveyed are using or have used
coaching as a development tool, and another 9% plan to do so. 96% felt coaching had
benefitted the individual and 95% felt it had also helped the organisation xxii. Coaching can
be generally defined as a ‘process of equipping people with the tools, knowledge and
opportunities they need to develop themselves and become more effective’xxiii in turn
‘helping people fulfil their potential by allowing them to recognise the things that hold them
back and by helping them discover ways around them’xxiv.
There are several models of coaching, the most well-known is the GROW model.xxvIt
provides a relatively simple framework for structuring a coaching session, and has been
adopted by many of the world’s major organisations. However, all coaching practice is
initially based on one of four theoretical models: the clinical model; the behaviour model;
the systems model and the social constructionist modelxxvi. These theoretical models give
rise to a range of approaches to coaching which serve different purposes, shown in Table 1
Approaches to coaching
Purpose of coaching
Humanist
growth and change
4
Behaviourist
change behaviour
Adult development
develop and grow in maturity
Cognitive coaching
developing adaptive thoughts
Goal-focused
goal-oriented
and
solution-
focused
Positive psychology approach
from causes of pain to moving
forward
Adventure coaching
stretch
through
challenging
situations and learning
Adult learning
reflecting on and growing from
experiences
Systemic coaching
finding patterns
Narrative coaching
working with stories as they
emerge
Table 1 Approaches to Coachingxxvii
A crucial choice seems to be required between:
a. The type of change desired
b. Appropriate approaches to coaching
In addition to skills of the coach, Anderson and Anderson have emphasised the need to
ensure that an appropriate and robust evaluation methodology is build into any coaching
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programmexxviii. This can have a dramatic effect on organisational success and individual
performance.
Evidence from the health sector
While much of our focus has been concerned with change in organizations and the role of
coaching, one of most frequently cited areas of coaching has been concerned with disease
management, patient compliance with medication and improving health outcomes for
patientsxxix. Health coaching is completed face-to-face, via telephone or more recently,
mobile, email or weblink. For example, a study of the management of diabetes showed how
three registered dieticians trained as health coaches to use motivational interviewing. These
skills were used to set goals with 27 patients for medication adherence over six months.
Results show high adherence and a reduction in barriers such as forgetfulnessxxx. Similar
results were found for patients with type 2 diabetes, where Integrative Coaching was used
to focus on patients identifying their own values and visions of health xxxi. Another example
of health coaching includes the control of blood pressure in a low-income, minority
population using non clinical coaches who were trained on lifestyle behaviour change
including medication adherence counsellingxxxii. Coaching was also shown to influence
cancer patients to change their analgesic treatment regimen in consultations with their
doctors. The approach, referred to as tailored education and coaching (TEC), gave more
emphasis to how patients could interact with doctors with more confidencexxxiii.
Evidence from the use of coaching for change within a healthcare setting with staff,
managers and leaders is more limited but is beginning to increase as a result of
implementation of evaluation frameworks within change programmes. As we suggested
earlier, a key issue is how the approach to coaching aligns with the type of changexxxiv.
In the review of 15 change programmes that took place across NHS South of Englandxxxv it
was foundthat a coaching style of leadership is becoming increasingly prevalent and that
NHS organisations should capitalise on the leadership capability that already exists within
their organisations. It argues that if leadership is inhibited by a lack of confidence, greater
6
access to coaching can help to increase this and may be all that is needed to harness the
leadership potential of motivated staff. However, there seemed to be little evidence of
coaching within the cases apart from a project to reduce hospital acquired pressure ulcers
and falls in 44 wards in Southampton, referred to as the Turnaround project. The project
focused on spreading the use of evidence-based High Impact Actions through a week-byweek guidebook and other supporting tools which included coaching. The result was a 75
per cent reduction in grade 3 and 4 pressure ulcers, 62 per cent reduction in grade 2 ulcers
and an estimated 50 per cent reduction in high harm falls. Generally there seemed to a lack
of knowledge of what coaching is available and its value in change projects.
The lack of knowledge about coaching is supported by another study which sought to
evaluate coaching in the NHSxxxvi. Internal coaching and externalcoaching registerwere
explored.The internal coaching linked to dealing with organisation change and helping
clients cope. Evaluation showed that where coaches had a chance to practice skills, there
were positive responses from coaches who valued the safe environment to reflect on work
and find answers working with the expertise of the coach. This also applied to external
coaches, who provided support to senior managers and others. There remained difficultly in
utilising coaches, who often had to find their own clients. They also had varying support in
providing coaching from their own organizations.
To this point, the evidence seems to suggest that, apart from health coaching at the point of
contact with patients, there is little demonstration of how change is being managed to
consider the pluralist nature of NHS life nor is there consideration of how coaching can align
with the change. One study considered 68 change initiatives in the NHS with 8 case studies
through a longitudinal survey over 12 monthsxxxvii. Crucially, the focus of the study
concerned change agents working between and within networks in organizations, to
influence the adoption of change. Further, a distinction was made between high divergent
and low divergent change, concerned with the degree to which change diverges from the
organization’s status quo. It was recognised that networks could be informal and this
implicitly acknowledge the pluralist view we considered in Figure 2. Networks could be
differentiated between those that were tightly organised and therefore more cohesive but
relatively closed to outside influence and those that were more loosely organised and
7
relatively more open. It was suggested that with low network close and high change
divergence, a change agent would have more chance to initiate change by being allowed to
work more flexibly between networks, building arguments, alliances and connections for
change. The coach as change agent therefore needs to find positions between more open
networks where change is highly divergent from the status quo.
Summary
It would appear from the evidence that change in organizations, especially large scale,
radical, transformational or highly divergent change, is still poorly understood. Further
various models of change management that suggest following stages or steps do not have a
strong record of success or implementation. Our view is that part of the reason for such
difficulty is a failure to take a pluralist view covering groups and networks, both formal and
informal.
Apart from some good examples of health coaching with patients, where the models
employed included goal-setting and behavioural change, coaching in the NHS is still
developing. In reviews of change programmes against the NHS Change Model, coaching was
suggested as important to enhance leadership capability but the model itself was often only
partially implemented and there were few examples of how coaching was used or what
approach was employed. Other evidence showed the potential value of coaching in helping
with transition but coaches were often left without coachees.
It was suggested that large scale change needed to be more systemic and ‘bottom-up’xxxviii
and this provides significant opportunities for working with action modalities in change
programmes which have to take account of cultural and historical variations and
engagement through conversational models of changexxxix. Coaching approaches would
need be more systemic in response and consider how stories provide the background to
ongoing conversations that make daily realities.
8
i
See Drucker, P. (1999). Management challenges for the 21st century. New York: HarperCollins; Ford, C., &Gioia, D. (2000).
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iiGilley,
A., Gilley, J.W., & McMillan, H.S. (2009). Organizational change: Motivation, communication and leadership
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iiiBeer,
M., &Nohria, N. (2000).Breaking the code of change. Boston: Harvard; Lewin, McKinsey & Company, 2006.
Organising for Successful Change Management.The McKinsey Quarterly; Shaffer, R.H., and Thomson, H.A., 1998. Successful
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Cope, M. (2003). The seven C’s of consulting (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Financial Times/Prentice-Hall.
vBordia,
P., Restubog, S. L. D., Jimmieson, N. L., &Irmer, B. E. (2011). Haunted by the past: Effects of poor change
management history on employee attitudes and turnover. Group & Organization Management, 36, 191–222. Business
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Hayes, J. (2010). The Theory and Practice of Change Management, 3rd Ed
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Ibid, p.24
W. (2003).Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change. Nicholas Brealey Publishing, USA.
viiiBridges,
ixBridges,
Op. Cit.; Quinn, R. E. (2004).Building the bridge as you walk on it. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
x
Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (4th ed.). New York: Free Press.
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Malone, J. W. (2001). Shining a new light on organizational change: Improving self-efficacy through coaching.
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xiii
Ibid. p. 27
University of Adelaide Leading Change, Transition & Transformation - A Guide for University Staff, [publication online]
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xivKotter,
J. (1995). Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail. Harvard Business Review 73 (2): 59 – 67. The steps are
These steps are:
•
Establish a sense of urgency
•
Form a powerful guiding coalition
•
Create a vision
•
Communicate the vision
•
Empower others to act
•
Create short-term wins
•
Consolidate and build
•
Institutionalize the new approaches.
xv
Ulrich, D. (1998). Champions of change: How CEOs and their companies are mastering the skills of radical change. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
xvi
Available from http://www.changemodel.nhs.uk/pg/dashboard
xvii
See Gifford, J. ,Boury, D., Finney, L., Garrow, V., Hatcher, C., Meredith, M. and Rann, R. (2012). What makes change
successful in the NHS?NHS South of England/Roffey Park.
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Buchanan, D. and Storey, J. (1997) Role taking and role switching in organizational change: the four pluralities, in I.
McLoughlin and M. Harris (eds) Innovation, Organizational Change and Technology, London, International Thomson, p. 127
xix
Pettigrew, A. and Whipp, R. (1993) Managing Change for Competitive Success, London, Wiley, p. 105.
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xxWeick,
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Change, Boston, MA, Harvard Business School Press.
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xxiiInstitute
xxiii
of Leadership and Management (ILM) (2011).Creating a Coaching Culture
Peterson, D. B., & Hicks, M. D. (1995). Leader as coach: Strategies for coaching and developing others. Minneapolis:
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Somers M. (2007). Coaching at Work: Powering Your Team With Awareness,
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xxvWhitmore,
xxviBarner,
J. (2002). Coaching for Performance. Nicholas Brealey Publishing, London
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xxviiAdapted
from Ives, Y. (2008). What is ‘coaching’? An exploration of conflicting paradigms.International Journal of
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xxviiiAnderson,
D., & Anderson, M. (2005).Coaching that counts.Burlington, MA: Elsevier
Butterworth-Heinemann.
xxix
Sacco, W.P., Morrison, A. D., Malone, J.I. (2004). A brief, regular, proactive telephone “coaching” intervention for
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xxxMelko
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xxxiWolever,
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E. (2010) Integrative health coaching for patients with type 2 diabetes.The Diabetes EDUCATOR, 36(4): 269-239.
xxxiiMargolius
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xxxiiiKravitz
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xxxivRock,
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xxxv
Gifford et al, op. cit.
xxxvi
Sinclair A, Fairhurst P, Carter A, Miller L (2008) Evaluation of Coaching in the NHS Report 455, NHS Institute for
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xxxvii
See Battilana, J. and Casciaro, T. (2012) Change agents, networks, and institutions:
a contingency theory of organizational change. Academy of Management Journal,
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xxxviii
xxxix
Gifford et al, op.cit. p. 9
See Ford, J. and Ford, L. (2003) Conversations and the authoring of change.In D. Holman and R. Thorpe (eds)
Management and Language, London, Sage
10