In my last blog post “Case Study: How a Coaching Style of Leadership Can Help Employees Take Ownership & Responsibility”, I described a Solutions Focus (SF) Coaching for Leaders Programme I am delivering that is helping employees take ownership and responsibility. The case study featured in a presentation at the Coaching and at Work Conference: Beyond Frontiers.
The audience was coaches who worked in organizations and independently. They were particularly interested in how we implemented the programme. Contrary to accepted wisdom, we didn’t start at the top of the organization. In fact, no Executive Director has yet been through the programme.
Instead, we started with two cohorts of senior leaders who were interested and keen to get involved. As they started using the SF coaching tools and seeing the benefits, other leaders became interested in being part of the programme too. Eleven cohorts have so far gone through the six-month programme, which includes two days on SF coaching, six coaching sessions per participant, two supervision days and a final review day.
Change in an organization is created one person at a time. Our experience says it doesn’t matter which person you start with. You can create a positive ripple effect through the organization. So you end up creating a coaching culture by stealt.
If you are finding your efforts to introduce change hampered and all your energy is going into trying to reduce resistance, why don’t you try an experiment? Start small, work your supporters and build a band of champions and evidence that others will want to follow.
You can read “AWP Creates Coaching By Stealth” in Coaching at Work Magazine at www.coaching-at-work.com/2012/01/19/awp-creates-coaching-by-stealth/
