How do you address resistance to coaching during a culture change?

Before we know whether coaching is the best way to address the specific resistance, we need to understand why the resistance happens in the first place. Very often it is result of lack of involvement when decisions are taken, lack of understanding of why the change is needed, disagreement with the proposed way of change, general inertia, etc. Depending on what the causes are, different tools are needed. Coaching implies that the problem is with the person and the person needs to be helped to change. That may be the case or not. I personally find that creating an environment where people understand why the change is needed and involving people in the decisions of how things will be done naturally reduces the resistance.

Such great posts and still..what to do with this resistance. As a clinically trained professional with serious respect for the limitations of coaching I believe here a deeper emotionally intelligent approach is needed. One where we sit with the resistance and reflect it back until it subsides. Then build the rapport as main priority with total respect for thr client to reveal what is needed next.

In my experience resistance to a coaching approach (and by that I mostly mean conversations centred on open questions that encourage reflection) is due to a fear of the outcome; that an individuals reflections will open some sort of Pandora's Box of perceived weakness or inadequacy. You need to consider what safety net is in place to deal with outcomes; training, development, space, acceptance, consideration etc.

One thing I have found helpful is to get rid of resistance to coaching is to empower peoples. In any structure peoples/employees should feel they have a say in the critical decision being undertaken. May be that through a poll, direct involvement or vote out. No one should have a feeling of being left behind. then only their will be a positive respond to potential enhancement programme. Further we should deeply try to understand the real training need of the employees rather being carried away from some audit finding or incident root cause or some directive from top management. Thirdly employee should be freed for attending training from superiors with their responsibility being shared, enabling employee to focus in training completely.

One of the main cause for resistance is FMO (fear of missing out). When people feel that they are not capable, and when HR assign a coach people get in to defensive mode. that's the moment people resist to change. Kubler Ross model is one of the great too to understand the process. When people Emotionally disconnect it becomes difficult to coach. So developing awareness is key for successful change. Develop awareness why this coaching is required and what's in it for the employee and organisation Human brain doesn't like change it always seek comfortable zone, once it triggers it is difficult to consume and feels its a threat it resist. Feed the brain the WHY factor. As a coach I always create safe space for conversations.

In terms of coaching for culture change, I don't think selling the benefits of coaching is the answer. The resistant colleague is probably struggling with the change itself, so then having to sell one of the methods for helping them through that, is not my preferred approach. Instead it's about the coaching conversation. You can use the coaching tools, but this person has not asked or paid you for a session to achieve their goal. This is about helping them deal with an organisational change which they probably have less control over. If the person resistant to the coaching conversation direction, then I adapt my style to connect better with them.

I tend to focus on creating value and impact that speaks for itself. I'll openly say, "Don't take my word for it. Try it for yourself and make your own mind up".

Storytelling as a tool can be fairly utilized to help people understand the benefits of coaching. when people would listen stories around the Aha moment that coachee experiences during the Coaching journey is sure to instill enough curiosity to take up Coaching. Coaching is a confidential journey, where whatever gets discussed between the Coachee and the Coach is dealt with utmost confidentiality. Nevertheless, there would be a segment of your Coachee ready to deliberate upon, how Coaching helped them, see through something that felt shadowed upon. And, this would certainly help.

One thing that I think is helpful is to just observe before taking any measures. Especially if it is I myself who have initiated the change in culture within the team. Sometimes it takes time for the dust to settle and people who have a stake in the matter deserve to be heard, and their concerns considered in any tweaks.

You cannot empower other people. Paradoxically, when you do things to 'empower' them, you disempower them. Try to think about respecting agency instead, and within that they can empower themselves.

Nobody is resistant to change if it has their emotional involvement and the same applies to coaching as well. If the attendee understands that the coaching will help him/her in career growth and is also relevant to the job he/she is doing why would there be resistance? Unfortunately, what happens is that people are sent to attend programs to complete the manhour targets irrespective of the needs and that begins a spiral of long term resistance

A hush hush Coaching Session will not help the coachee. As a Coach, we will need to hold multiple sessions with the Coachee so that he understands the whole process and finally comes to terms with the most important question -" What's in it for me". Once, we provide them, with the necessary support, they will set their foot into this. Praising them on their incremental progress would go a long term in getting them aligned to the Coaching mindset. Remember, what James Clear taught us in Atomic Habits, make it obvious, attractive, easy and satisfying. We can easily follow this 4 elements to further our pupose.