Coaching as a Change Practitioner

The word “coaching” gets thrown around a lot, but I find that not everybody means the same thing when they say it. As my profile grew as a change practitioner, I was increasingly asked for coaching. It was relatively easy (and fun) to give advice, but I had a hunch there was more to coaching than telling people what to do. Sure enough, that’s one of the first distinctions I learned when I arrived at Georgetown University’s Leadership Coaching program: coaching is about helping people find their own answers, not them accepting and acting on my beliefs. From that point forward, both my coaching and my consulting have become more powerful as I deliberately select the approach that is most appropriate for the situation and what my client is asking for from me.

That’s why this conversation with my friend and colleague, Brian Gorman, Managing Editor for Change Management Review, was so much fun. During this interview for their “From the Field” series, we unpack the differences between consulting and coaching, and talk about when and how a coaching approach might make sense for a change management consultant (or any consultant, for that matter) to use. Click here to listen in on our complete conversation.