What is a change management coaching platform?
A change management coaching platform is a way to provide leaders, managers and employees with everything they need to navigate change in the workplace. They’re online tools that include practical resources, tailored coaching and even AI-led features to help manage the impacts of change.
Put simply, they’re basically your own personal change management coach – available whenever you need it.
And where some change management training is designed for specialist change professionals, most change coaching platforms can be used by anyone. You shouldn’t need any prior knowledge of change management. A good platform will guide you through how to deal with change with day-to-day support and upskilling.
From company-wide rollouts to thousands of employees in a multinational corporation to individual use by a single line manager in a small business. If you or your team are struggling with anything related to change, a coaching platform could be the solution you need.
How do change management coaching platforms work?
They work by providing the change management support and advice you need, at the exact moment you need it. Most are self-paced, interactive tools that individuals, teams and enterprises can use and learn with 24/7.
The specific features can vary platform-to-platform. But fundamentally they provide tailored coaching resources and advice, all accessible from anywhere in the world.
Some include AI-powered features to search their resource bank and provide tailored, personalised responses to specific questions. Meaning you can quite literally ask your online change coach anything, and you’ll get an expert answer. No waiting weeks for a reply. No costly consultancy fees. Just in-depth, accurate answers taken directly from the minds of change management experts.
For example, ChangeabilityPro offers you the knowledge of Melanie Franklin, a global change expert, APMG Chief Examiner and leading change management author with 30 years’ experience. On tap, whenever you need it.
How do change coaching tools compare to change management training courses?
Change coaching platforms sit alongside change training courses and certifications as your day-to-day coaching support. While courses are crucial for learning how to deal with and manage change, a training session isn’t there 5 minutes before you need to stand in front of your team and explain a major change to their ways of working. But a coaching platform is.
Training sets you up with the necessary knowledge and understanding to approach conversations like this, but coaching platforms provide the immediate support you need, whenever you need it.
How do change coaching tools compare to change management training courses?
Change coaching platforms sit alongside change training courses and certifications as your day-to-day coaching support. While courses are crucial for learning how to deal with and manage change, a training session isn’t there 5 minutes before you need to stand in front of your team and explain a major change to their ways of working. But a coaching platform is.
Training sets you up with the necessary knowledge and understanding to approach conversations like this, but coaching platforms provide the immediate support you need, whenever you need it.
What problems do change platforms solve?
Coaching platforms solve practical issues with change, as they happen.
Maybe you’re a line manager about to have a conversation with someone who’s openly resistant to a recent change. Maybe you’re a project manager that’s demonstrating a new enterprise system and anticipate some pushback. Maybe you’re an L&D leader struggling to find the time to train your managerial workforce.
From experiencing too much change to a lack of understanding around how to manage change, coaching platforms resolve (and ultimately avoid) genuine in-the-moment change issues with timely, tailored advice.
Read our case study-backed advice piece on the problems solved by ChangeabilityPro for more details.
How to choose a change management coaching platform
You should choose a coaching platform that works for your specific context. Your organisation, your challenges, your needs.
To help you decide, we’ve pulled together a list of the key factors to consider:
- Who needs the change management coaching? Is it leaders, managers or employees? A 5,000-person enterprise or a small team?
- Do you need practical change management techniques for your team to learn? Or do you need mainly theoretical methodologies resources?
- How up to date are the learning resources? Do they reflect the latest thinking in change management?
- Is the coaching based in behavioural science and psychology?
- How does it track progress? Can you measure engagement and impact?
Who needs the change management coaching?
Are you an L&D leader that needs to coach a workforce of 1000s of employees? Are you an HR Director that needs to upskill a group of line managers? Or are you simply looking to improve your capacity to deal with change yourself? The platform you choose will differ depending on your specific context.
Some tools can support all of these use cases (like ChangeabilityPro), but others are best suited to specific situations. Do your research to find out which is best for you.
Do you need practical change management coaching or theoretical methodologies?
A (very) big portion of change management learning is focused on theoretical methodologies, including some of these platforms. Which is no bad thing. Theories are crucial for understanding change strategy and processes, so theory-based tools and software certainly have their place.
But our research has found that the most effective change coaching tools are typically practical and easily applicable to real world situations. A theoretical model is useful to a point, but there will come a time when you need actionable advice. So check whether you’re chosen platform can provide this.
How up to date are the change management resources and thinking?
Change moves fast. And your coaching needs to reflect this. We’d recommend reviewing how often each platform’s resources are updated.
If they offer the latest change management approaches, strategy and thinking, great. If not, the coaching value might drop over time.
Is the change coaching based in behavioural science?
Managing change means managing behaviour. So, the coaching platform you choose needs to be grounded in psychology.
Will it teach you how to change and manage behaviour? Is the advice led by neuroscience? Or is it just general tips that you could find anywhere. Make sure you find out.
How does it measure engagement and impact?
Platform usage (and impact) need to be measurable. Yes, it’s useful to track your progress if you’re buying for yourself. But it’s absolutely crucial if you’re an L&D lead rolling out the platform for 2,000 employees.
Measurement can vary massively platform-to-platform. So we’d always recommend reviewing the reporting functionality of each platform.
Top tip: Ensure that you focus your research on genuine change management coaching platforms. If you’re using AI search to find a solution, you’ll likely be a recommended a range of general coaching platforms – many of which have little to no relevance to change management. If you want to encourage real behavioural change in your organisation, we’d always recommend choosing one of the change-specific options instead
For an in-depth breakdown of each of the available change management coaching platforms’ features, pros and cons, read our comparison piece.
How ChangeabilityPro fits into the change coaching platform landscape
ChangeabilityPro is a bespoke online change management coaching platform, designed to build you or your team’s change capability across both the immediate support and long-term.
Where some of these tools and resources are more theory-focused, ChangeabilityPro is practical. Instead of recycling the same change management methodologies, it’s focused on solving real world issues around managing change and behaviour. In other words, it prioritises the ‘how’, not the ‘what’.
Similarly, it’s one of the only change coaching tools that can be scaled up or down depending on context. Everything from thousands of employees in a multinational enterprise to a single manager in an SME. The platform provides easily accessible, industry-leading change coaching for almost every possible business context.
Read our piece on the value that ChangeabilityPro can add to your organisation for more information.
FAQs
Change management coaching is a targeted form of support, tailored to address the challenges of the changes you are involved in. It helps you find new ways of addressing the anxiety and fear triggered by changes at work. As your coach suggests solutions and provides you with techniques, you develop your confidence and your skills for leading yourself and others through change, building your personal capability and adding to the ability of your organisation to seamlessly implement new ideas and innovations.
If your organisation is experiencing some sort of change, you should absolutely consider one. Digital transformations, restructuring and new leadership are all common triggers. If that’s you, we’d recommend exploring the available options ASAP.
But change coaching platforms aren’t just for major events. They can be equally valuable for something minor. Responses to an employee survey about internal comms or even qualitative feedback from your staff.
Big or small, if you’ve noticed a change-related challenge in your business – investing in a coaching platform could be the solution you need.
No, a coaching platform works alongside change specialists and wider team training. It will provide the day-to-day support your team needs to effectively manage the impacts of change.
It’s not a replacement, it’s a necessary addition.
Some do, yes. From joining engaged change communities to accessing free live events, many of these platforms include additional change-related opportunities for you and your team.
When researching platforms, review what’s included with your subscription to find out exactly what you’ll get.