How to Support Employees Through Business Change

Business change creates challenges for everyone within an organization. Employees are faced with uncertainty; their colleagues might’ve been made redundant, and those who are left behind have to deal with survivor’s guilt while managing their new workloads. This significant change can negatively impact employee engagement, retention rates, and business operations.

Managers, meanwhile, must make difficult decisions and have challenging conversations. They’re often the ones leading the change, but must communicate that change effectively while looking after their own mental health, maintaining employee morale, and having hard conversations about what’s happening and what will happen.

We’ve seen first-hand the impact this can have on employee morale and productivity, leaving businesses looking for ways to recover their damaged company culture and employer brand.

During difficult financial times, redundancies, or mergers, employee benefits are often one of the first things to go. Some companies place coaching as an employee benefit, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a vital learning and development tool that can teach your employees the skills they need to handle business change, whatever department they’re in.

To put it simply, coaching is key to successful change management, retention, and productivity.

How coaching supports managers through the change management process

Successful change management requires managers and senior leaders—some of whom may have been in position for years or even decades—to change how they do things. This isn’t always easy and can cause additional stress as leaders try to offer consistency and stability while everything transforms for them as much as their employees.

Change can also erode employees’ trust in leadership. Only 20% of employees strongly agree that they trust the leaders in their organization, according to Gallup. And that’s before any dramatic changes happen in the workplace.

Coaching equips managers to lead with empathy, clarity, and resilience. It ensures they can manage increased stress and continue to guide teams effectively during transformational change. It also improves their communication skills so that they can be transparent and honest with employees, restoring confidence and connection between the management team and employees.

The right training at the right time can also better equip managers to handle transitions, communicate difficult decisions, and maintain team cohesion during uncertain periods.

How coaching supports employees through business change

Employees who stay after colleagues are made redundant can go through a form of survivor’s guilt. On top of that, they often have to juggle new, changing, or extra workloads, adding further stress to the complex cocktail of guilt, shame, and perhaps even gratitude at keeping their job that they may be experiencing.

The negative impact these feelings have on employee morale and engagement inevitably impacts productivity.

For anyone to perform at their best, they need to be able to express how they feel in a safe place. A trained, objective, and empathetic external coach can offer this much more than someone in-house.

Employees may worry that if they share their concerns with someone inside the organization, it will get back to leaders and lead to negative repercussions. As a result, they may be less likely to be honest about their feelings. So they won’t get the support they really need.

When employees can share their feelings with an external coach, it helps you retain top talent. A coach can ask the right questions at the right time to help them deal with things like survivor’s guilt, uncertainty, and their new workload to become more resilient. Supporting them at this crucial time can improve engagement and loyalty, improving your employee attrition rates.

The unique Sanctus Coaching approach balances workplace skills and emotional development. Employees receive coaching tailored to their unique situation, helping them manage the new way of doing things so that it doesn’t impact their mental health and productivity.

Our group coaching workshops can offer employees the opportunity to share how they’re feeling in a safe environment, while one-on-one drop-in coaching supports them to work through their feelings and progress in a healthier way. 

Coaching can also address disengagement by helping employees realign with their roles and the organization’s new purpose, reigniting motivation and productivity.

Ultimately, the Sanctus Coaching space is a confidential, objective place for employees to process stress, anxiety, and concerns in times of uncertainty. It helps them develop critical skills like adaptability, problem solving, and emotional intelligence, all of which prepare them to thrive in challenging environments.

Why coaching is essential to maintain performance during business challenges

Employees often reach out to HR teams for support with their workload, stress, burnout, line report challenges, general support, and so much more. But HR teams only have so much time. Being able to signpost employees to coaching ensures they get the support they need without HR teams adding to their workload.

Millennials seek career development more than older generations. A lack of this is one in their role is of the main reasons millennial and Gen Z employees leave. Failing to offer them something so important, on top of business change, inevitably leads to demotivation and quiet quitting. 

On the flip side, 62% of organizations with a strong coaching culture have higher retention rates among high performers. For the rest of the organization, that retention rate is 28%. Retaining your high performers during these difficult times could be key to your business weathering the storm.

Small changes to company culture during business change, like providing redundancy coaching or drop-in coaching sessions, can reduce attrition by showing your employees you see them as a valued team member. This reduces turnover costs and can even improve productivity thanks to your team’s newfound skills and coping mechanisms.

In addition, when you hire, showing that you’re serious about employee learning and development can enhance your employer brand and mean you attract even more high performers.

Conclusion 

Coaching is a strategic investment in the resilience and performance of everyone within your organization. Even those who don’t experience coaching directly can benefit from the ripple effects of coaching throughout your business.

97% of employees who’ve used Sanctus Coaching say it’s supported them in working toward their goals. If you’d like to discuss how coaching could benefit your team, book a consultation today.