COACHING FORORGANIZATIONALCHANGE 161

my coaching. Therapy training allows me to ask questions, confront and push

with a certain level of expertise. I am trying to move the person to try or do

something that is different from what he or she is doing now. But there must

be a comfort zone within which risks can be taken. A keen awareness of the

psychological implications of personal and organizational change is valuable

in that regard.

Just as the pressure on leaders has intensified greatly in recent years, so

too the expectations for coaches have risen as well. Much of that pressure

comes in a form that is antithetical to effective coaching. There are time

constraints that do not always meet the needs of good coaching. There is a

demand for progress that may fit the time line of organizational plans, but

not the time line of behavior change. It is a challenge for coaches to do that

well and with integrity. Yet that is the reality of the pressure that organiza-

tional change places on us all.

Sally Helgesen

Coaching Anthropology

M

y coaching is done in the service of driving organizational change. To

accomplish that, I engage in a deep, narrative study of how the leaders

in the organization do their jobs, in the context of the organization’s culture.

Out of that understanding, I analyze how well that leadership style is suited

Sally Helgesen is the author ofThe Web of Inclusion: A

New Architecture for Building Great Organizations,in

which she explores how innovative organizations make

use ofthe talents and ideas of all their people, learning

lessons in transformation in the process. She is also the

author ofThe Female Advantage: Women’s Ways of Lead-

ership.She can be reached at [email protected].