Helping People Change with Ellen Van Oosten

Ellen Van Oosten is Professor of Organization Behavior at Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio. She’s also the co-author of one of the best books we’ve read about human behaviour.

Helping People Change, written by Richard Boyatzis, Melvin Smith and Ellen Van Oosten was Henley Business School’s coaching book of the year in 2020. And we are unsurprised, because by taking a human-first approach to change, it turns most conventional thinking about organisational change management on its head.

In this episode, Jen, Dom and Cat chat with Ellen to hear what she’s learned about human behaviour over the course of her career. They discuss how organisations can better help their internal stakeholders not only shift behaviour for the long-term but also navigate the continuous change that marks the 2020s.

Takeaways

• Continuous change is a prevalent and ongoing experience in the workplace, with many organisations undergoing restructuring and leadership changes.
• Successful change requires individuals to have a sense of agency and to feel a personal connection to the desired future state.
• Communication plays a crucial role in change management, particularly in articulating goals and objectives and fostering a shared understanding of how individuals can contribute to the organization's strategy.
• The failure rate of change programmes remains high, indicating a need for a more empathetic and human-centered approach to change management.
• Empathy and emotional intelligence are essential skills for leaders and communicators to cultivate in order to create supportive and engaging environments for change. Positive emotion is needed to thrive and flourish.
• It's about dreams, not just goals.
• Build resonant relationships through clarity, connection, and compassion.

About Ellen Van Oosten

Ellen B. Van Oosten, Ph.D. is Professor in the Department of Organizational Behavior and Faculty Director of Executive Education at the Case Weatherhead School of Management. She is also Director of the Coaching Research Lab, a scholar-practitioner collaboration to advance coaching research founded in 2014. Her research interests include coaching, leadership development, emotional intelligence and women’s leadership in STEM fields. She teaches in the MBA, Executive MBA and directs the Weatherhead Coach Certificate Program, the Leadership Institute for Women in STEM and Manufacturing Program and several company specific programs. She is also the author of numerous academic and practitioner articles and co-author of the award-winning book - Helping People Change: Coaching with Compassion for Lifelong Learning and Growth – with colleagues Richard Boyatzis, PhD and Melvin Smith, PhD. She has a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Dayton and a MBA and PhD from Case Western Reserve University.

Find Ellen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellenbrooksvanoosten/

Ellen’s website: https://case.edu/weatherhead/about/faculty-and-staff-directory/ellen-van-oosten

HBR article: https://hbr.org/2019/09/coaching-for-change

5 Training Mistakes that Inhibit Lasting Change: http://tinyurl.com/y6qeh8uw .

How the best managers balance analytical and emotional intelligence - - https://hbr.org/2020/06/the-best-managers-balance-analytical-and-emotional-intelligence.

How to support the people you lead in times of uncertainty -https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_support_the_people_you_lead_in_times_of_uncertainty