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In almost all restructurings, all training and event budgets are reflexively cut. So simple, and at the same time the guarantee that the conversion will go wrong.
Because 80 to 86% of ALL change projects fail due to mindset and behavior. And coaching, the “new training”, is the best way to strengthen the management team in a situation of upheaval and offers contemporary opportunities to support employees and improve performance. But how can a courageous investment in coaching pay off at all?
Today, I’m talking to Daniel Breitwieser, Senior Director Automotive at CoachHub
Steffen Szameitat: Hello Daniel. As an automotive expert, what was the most interesting car you’ve ever driven?
Daniel Breitwieser: A very good question! I’ve never owned a car. After six or seven years abroad, I traveled a lot in big cities. Now I’ve been living in Berlin for six years and I’m a big fan of mobility. I mainly use car sharing. My first experience with a Tesla was great, I love it. I had to google how to start it first.
Steffen Szameitat: Was that a Model 3 or an X?
Daniel Breitwieser: It was a Model 3. It’s a great car, only the large screen in the middle takes some getting used to.
Steffen Szameitat: Tesla has ushered in a new era for everyone. A lot has changed since then. The markets are currently very weak, costs have to come down. What role does coaching play in the restructuring of the industry?
Daniel Breitwieser: Right now, people are seeing everywhere: Okay, now we’re getting the bill for the last ten years. And above all, of course, they see what is happening to China, like those who are shrinking market shares every day.
Coaching@Scale is a lever in transformation that never existed before and that now brings new opportunities to support a large number of people in a reorientation, mindset change, change of competence in a way that otherwise does not work at all. The old ways of training and seminars and business schools just don’t fly anymore. It is not very digitized, it is not very data-supported. What has been done here in the last 20 years.
Most companies are somehow still in this structure, and we can therefore simply offer a whole new lever, both through coaching and, by the way, now that it is also new since our last interview in collective coaching.
And because you mention it: the topic of conversion. Yes, a large number of people have to reorient themselves here, both in the company and out of the company. Because there is simply no longer the demand and the quantities to justify the structures we have built. Recently I also spoke to a top manager who said: We have missed the last 15 years to consolidate. And that’s just falling on their feet now.
Accordingly, there are many people who need support. It will not work with conventional methods. We, on the other hand, can provide the support to stakeholders that is needed.
Steffen Szameitat: Does that mean that the “Mental Operating System Upgrade” is still running?
Daniel Breitwieser: There are the companies that changed early on and said we had to upgrade our mental operating system. There is the individual mental operating system. And the “at scale” results in the collective and organizational mental operating system. We are still working on this, but the context has changed.
Steffen Szameitat: What successes do you see with your customers?
Daniel Breitwieser: There are really exciting developments among our clients. We have both qualitative and quantitative data that shows that coaching is often life-changing. Many of our clients report performance improvements of between 10 and 20%. This has a direct impact on their productivity and how they approach their tasks.
I remember a customer who said that with better time management and delegation, they were able to reduce meeting times by as much as 40%! This has not only resulted in less time lost in meetings, but also that employees now have more room for creative ideas and innovations. These changes promote a much better working environment where people are more motivated and engaged.
What I also find exciting is the ripple effect that we often observe: When a person experiences positive changes through coaching, their team feels it too. For example, if a manager learns to delegate more effectively and communicate more clearly, everyone in the team benefits. This has a positive effect on cooperation and increases overall performance.
We also see that many leaders significantly improve their communication skills through coaching. The feedback from the coachees shows that they are more satisfied with their work, which strengthens the bond with the company. It’s great to see how coaching not only advances the individual, but also the entire organization.
Steffen Szameitat: How do your clients experience and use the figures, data, facts about coaching?
Daniel Breitwieser: That’s exactly our sweet spot, Steffen.
Our platform offers extensive data analysis that goes beyond simple statistics. Companies gain insights into the effectiveness of coaching and can see exactly how it helps with change processes. We collect data on various aspects, such as the progress of the coachees, the topics they are working on, and the feedback they provide. This information enables companies to specifically identify where the biggest challenges lie and where there may be a need for action.
In addition, they can see which competencies are improving in the company and where further training may be needed. This is a new dimension in the learning market, as companies don’t just rely on retrospective reports, but can make proactive decisions to develop their employees and the entire organization. Through regular self-assessments, we can track progress and promote a data-driven approach to continuous improvement.
We have a team of behavioral scientists and solution engineers who work together to develop an evaluation design and a success matrix for each major project. In doing so, we keep customers accountable to look at their own performance metrics. It is regrettable how little German companies keep track of what works when it comes to investments. We often shy away from using relevant key figures, even though they can be anonymized.
We have developed our own evaluation constructs, including pre- and post-surveys and integrated 180- and 360-degree tools on our platform, to prove behavioral changes from multiple perspectives. Of course, everything is done in compliance with data protection regulations and considering the works council guidelines.
Steffen Szameitat: Are there best practices for program designs that work well?
Daniel Breitwieser: A very good question: Strong leadership is crucial. Especially in difficult times, strong leaders are needed and there is a need for a strong CEO, strong CFO. And coaching is the better training today, as it develops behavior, mindset and competencies in a targeted manner. Training is still needed for many subject-specific topics
Especially in challenging times, managers need to invest in coaching instead of cutting budgets for personal development. So, let’s be honest: we often talk about 0.3% of salaries here and that’s for the idea of making people more effective. Yes, I didn’t understand this logic of cuts anyway. but we are investing especially in this time.
Leadership development is critical to business.
There are strong CEOs who have a vision and say: We support our entire team, all our managers, with coaching. We have a blatant change that we have to go through with technologies, with everyday behavior. That means everyone, starting with me and our C-level, is in coaching. We expect each of you to go in there too. We are investing, there is no opt-in, there is an opt-out.
“Oh, you don’t need coaching. All right. Then please explain to me what your plan is for the next twelve months, for the strategy and the changes in behavior. For you and your team.”
So, that has to be key first. And of course, this applies to the entire upscaling. And not just say: “Yes, we’ll just do change management a little bit… can we please save on training and coaching?”
Through such an approach you do not make a transformation or change.
Steffen Szameitat: What is the concept of collective coaching?
Daniel Breitwieser: This is a completely new concept of collective coaching, which we call “Co-Dev”. This is an innovative format that brings 4 to 6 people together to work together on challenges. The focus is on the collective intelligence that arises when like-minded people exchange ideas and learn from each other. It is not team coaching, but a group of peers working in a supportive framework.
Each participant brings a specific concern or challenge, while the others act as advisors. This format not only promotes networking within the company but also helps to break down silos and bring different perspectives together. It allows participants to learn from each other and develop creative solutions that they might not have found on their own.
Coaching follows a structured process that allows participants to clearly define the problem, share their views and work out solutions together. This creates exciting insights and action plans that can be implemented in the next meeting. And best of all, each participant has the opportunity to focus and learn from the others, which enriches the entire learning process.
This type of coaching has proven to be particularly effective, as it not only promotes individual development, but also creates a culture of open exchange and continuous learning within the organization. The participants feel more involved and can apply the skills they have learned directly in their everyday work.
Steffen Szameitat: Peers can, for example, be a group of division managers who are hierarchically on the same level.
Daniel Breitwieser: Exactly. Co-devs are used in various areas, for example in an ERP rollout in a company with 80,000 employees. We bring project teams together and support the transformation process so that best practices are disseminated faster. What works? How do you deal with resistance? We also provide a platform to share experiences and emotions. In this way, the participants can find solutions together that work in their projects.
Ideally, different departments or peers with similar goals work together. That is important! For example, we bring together employees from different car dealerships to share best practices. Whether it’s the ERP rollout or the Sales Academy – we support new training courses that focus on topics such as sales transformation and customer centricity. The teams are trained to implement behavioural changes in everyday life and to apply what they have learned in their projects.
Steffen Szameitat: Coaching is one of the oldest forms of learning of all. Now, you have said (nice quote): “Coaching is the better training”. What role does AI play in the future of coaching?
Daniel Breitwieser: Would you say Chat GPT is a coach?
Steffen Szameitat: Well, ChatGPT can be used to learn. But I have a few more expectations of a coach.
Daniel Breitwieser: Which would be?
Steffen Szameitat: Coaching helps to reconcile professional and private goals. We never have just one role, we never have just one goal, but we have several. And this creates conflicts. I don’t yet see exactly how the AI can recognize or even ask questions about exactly these conflicts.
Daniel Breitwieser: That’s right. I think we’re already getting to the point where AI can do that one day. Of course, there is always the question: can it do it as well as a human being, like a certified coach who has already coached hundreds of people? The answer at the moment is still: No.
And that is probably always due to the person who is being coached. I do believe that acceptance is increasing rapidly. We launched our Amy as prototypes back then. Over 20,000 people have used Amy. Coaching is, as you say, one of the oldest forms of learning, but also an expensive one, of course.
Studies show that about 96% of companies see a clear ROI from coaching. Even if this is not measured accurately, people notice the difference. Coaching offers new opportunities to spread the word. Our focus is on Human Coaching, and that’s not going to change. The nuances that a person understands, as well as the type of empathy and presence, are incomparable. Even when talking to such a realistic avatar, the fact that it is not a human remains significant. This influences our thinking.
In addition, AI coaching opens many opportunities to improve human coaches. Our Coach Companion is also trained to the ICF standards. We are already using AI to optimize matching and summarize sessions more effectively. Nudges provided through our Co-Pilot also help users link learning content. If someone has discussed a topic with their coach, suitable learning opportunities could be available on the platform.
Steffen Szameitat: Last question: What would you give to a responsible transformation manager who has a large project ahead of him? What would you say to him? What question would you ask him?
Daniel Breitwieser: First, what role does investment in change management play in your plans? I read an interesting study that says that, on average, only 28% of the budget of successful transformation projects goes into change management. In many cases, this proportion is even in the low single-digit range.
If you look at why transformations fail – according to McKinsey and BCG, 80 to 86% fail because of mindset and behavior, both at the management level and among employees. A colleague of mine at Mercedes said he deals with change management all day, especially in our changing world of work. Many people don’t even use the basic software tools. Sometimes we feel digitalized, but we don’t realize that we are lagging behind in some areas.
So my question: How is change management taken into account in your planning? What does your concept look like? It’s important that change enablement is part of transformation projects from the start, not just when the organization has already been restructured.
The later I start, the more difficult it becomes. A strong correlation between investment in change management and the success of transformation projects is evident. The faster I implement new software solutions and let employees work in an agile sprint mode, the faster I see financial success.
This is my plea: We should ask the right questions and use network analyses. Studies show that about 30% of the success of change projects depends on the right social structure. If I don’t even invest in the crucial 2 or 3%, I don’t even need to start.
Steffen Szameitat: You can summarize: “No budget, no change.”
Daniel Breitwieser: Exactly, investing in change management is crucial.
Steffen Szameitat: Thank you very much for the exciting interview, Daniel!
Daniel Breitwieser: With pleasure, Steffen. I’m looking forward to the next conversation!
