Coaching and Culture Change at New York Life

A Gakovic, M Molinaro, H Pomerance International Journal of Coaching in Organizations 2011

This article discusses an approach for leadership development and change management that is based on commitment to the core values and mission of our business at New York Life. Several factors contributed to our reasons for change: the advent of a new Chairman, an internal executive retirement demographic, and a need to significantly accelerate leadership and management capacity in order to enable succession. Our intention is to share our experience in developing and implementing this program in a stable organizational and business environment. Specifically, we will address the role of the coach as the facilitator of a learning and change journey for high-potential employees; the diagnostic and learning activities that create space for new leadership competencies, relationships, and experiences; as well as techniques to motivate learners for joint ownership of individual leadership and organizational culture change.