Explore different coaching techniques that shift thinking, decisions and results.

Across Australia, organisations are pursuing growth while managing cost discipline and significant change. While the focus has historically emphasised agility, disruption and growth, many organisations are now facing fatigue, disengagement, capability gaps, leadership burnout and the erosion of trust.

HR sits in a uniquely complex position. We are asked to drive productivity, build culture, enable change, uphold compliance, strengthen inclusion and manage risk, often simultaneously. 

Many of us also seek to shape strategy, strengthen leadership capability, and deliver measurable commercial impact, all in an increasingly uncertain and often volatile environment.

It’s not unusual for HR professionals to report frustration regarding their influence on people and tangible business outcomes. 

Despite strong technical skillsets fundamental for businesses to thrive, we can struggle to get the sponsorship, buy-in and partnership needed to enable measurable long-term business outcomes.

The challenge for HR

HR practitioners want to be positioned as trusted advisors. We are often in the room for discussions about restructures, culture transformation, performance management, leadership capability and workforce risk.

We don’t have all the answers, but most of us are skilled at diagnosing issues and identifying options and solutions. 

This is often based on analysis, best-practice and evidence-informed recommendations. Unfortunately, influence often falters at implementation across the business when:

• Leaders agree in principle but may not change behaviour.
• Stakeholders seek “quick fixes” rather than systemic shifts.
• Difficult conversations are avoided in favour of procedural solutions.
• HR becomes the owner of initiatives that should sit with the business.

What reliably changes this dynamic and drives greater, more impactful influence and trust isn’t more advice, it’s better questions. 

Coaching, used as an everyday capability, helps leaders think clearly, decide wisely, and own the actions that follow. 

Effective influence is less about having the right answer and more about enabling others to arrive at viable solutions they can own and act on. 

Ideally this shifts both perspective and behaviour to build sustainable and adaptive change within the complexity of the business system.

Explore AHRI’s course on enhancing your coaching mindset.

Coaching skills as HR’s strategic advantage

Most HR practitioners have been exposed to coaching skills at some point in their careers.

We have attended workshops on powerful questions and practised active listening. Many of us have completed coaching programs. Yet in day-to-day HR practice, coaching skills are often underutilised.

In fact, many hear “coaching,” and think of one-to-one development conversations or external coaches. 

But there is a broader skillset to consider, a skillset that can shift HR from expert problem-solver to strategic thinking partner. 

This skillset includes structured inquiry, deep listening, reframing and constructive challenge. These coaching capabilities are particularly powerful for HR practitioners because:

• They improve decision quality. Better questions produce more robust thinking, especially under pressure.
• They build internal capability. Instead of solving problems for the business, you enable the business to solve them.
• They align with adult learning principles. Adults commit more strongly to insights they generate themselves.
• They strengthen credibility. When leaders feel heard and challenged rather than instructed, trust increases.

HR earns influence when leaders experience us as thinking partners. When we create space for clarity, reality-testing and courageous decisions. In practice, that means using coaching in the moments that matter, especially across the four contexts HR influences daily.

“HR earns influence when leaders experience us as thinking partners. When we create space for clarity, reality-testing and courageous decisions.”

Four practical applications

For HR practitioners looking to apply their coaching skills more deliberately to enhance both influence and outcomes, the following areas offer immediate opportunity.

In each of these areas, powerful questions when used effectively, are simple, straight forward, direct and open-ended. 

1. Strategic conversations

Using coaching techniques in strategic forums with senior and executive leaders can elevate impact to enhance confidence and presence, and show commercial maturity. Before proposing solutions, elevate decision quality by asking:

• What would success look and feel like? What would you notice?
• How might this enhance or utilise our strategic capabilities? 
• What trade-offs are we willing to make?
• What do we need to protect and maintain?
• What unintended consequences are we prepared to accept and how will we mitigate them?

2. Performance and accountability

Performance management is often seen as a procedural issue, despite many challenges being behavioural and relational in nature. 

Impact can be enhanced by building capability in others and reducing reliance on HR as the mediator, solution provider, or enforcer. Use coaching skills to help shift from focusing on process to behaviour and capability:

• Where do you see the current capability gaps, and the benefits of closing them? 
• How else might you interpret the behaviours you are seeing?
• What realised and unrealised strengths do they have that may assist them to improve?
• What conversation do you need to have? How will you start it?

3. Change fatigue and engagement

Many organisations are navigating intense, and/or ongoing change. For progress to feel real and sustainable, use coaching skills to help create space to address ambiguity and take action:

• How would you summarise the progress made so far? How can you build on what’s working? 
• What is in your control right now?
• What is the most important next step and why?
• How can you best apply what you have learned?
• Where are you experiencing uncertainty or unease? What can you do to help navigate this?

4. Increased relational influence

The ability to hold firm and respectfully challenge others is central to strategic influence. 

To best support your ability to influence effectively, and create space for intelligent, strategic and exploratory thinking, consider how you can strengthen your courage to challenge respectfully. 

• What are we not saying that needs to be said?
• If you had no limits, what would you do?
• What are you choosing by avoiding this conversation/decision/change?
• How can we be more open about what we don’t yet know or fully understand?
• How might others be thinking in relation to this?

Building capability rather than dependency

Coaching is a long-recognised methodology for empowering and enabling others. 

One of the most significant shifts HR can make is moving from delivering solutions to building capability within the business.

 Examples of how HR practitioners do this effectively include: 

• Clarifying what “good leadership” looks like in your business context and prioritising leadership capability.
• Providing structured forums for leaders and managers to think through real challenges and opportunities.
• Equipping leaders with conflict resolution skills instead of mediating every team conflict.
• Coaching managers on how to set clear expectations, rather than rewriting performance objectives.
• Supporting leaders to role-model behaviours day-to-day, in addition to centrally run culture initiatives.
• Normalising tension as part of progress. Leaders may resist feedback about their leadership style. Teams may be defensive about performance data. Executives may prioritise short-term results. Building dialogue and psychological safety enable effective thinking, communication and solutioning. 

The opportunity ahead

Australian organisations are navigating significant complexity. They need professionals who can shape conversations, build leadership capability and enable sustainable change. For HR practitioners, this represents both a challenge and an opportunity.

The challenge is to step beyond familiar technical expertise and strengthen influence capability. The opportunity is to become indispensable strategic partners, trusted for what we know, and for how we help others think, decide and act. 

By intentionally elevating the quality of our conversations, clarifying accountability, and linking people strategy to commercial results, HR can move from being a valued function to a critical driver of organisational performance. Using coaching skills offers support while helping leaders gain clarity, confidence and ownership.

Lorraine Smith CAHRI is a registered psychologist, qualified coach, and experienced organisational development expert-practitioner. Lorraine leads the Steople NSW and ACT business and offers over 20 years’ experience working across talent and organisational development disciplines as a business leader and consultant.

Renee Burkinshaw CPHR is an ICF Professional Certified Coach and leadership development specialist with expertise across organisational development, culture and contemporary HR practice. Renee is the Founder and Director of Originate, and brings over a decade of experience in organisational change, leadership capability and employee engagement.

Lorraine and Renee both volunteer for the AHRI NSW OD/L&D Network group.