Change has become a constant in organizational life. Mergers, acquisitions, cultural transformation, new strategies, or evolving work models: today’s leaders face increasingly dynamic and demanding environments.
In this context, leadership coaching plays an essential role in helping executives develop agility, strategic self-awareness, and the ability to mobilize their teams through uncertainty.
This article explores best practices for supporting leaders through change using personality assessment. You will discover how to interpret Hogan data in a transformation context, structure effective coaching sessions, and help leaders develop the behavioral skills required for sustainable performance.
Drawing on insights from experienced coaches in the Hogan Coaching Network, this article also highlights the human levers that strengthen engagement, adaptability, and the success of organizational transformation.
All organizations experience transformation at different levels. Change is now an integral part of how modern companies operate. This reality makes change management skills essential for leaders.
The way a leader supports change directly influences:
Their own performance.
Their team dynamics.
The success of the organization.
The collective ability to navigate uncertainty.
Change can nevertheless take many different forms:
Merger or acquisition.
Role transition.
Cultural transformation.
New organizational strategy.
Internal restructuring.
Each context therefore requires specific support. An executive hired to resolve a crisis will not have the same experience as a leader enrolled in a high-potential program.
The Hogan practitioner’s role is to help leaders develop strategic self-awareness around how they manage change, so they can in turn support their teams effectively.
The first step in effective coaching is to conduct an in-depth analysis of the data from the personality assessment.
In a transformation context, certain dimensions of the Hogan Personality Inventory — HPI — become particularly strategic, especially:
Adjustment.
Interpersonal Sensitivity.
The Adjustment factor helps assess:
Stress tolerance.
Emotional resilience.
The ability to remain stable under pressure.
Interpersonal Sensitivity provides valuable insight into:
Communication style.
The way the leader interacts with others.
The ability to take the team’s emotions into account.
A leader with a low score on Interpersonal Sensitivity may tend to overlook the emotional impact of change on employees. Conversely, a very high score may lead the leader to avoid conflicts that are nevertheless necessary to move the transformation forward.
These dimensions also reveal the leader’s socio-emotional skills:
Emotional perception.
Relational influence.
Emotional regulation.
Behavioral stability under stress.
These skills are essential because a leader facing change must not only manage their own adaptation, but also guide their team through the transition.
Regarding the Hogan Development Survey — HDS — the practitioner must analyze the leader’s dominant derailer category:
Moving Away.
Moving Against.
Moving Toward.
These categories help anticipate behavioral reactions under stress:
Tendency to withdraw.
Need for control or confrontation.
Excessive search for approval.
Derailers therefore provide valuable insight into the behaviors likely to emerge during periods of intense organizational pressure.
A combined interpretation of the HPI, HDS, and MVPI also helps estimate how naturally comfortable a leader will be with change.
Several dimensions are particularly revealing:
Prudence.
Inquisitive.
Skeptical.
Cautious.
Tradition.
Security.
These factors provide insight into:
Relationship to risk.
Need for stability.
Openness to new approaches.
Tolerance for uncertainty.
As Ray Harrison, coach in the Hogan Coaching Network, explains:
“People do not resist change as much as they fear their ability to cope with it.”
Data from Hogan assessments is not sufficient on its own.
Practitioners must also gather additional information:
Strategic objectives of the role.
Stakeholders driving the change.
Professional history.
Academic background.
Stakeholder analyses.
360 interviews.
Previous performance reviews.
Internal culture and leadership surveys.
These contextual elements greatly enrich the quality of coaching and help bring meaning to personality results.
The Hogan Leadership Forecast Series — LFS — provides structured information on:
Performance capabilities.
Behavioral challenges.
Motivational drivers of the leader.
Assessment debriefing and leadership coaching should ideally take place over several weeks or several months.
The process is generally organized around three major phases.
One or two sessions allow the coach to:
Get to know the leader.
Clarify their expectations.
Understand the transformation context.
This phase may also require several sessions:
A first session to present the data.
A second session to explore reactions, insights, and development priorities.
This final stage generally includes six to eight sessions dedicated to:
Building the development plan.
Following up on actions.
Evaluating progress made.
As in any personality debrief, the most effective approach relies on open, supportive, and nonjudgmental questions.
Examples include:
Which characteristics of your personality do you see as strengths?
What expectations does your organization have of you?
What is your main concern about your success?
What connections do you see between your values and those of the organization?
What impact could the change have on your team?
How do you generally react in high-pressure situations?
These conversations encourage:
Introspection.
Strategic self-awareness.
The leader’s engagement in their own development.
Brian Chitester, coach in the Hogan Coaching Network, reminds us:
“In periods of massive change, there are dangerous opportunities for growth.”
The role of coaching is precisely to help leaders:
Moderate overused strengths.
Manage derailers.
Develop behaviors better suited to the context.
Personality data helps identify situations in which a leader will need to act against their natural tendencies.
For example:
A leader with low Interpersonal Sensitivity can learn to balance direct communication with more active listening and empathy.
A highly cautious leader can work on their ability to make faster decisions in uncertain environments.
Executives are particularly motivated to change when they understand that their behavioral adjustments can sustainably improve their reputation and impact.
Even though every personality is unique, certain principles apply to almost all transformations.
As Betsy Reeder emphasizes:
“Almost every leader today is leading some form of change.”
A clear methodological framework helps leaders and their teams remain aligned.
The coaches interviewed notably cite the model presented in John Kotter’s Leading Change, which describes an eight-step process for organizational transformation.
The central idea is simple: only genuine leadership momentum can sustainably mobilize the behaviors required for change.
Effective change always begins with collective alignment.
Communication with teams must remain constant throughout every phase of transformation. It is especially important to gain employee buy-in rather than impose unilateral decisions.
When teams participate in decisions:
Their sense of control increases.
Their engagement strengthens.
Resistance decreases.
Listening is one of the most powerful leadership levers during periods of change.
Employees who feel genuinely heard often become positive advocates for transformation within the organization.
Leaders must also learn to listen to feedback about themselves. Strategic self-awareness is built through a continuous process:
Understanding.
Engagement.
Action.
Every individual reacts differently to change.
Leaders who are able to communicate in a positive and constructive way create a more emotionally secure climate for their teams. Optimism fosters trust, engagement, and collective mobilization.
In an environment where organizations are constantly evolving, leaders’ ability to support change becomes a decisive factor in sustainable performance.
Personality assessment provides a nuanced understanding of:
Behaviors under pressure.
Motivational drivers.
Derailment risks.
Adaptive capabilities.
Combined with structured coaching, it becomes a powerful lever for developing:
Managerial agility.
Strategic self-awareness.
Relational intelligence.
The ability to sustainably transform teams and organizations.
Companies that invest in leadership development and transformation support strengthen not only their organizational culture, but also their ability to create long-term value.
In a professional world marked by uncertainty, sustainable leadership now depends as much on human skills as on business expertise.
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