Coaching and Mentoring: How to Develop Top Talent and Achieve Stronger Performance (Harvard Business Essentials) [Paperback]

Harvard Business School Press (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 159139435X | ISBN-13: 978-1591394358 | Publication Date: September 1, 2004 | Edition: 1

Effective managers know that timely coaching can dramatically enhance their teams' performance. Coaching and Mentoring offers managers comprehensive advice on how to help employees grow professionally and achieve their goals. This volume covers the full spectrum of effective mentoring and the nuts and bolts of coaching. Managers learn how to master special mentoring challenges, improve listening skills, and provide ongoing support to their employees. The Harvard Business Essentials series is designed to provide comprehensive advice, personal coaching, background information, and guidance on the most relevant topics in business. Drawing on rich content from Harvard Business School Publishing and other sources, these concise guides are carefully crafted to provide a highly practical resource for readers with all levels of experience and are especially valuable for the new manager. To assure quality and accuracy, a specialized content adviser from a world-class business school closely reviews each volume. Whether you are a new manager seeking to expand your skills or a seasoned professional looking to broaden your knowledge base, these solution-oriented books put reliable answers at your fingertips.

Editorial Reviews

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press; 1 edition (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159139435X
• ISBN-13: 978-1591394358
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,576 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Coach your employees to success, January 9, 2008

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Coaching and Mentoring: How to Develop Top Talent and Achieve Stronger Performance (Harvard Business Essentials) (Paperback)

Everyone would agree that organizations are only as good as their employees. Still, many companies have not established a formal coaching and mentoring system to develop their most promising talent. Moreover, these companies do not capitalize on the vast knowledge and experience that veteran employees can pass down. Like the other useful books in the Harvard Business Essentials series, this volume is clearly written, easy to understand and brimming with practical advice. If your company already understands the value of coaching and mentoring, then you'll be covering familiar territory here. But if you're interested in learning the basics of a terrific business tool, we recommend this book as an excellent starting point.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Real How-To Guide, January 9, 2012

By 

John Chancellor "Mentor coach" (Spring Hill, TN) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Coaching and Mentoring: How to Develop Top Talent and Achieve Stronger Performance (Harvard Business Essentials) (Paperback)

The term coaching is being used more and more often in the workplace. Unfortunately many people use the term without really understanding the coaching process. Too often managers think that coaching is simply showing/telling the worker what they are doing wrong or how things should be done. Telling/showing is not coaching.

The book does an excellent job of defining and illustrating what good coaching is and how to effectively coach. Coaching is different from training. "Coaching is an interactive process through which managers and supervisors aim to solve performance problems or develop employee capabilities." There are significant benefits to effective coaching - higher productivity, better morale, lower turnover and increased employee capabilities.

The first step in the process is preparation. You cannot just jump in and start coaching. It begins with observation without judgment. As a coach, you must refrain from jumping to conclusions about why someone is performing in a certain manner. The coach's job is to simply observe performance gaps and skill deficiencies. You are given all the steps necessary to adequately prepare for effective coaching.

The next step is actual coaching. One of the key lessons in coaching is to separate the behavior from the individual - "Leave motives out of the discussion; doing otherwise will only make the person feel they are under personal attack." Learn to ask probing questions: "Have you tried _________?" "What do you think is the best way to _____________?" and "What do you think would happen if __________?"

The book gives some extremely good advice on how to effectively coach. This is fairly simple and straightforward - but certainly not easy. But again there is some excellent advice. You will not increase your proficiency by reading about coaching. The only way to improve as a coach is to coach. There is an entire chapter devoted to becoming a better coach.

There is also a chapter on executive coaching. While executive coaching can be very expensive, compared to the cost of replacing a C-level employee or the damage poor performance can cause, executive coaching can be a real bargain.

The book also distinguishes between mentoring and coaching. The section on mentoring goes into detail about what mentoring is, the benefits to the company and the person being mentored. There is a complete outline of how to effectively mentor an employee. The final chapter about mentoring is written specifically for women and minorities - with very specific advice on the issues facing women and minorities in the area of mentoring.

A common complaint by most managers is how little time they have compared to their workload. The most effective way to change this is through coaching your direct reports. They will become more effective - take on bigger challenges, thus freeing up your time. This book is an excellent resource which will guide you in very specific steps to help you get more done by the use of effective coaching.

5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Overview, January 9, 2007

By 

J. payne "JPayne" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Coaching and Mentoring: How to Develop Top Talent and Achieve Stronger Performance (Harvard Business Essentials) (Paperback)

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It is well-organized so it makes for an easy read. Gives you some helpful information and a good overview of what is involved in mentoring and coaching. However, you will need other books for more detailed skill building.