Customer Reviews

The Complete Guide to Coaching at Work

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I`ve read widely on the subject of coaching and was very disappointed by this effort by Skiffington and Zeus. Having enjoyed reading the likes of Tim Gallwey, Bruce Peltier, James Flaherty and others expressing their views on coaching; learning something new, making slight adjustments to my own approach, I had high hopes but The Complete Guide to Coaching at Work didn`t impress me at all.

This is one of the those books that appears, at first glance to be a sustantial piece of work, yet by the time you get to the end you wonder if the authors know anything about their subject. I suspect they do, so must conclude they just wrote a poor book.

Best to look elsewhere I guess.

This book is written as university-level textbook on the coaching profession. It covers what coaching is and how it is used in business today, particularly in Australia the Author's setting. The authors provide coaching models and do a thorough job of describing the core issues and skills of which coaches must be aware.

Part one of the book defines coaching as "a conversation, a dialogue, whereby a coach and coachee interact in a dynamic exchange to achieve goals, enhance performance and move the coachee forward to greater success" (page xiii). They write of what coaching is, and is not, and what are the qualities of a successful coach.

Part two describes business coaching, executive coaching, the manager as coach and team coaching. Each is addressed in a separate chapter with helpful information, tools, and tips on the "how-tos" of coaching that particular client. These chapters are rich in advise on what to watch out for and pay attention to when working with a certain type of client.

Part three speaks to coaching skills and issues. One chapter starts out as goal setting and then backs up to the client purpose, vision and values as a base for establishing goals. The coach can surface greater perspective and awareness in the client by using helpful tools to assess these three areas of client's life. I believe this is one of the most valuable aspects of coaching, only recently acknowledged by professional coaches (Life Coaches knew this all along) as the key to improving client performance. Other chapters deal with, by now, standard coaching skills such as listening, questioning, non-verbal communication, learning styles, resistance to coaching, and self-limiting beliefs.

This book is an excellent source for the nature and practice of coaching. The authors have incorporated many other coaches' techniques into their text. Coaching books will always have the limitation of being written word and not live dialogue. It is impossible to gain the skills of coaching through any book. However, for the beginner or intermediate coach, the coaching issues, tips and advice in this book are well worth the price.

This book, written in non-academic prose and strewn with practical examples, is the most comprehensive book yet authored on the contemporary involvement of coaches in the business and executive development world. The book can serve as both a reference text for experienced coaches and a 'how-to' book for coaches seeking instruction. The book is also appropriate for those who want to make decisions about using coaches or establishing a coaching culture or academics or trainers seeking a primary text on coaching for use in an educational setting. Throughout the book, the authors underscore the importance of coaching as a learning opportunity. In tackling these issues the authors provide a blueprint for coaches on how to become more effective and increase their ability to work with a variety of clients. As coaching continues to grow as an applied profession, dominated by practitioners, its credibility is strongly enhanced when solid ideas are presented in a clear, articulate, and succinct fashion. This book easily achieves all those criteria and will add considerably to the wealth of knowledge and professional skills associated with coaching.

I was intrigued by blurbs for the book, since I am interested in evidence-based coaching. However, if you look at the comments of the "reviewers," most of them were written within one or two days of each other and seem to employ the same writing style! This shows a great lack of integrity.

This book, written in non-academic prose and strewn with practical examples, is the most comprehensive book yet authored on the contemporary involvement of coaches in the business and executive development world. The book can serve as both a reference text for experienced coaches and a 'how-to' book for coaches seeking instruction. The book is also appropriate for those who want to make decisions about using coaches or establishing a coaching culture or academics or trainers seeking a primary text on coaching for use in an educational setting. Throughout the book, the authors underscore the importance of coaching as a learning opportunity. In tackling these issues the authors provide a blueprint for coaches on how to become more effective and increase their ability to work with a variety of clients. As coaching continues to grow as an applied profession, dominated by practitioners, its credibility is strongly enhanced when solid ideas are presented in a clear, articulate, and succinct fashion. This book easily achieves all those criteria and will add considerably to the wealth of knowledge and professional skills associated with coaching.

This book, written in non-academic prose and strewn with practical examples, is the most comprehensive book yet authored on the contemporary involvement of coaches in the business and executive development world. The book can serve as both a reference text for experienced coaches and a 'how-to' book for coaches seeking instruction. The book is also appropriate for those who want to make decisions about using coaches or establishing a coaching culture or academics or trainers seeking a primary text on coaching for use in an educational setting. Throughout the book, the authors underscore the importance of coaching as a learning opportunity. In tackling these issues the authors provide a blueprint for coaches on how to become more effective and increase their ability to work with a variety of clients. As coaching continues to grow as an applied profession, dominated by practitioners, its credibility is strongly enhanced when solid ideas are presented in a clear, articulate, and succinct fashion. This book easily achieves all those criteria and will add considerably to the wealth of knowledge and professional skills associated with coaching.

If you are looking for a solid framework for professional coaching this resource is a must. In this book you are presented professional coaching models, a great range of templates and tips and traps every coach should be alert to.

It is presented in an easy to read format that allows this information to be employed in either an internal or external coaching practice. This is not just a book to read it is an action plan.

This democratic style of exploring, learning and transferring knowledge is a huge industry. The authors, international coaching experts, go into the discipline's history and basic principles before advising on how coaching can be used to change or develop organizations. There's advice on choosing the right coach, and how accomplished professionals can become external coaches and how managers can become internal coaches, techniques to ensure coaching is effective and dozens of case studies on how it has worked in practice. There's also analysis of various industry and business sectors where coaching has been successfully applied. This book will be of most use to people working in the Human Services field or to managers, team leaders, trainers, consultants or practitioners who have a coaching brief.

This democratic style of exploring, learning and transferring knowledge is a huge industry. The authors, international coaching experts, go into the discipline's history and basic principles before advising on how coaching can be used to change or develop organizations. There's advice on choosing the right coach, and how accomplished professionals can become external coaches and how managers can become internal coaches, techniques to ensure coaching is effective and dozens of case studies on how it has worked in practice. There's also analysis of various industry and business sectors where coaching has been successfully applied.

This book will be of most use to people working in the Human Services field or to managers, team leaders, trainers, consultants or practitioners who have a coaching brief.

Dr. Skiffington's coaching books have become industry standard materials throughout the global coaching community and make valuable reference resources for any coaching program. This book is the first text that provides practical steps in applying the model of coaching... while her elite coach training courses via the Behavioral Coaching Institute show you how to select and master the appropriate methodology, tools and processes for your practice.