FYI: For Your Improvement, A Development and Coaching Guide (3rd Edition) [Paperback]

Michael M. Lombardo (Author), Robert W. Eichinger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2000

Editorial Reviews Product Description A development and coaching guide for learners, supervisors, managers, mentors and feedback givers. Development views and news you can use from the people who know

Product Details

• Paperback: 601 pages
• Publisher: Lominger Ltd Inc; 3rd edition (December 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965571238
• ISBN-13: 978-0965571234
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,243 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best tools available for developing people, October 11, 2004

By 

Michael Erisman (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: FYI: For Your Improvement, A Development and Coaching Guide (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

The FYI book is published by the Lominger Limited, Inc, organization as part of their "Leadership Architect Suite". If you are purchasing here on Amazon, please ensure you get the latest 3rd edition. Basically the book outlines over 100 leadership competencies, career stallers, and performance dimensions, and specific information on each to help leaders improve performance.

The competencies section is filled with some insightful leadership aspects that often get left out of most leadership books including: Humor, Dealing with Ambiguity, Approachability, Composure, Caring About Direct Reports, Dealing with Paradox, Sizing up People, and others which are essentially the more difficult "EQ" elements of leadership. Along with these are more traditional concepts such as Business Acumen, Planning, Time Management, etc., and all told nearly 70 specific competencies are discussed in detail.

Each of the over 100 competency and other sections outlined begins with an examination and list of likely symptoms and behavioral results that may occur with an individual who is skilled, unskilled, or is overusing the skill. Each section then lays out some possible causes, and gives some remedies which are pretty detailed and actionable, and provides a comprehensive list of suggested readings for further study.

Not only is this information quite interesting to study from a personal development standpoint, but is quite effective at outlining information critical to building development plans for your associates. I have given this book out to my team, and business leaders for years, and consider it the best tool out there to help any leader coach their associates and help them improve their performance and effectiveness.

While the price of the book is high, the value is higher still if used consistently. If you are a leader of people in any organization who wants to improve your ability to develop your employees then this is a book you will use. Highly recommended.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A lot of overblown hype, May 26, 2011

By 

Pierre Briere (Charleston, IL United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: FYI: For Your Improvement; A Development and Coaching Guide (1st Edition) (The Leadership Architect Suite) (Paperback)

This book is OK, but not great, and contains information you can find elsewhere. I bought the 3rd edition for about seven bucks....I'm glad I did not pay $70, as I would have been angry. This book is not that good.

You don't read this book cover to cover, from beginning to end...it's not written that way. The book is written as a "list," sort of a compendium of problems/solutions. Competencies are listed and when you find a competency you are weak at, this book tells you which OTHER competencies you need to fix the problem. Basically, you will be flipping through pages collecting answers.

The "solutions" that are given are by no means comprehensive. They are generalized and very short (usually one paragraph) because there are so many competencies listed in this book that not enough space can be dedicated to any one of them in any detail. Another challenge for me was that I did not find any ground-breaking material here; the solutions given are in books I have already read.

My suggestion is this: Once you discover a behavior that is undesirable (either through self-discovery or through a performance review at your job), buy one or more books on that subject and learn all the details you need to help you. This book will not give you those details! That said, if you are uninitiated to self-help books, this is a good place to start.

Overall, this book does not live up to its hype or its inflated price, so buy a cheap used copy.

11 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great coaching and feedback reference manual, April 1, 2005

By 

Sandra M. Carter "Sandy" (Garner, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: FYI: For Your Improvement, A Development and Coaching Guide (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

For your improvement has been so helpful in my daily coaching and managing duties. I find that I use for many situations on a weekly basis. It has helped me pin point problems and decide on a strategy to develop my employees. There is so much information available to you for everyday coaching and feedback situations. It is just amazing how it covers the competencies that my company is measuring and so much more.