Customer Reviews

Leading High Impact Teams: The Coach Approach to Peak Performance

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book really delivers. Many books of this type offer general guidelines without easy-to-use, practical examples and tools. This book bridges the gap between concept and practice. The examples are inspiring AND illustrative. I have been building and leading teams for over 25 years, and there resounding truths from the trenches in the pages of this book, but there is more--this book brings new applications of sound ideas, and innovative ways to see, hear, and empower any team you'd like to turn into a high-impact team. Worth every penny and every minute; I return to its very well-organized pages again and again for ideas and inspiration.

When two master coaches, who between them have 50 years of experience, agree to share their wisdom in a practical and highly readable fashion, would you be willing to listen? And if their focus was how to create and maintain dream teams, would you be willing invest in a 200-page book? If you answered yes to either of these questions, then Leading High Impact Teams: The Coach Approach to Peak Performance by executive coaches Cynder Neimela and Rachel Lewis is definitely for you.

More coaches today are being asked to apply their results-oriented approach to groups, And while many coaches are successful with individual clients, too few have had the 100+ opportunities that these two authors have had in sharpening their work with groups, particularly using coaching to transform individuals into spectacular teams.

With an even greater number of organizations relying on teams to achieve their corporate goals, there is little room for experimentation or trial and error approaches. The authors of this book have provided hands on guidance for coaches by packing the book with specific, usable tools, ideas, assessments, checklists, key questions to ask, activities and case studies. No matter what stage you are in with team development, this book will take you from the murky novice to the accomplished practitioner.

This isn't a book about how to coach individuals within a team, although the authors do provide guidance here; this book is about how to create a coaching culture within a team; how to transform the attitudes and behaviours of the group to help the team achieve a real competitive advantage.

Until I read this book most of my work with teams was based on limited experience and voracious reading of virtually every published team-work tome. I struggled to help teams deal with "meetings where nothing seems to get done," "agreements that occurred with no follow through," "personality conflicts," "team members feeling pressured to take on more than they can handle," and many instances of team members "talking at each other instead of to each other."

Leading High Impact Teams uses anecdotes and stories that I would swear came from transcripts of my team coaching efforts. The toughness of some teams often led me to question my role and caused me to engage in activities that (with hindsight) seemed to conflict with coaching. Fortunately each chapter of this book offers specific help in the form of a coaching role overview, specific activities a coach can use to assist the team, and case stories that show how the ideas and reality are integrated.

As a result of reading this book, my confidence as a team coach has improved considerably and we have added it our best books on coaching list at ... An additional bonus of this book is that the authors use nautical metaphors to help readers navigate through the various concepts and examples. Even the format of the book provides "anchors" in the margins to help readers chart their course. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to go beyond just staying afloat as a team coach. This book will help you navigate by the stars and help your team captain and crew gain exceptional wealth as a result of the journey.

This is fantastic reading with invaluable insight for executive managers committed to generating results on their teams. Amidst the mirad of advice out there--this should be required reading for team members and executives leading teams. Top 10 High Impact Team Practices, team phase development and weathering storms are among the most practical "how to" examples in the book. There are sectors of information---"distinctions" and "inquiries" that are perfect to use in team meetings as catalysts for problem solving/solution creation. Brilliantly done, wonderfully concise and easily implementable.

I have not read this book yet. But I want to save everyone the surprise I received when I opened the package. This book appears to be out of print. It seems that as a result Amazon does not show the book's list price. I had heard good things about this book and thinking that the used price "must" be less then the list price I ordered a used one at $75. I received a copy of the book directly from the author herself. Much to my surprise and dismay the list price on the inside cover was $22.

This book that discusses characteristics of high impact teams, and what you can do to build a high impact team. Rachael and Cynder show how you can turn a team into a high impact team with specific examples and explanations. The book is fabulous in discussing the benefits of coaching and how you yourself can help coach your team to improve themselves. The book neatly ties together many themes of teams, coaching, and leadership, and points you to many helpful tools that can help build a high impact team. This is a book that you will continually want to reread and reference.

This is much more than an academic look at team-building. The authors have created a template that managers and team leaders in any organization would find practical and useful.