Customer Reviews

The Tao of Coaching: Boost Your Effectiveness at Work by Inspiring and Developing Those Around You

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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One of three short books on key skills for leaders and managers. The others are The Tao of Motivation and The Tools of Leadership.

Each is written around a brief story about 'Alex', on his journey from manager to CEO, with each episode designed to illustrate some aspect of the coaching/motivation/leadership challenge. Each episode is followed by a two page summary of the particular skill needed to meet the challenge. Each book has a useful bibliography to guide the reader to more detail where desired and a suite of Appendices covering further details on key aspects of skill.

There is naturally some overlap between the books, but each is valuable in its own right and the set combine to provide a thoughtful, practical and readily referenced guide to the key elements in the human side of management and leadership.

The Tao of Coaching deals with such skills as eliciting and giving feedback, diagnosing the styles of individuals, taking account of the skill and will of the coachee and techniques of motivating (subsequently expanded into a book of its own).

We have used this little book for the last few coaching classes (mandatory for all our managers and supervisors) because it is extremely readable and inspirational.

It's easy to forget that our most valuable resource in business is people. I wish I had read this book years ago before I took on management responsibilities. It not only makes business sense to coach others (formally and informally), but it's also incredibly rewarding. This book shows you how in a concise, entertaining way. Christine Brown-Quinn, The Female Capitalist (TM), Author of "Step Aside Super Woman"

It should be required reading for all managers that need to be good coachers, `cause "great coaches are made not born". Even is a short book, it provides lots of practical examples on how to manage coaching situations. Interesting how the power of questioning can help managers to improve efficiency, and interesting how giving feedback upwards can help :)

The Toa of Coaching - Boost your effectiveness at work by inspiring and developing those around you.

Max's follows his definition of coaching by tracking the adventures of a person called Alex, ending each short story with a summary of the lessons assimilated by Alex. The whole coaching element is very nice presented and each short story contains valuable lessons. The book gives an introduction to what coaching is and can be. It is a small book but densely packed with insights, techniques, and tips. Although I have read the book some years ago I still take it with me on business travels to refresh some of the knowledge offered.

Excellent as a basic introduction to coaching!

"Coaching aims to enhance the performance and learning ability of others. It involves giving feedback, but it also includes other techniques such as motivation and effective questioning. And for a manager-coach it includes recognizing the coachee's readiness to undertake a particular task, in terms of both their will and skill. Overall, the coach is aiming for the coachee to help her - or himself. And it is a dynamic interaction - it does not rely on a one-way flow of telling or instruction."

Content:
Introduction
Alex's story
1 Contemplating coaching at work
2 Asking versus telling
3 Eliciting feedback
4 Correcting common coaching myths
5 Giving feedback
6 Structuring the coaching session
7 Diagnosing individuals' different styles
8 Find and avoiding your coaching blocks
9 Coaching in a hurry
10 Taking account of others' skill and will
11 Overcoming a reluctance to being coached
12 Motivating
13 Recognising cultural differences
14 Starting teams well
15 Coaching caveats
16 Giving feedback upwards
17 Mentoring
18 Reflecting on coaching - a summary

Max Landsberg offers 3 books actually called "The tools of leadership", "The tao of motivation" and "The tao of coaching". Each book follows a similar pattern of telling, explaining and even showing funny cartoons to illustrate the stories even further. Each sub story is lovely presented and packaged so you can easily digest the lessons. The 3 books are excellent as a first and basic introduction to leadership, coaching or motivating staff. Each of them is highly recommended!