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

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.

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).

The coaching techniques and examples provided in the book are outstanding. By applying these techniques to your everyday activities you will definately see a positive change.

Placed in the leadership role for a high performance team undertaking a "McKinsey-ish" strategy study I found myself very challenged. Having spotted this book at an airport bookshop I read it on the plane. I put its suggestions into place, starting from the front of the book, and worked my way through the chapters as they were appropriate. I had it on my desk for the entire 4-month study. It bought immediate results for the team, and me by achieving greater cohesion of energy yet releasing greater diversity of thought especially during the inductive phase of the study. During the deductive stages it helped us focus on a team-based outcome without leaving people out of the decision-making process that had to be managed to a schedule. I firmly believe that without this book we would not have achieved the results we did - the pressure was intense and teams have a tendency to blow themselves apart after the final report is in. The team would not have continued to work as a coherent whole on subsequent phases of my study. I would recommend this book to anyone who needs to lead a high performance team. Landsberg's@examples and his obvious experience come through well, and they gave me the courage to try what the book suggests with my team. Well worth the cost.

I found the examples and exercises useful. A good and easy read. Should help me get better at giving and receiving feedback in a way that is constuctive and actionable