Coaching for Performance

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Coaching for performance is essential reading for anyone trying to implement a coaching approach to their work. It is clearly written with plenty of examples, transcripts and stories. My favourite is about a Chief Executive of an American sausage manufacturer who was disappointed at how half-hearted his staff were at work. To get more enthusiasm from them he changed his management style to a coaching approach. As a result his workers got far more responsibility, which increased their self-esteem and dramatically improved business results.

Whitmore starts off the book discussing what is coaching; a question that has stumped many experts and led to reams of unfathomable articles. He tackles the problem with forensic efficiency. Traditional learning styles have seen people as empty vessels that need filling with information. The coaching approach sees people as acorns that, with the right encouragement, all have the potential to grow into the sturdy oaks within them. “Coaching is helping people to learn rather than teaching them.”

Whitmore looks at the fundamentals of coaching; awareness and responsibility. He stresses these key components throughout the book. The best way to get someone to change their behaviour is to make them aware of what they are doing. Once they understand this they are capable of improving themselves. However this cannot happen without them taking responsibility for their actions and results.

There is an excellent set of chapters on how to implement the now widely used “GROW Model”. He explores each stage of it, looks at effective questioning techniques for the coach and gives transcripts from real sessions to illustrate how it will work in practise.

Whitmore also looks at a number of other topics such as improving team performance, giving good feedback and coaching the corporation. For those struggling to embed a coaching culture in their organisation there are a couple of chapters that look at overcoming objections to the approach and selling its benefits.

This book definitely should take a prominent place in any management library.