The Coach

Description

Leaders today have many challenges when it comes to guiding and influencing the performance of their team members. In the past, productivity and success depended on sheer muscle and sweat. Technology, competition, and the desire of employees to be meaningfully involved in their work are powerful forces shaping the leader’s destiny and future role. The need for quality, service, and effectiveness in organizations is stimulating a demand for employees who think, feel, and act like responsible partners in the enterprise. Now and in the future, reinvigorating employees, peers, and managers through coaching will be critical to the success of both leaders and businesses. More than ever, leaders need to inspire employees with contagious enthusiasm in order to deliver quality services and products. This first book provides refreshing ideas and strategies to help leaders cope with the demands and challenges of their calling.

This book is about the coaching process and the skills, behaviors, courage, and values leaders need in order to evoke employee commitment and motivation. This is a “how to” book with a lot of specifics on what to say and how to handle different coaching situations. The authors provide a unique close-up account of a true-to-life manager who discovers the obstacles and challenges of helping an employee over a difficult time. This leader ultimately discovers the keys to coaching success and averts a career-threatening disaster.

Many books on leadership focus on general theories, while others treat the topic of coaching in a shallow and over simplified view. From over ten years of research and observations, Stowell and Starcevich have collected data that provide a rich and deep understanding of this topic.

The reader will learn about the following elements of Coaching:

• The eight-step coaching process used by successful leaders
• Important supporting skills to make the steps work
• Keys to advanced preparation
• The right mental attitude for successful communication
• Numerous tips and insights that will help make every coaching situation more successful

This book will help leaders turn what is typically an uncomfortable and often avoided or mishandled task into a productive one-on-one experience for the leader and team members. Anyone who is interested in taking his/her leadership role seriously and who would like to turn teams into highly motivated units, ready to take on the competition and challenges of the future, will find valuable ideas and useful concepts in this book.