100 Great Coaching Ideas

Book excerpt: The good manager will bring the best out of his team. A crucial skill is to be able to use a coaching approach effectively to draw out the experience and capabilities of those working for you and with you. In a fast-moving world coaching skills are an essential pre-requisite of good leadership and management. The manager who brings the best out of their people will use a range of coaching approaches and focus their use on times when their staff face transition or need to step up to new challenges and demands. The first section of the book looks at developing coaching skills. It looks at the approach, the practicalities, the coaching relationship and your own learning. The second half looks at ten different contexts where coaching skills can be applied to good effect. The manager who coaches well is able to conserve their mental, emotional and physical energy so it can be deployed when it can be at its most effective. Developing coaching skills often sits alongside an individual becoming increasingly focused in understanding where they can make a distinctive contribution. Bringing out the best in others will enable you to bring out the best in yourself as it becomes clearer, ‘what is it only I can do to ensure the success of a particular enterprise?’ This book is written for managers at any level, in any organisation, in any country. Peter Shaw works with individuals, teams and groups to help them grow their strengths and tackle demanding issues confidently. He has held a wide range of Board posts covering finance, personnel, policy, communications and delivery and had previously worked in five UK Government departments (Treasury, Education, Employment, Environment and Transport). He is the author of a sequence of influential leadership books and a Visiting Professor at Newcastle University Business School. He is also author of 100 Great Personal Impact Ideas in the same series.