Part 1: Awareness – what is coaching and how does it work?

The first part of this book explains coaching in the context of an organisation or your workplace. You’ll find clear definitions of what coaching is, and what it is not. We’ll also examine what it means to be a manager or leader who coaches others, and also how your mindset or attitude needs to shift. By reflecting on your own role, situation and challenges, we’ll help you frame your own thinking and decide how coaching can work for you.

I will often talk to you as though you are already a manager and/or a leader. Please know that you do not have to have the formal role of manager to benefit from the ideas in this book. If you work in an environment where you have regular conversations with others, then the skills of coaching can benefit you. If you are in a role where helping others to work better or to be more engaged and effective would really help (them or you), I’m confident that coaching has something to offer.

Part 2: Ability – what are the skills you need to develop?

In the second part of the book we’ll examine the key skills you’ll need to develop, such as effective questioning and giving feedback. Many of these skills are relevant outside managing or coaching situations, as interpersonal or general life skills. I’ll show how these skills work in practice, through samples of dialogue or real-life examples. We’ll also examine ways to build on the ability you already have with exercises or routines to try out. Most of these exercises can be done ‘undercover’, so nobody needs to know what you’re doing!

Part 3: Application – how can you use coaching in your workplace?

In the third part we’ll look at principles and structures to help you apply your coaching skills in the workplace. We’ll explore the different ways you can use coaching as you get on with the job in hand: whether that’s in formal, planned coaching sessions, or coaching on the hoof, as a natural response to everyday requests from your colleagues. Of course, your coaching needs to get at least as good, and preferably better, results than you’re used to, before you’ll adopt it in practice. So you’ll find fresh perspectives on familiar situations, where coaching principles really work. I’ll show you how you can adopt a quick coaching response to create progress on a task or issue, while you also help someone to think and learn for themselves.

Part 4: Action – how can you take your learning forward?

The final part encourages you to consider what you can do next, to build stronger coaching ability going forward. We’ll look at simple things that will maintain your focus on coaching and sustain the momentum you’ve gained through reading the book. I’ll use coaching principles and questions to help you integrate coaching behaviour in your workplace; by reflecting on what your immediate opportunities to coach are, or by exploring what might still be blocking your way. By preparing yourself for the road ahead, you’ll be ready to tackle issues, spot opportunities and apply the tools and ideas in this book to make a positive difference to you and your workplace.

Questions

These questions will help coach your own learning and link ideas specifically to your own situation. You can choose to write your answers down, speak them out loud, or just pause and think them through. The important thing to remember is that the questions are intended to provoke you to think and act, just like a coach does in a coaching conversation. So by focusing on your responses to these questions, you’re letting the book go to work for you.

Exercises

These exercises deepen your understanding and ability, by applying principles or behaviours to real life. You’ll be asked to try something out, often in an everyday situation, such as a conversation or meeting. Please take the time to try some of these, as only in the ‘doing’ will you really reap the benefits of some of the powerful ideas on offer.

Tips

Here you’ll find handy hints or advice to help you to get to grips with the key points of a situation – for example the main dos and don’ts of giving effective feedback, or what to avoid when agreeing actions or next steps. Like the rest of the toolkit, the tips form a quick visual reminder that you can reference afterwards.

Checklists

The checklists will remind you of key points or principles, at a useful point in your reading. They will help you to plan for a situation and make sure that you’re feeling prepared and well equipped – for example when tackling a tough conversation or preparing to run a meeting according to coaching principles. By thinking and preparing a little in advance, you can save headaches later.

Definitions

In the definition boxes jargon is busted and buzzwords are foiled, as you find clear and concise meanings to commonly used terms. For example, the difference between coaching and mentoring, or what we mean by the term ‘facilitation’. Often all that’s needed is to confirm what you already suspected! You might be surprised by what you already know.

Recaps

You’ll find that many chapters end with a summary so you can confirm what you’ve covered or be reminded of things you’d like to focus on.