Best Practice in Performance Coaching: A Handbook for Leaders, Coaches, HR Professionals and Organizations by Carol Wilson

As a business coach I am always on the lookout for helpful books from which I can learn and develop - and this definitely falls into that category. It is well laid out, with practical suggestions, case studies, facts and figures to back it up and a very down to earth approach.
Carol Wilson has clearly got a great deal of personal business experience to call on, having worked with two of our era's great business leaders - Richard Branson and John Whitmore, as well as running her own businesses and this shows in her realistic suggestions and ideas for Performance Coaching.

Reviewer: Jackie Wilkinson

Psychological Dimensions of Executive Coaching by Peter Bluckert

Reviewer:
Jackie Wilkinson

The Psychology of Executive Coaching by Bruce Peltier

This is a book written for psychotherapists wishing to expand into coaching but is also useful for coaches wanting the basics of psychology as a foundation for coaching.  The focus is very much on executive coaching.  Several psychological concepts are covered including psychodynamic, behavioural, cognitive and existential.  For each theory, Peltier describes a little of its history, the usefulness of the ideas to coaching, basic principles, application plus strengths and weaknesses.  Although this provides only a flavour of each psychological discipline, it is very helpful for understanding why coaching works.

Reviewer:
Fiona Reed

Co-Active Coaching by Laura Whitworth, Henry Kimsey-House and Phil Dahl

It has taken three people to write this book and the reason is - it's a heavyweight. If you want to be a coach and grapple with what coaching relationships and process might mean for you, this is a good buy. It includes establishing and maintaining rapport, working with your intuition and how your clients can be fulfilled through the coaching work. It's clearly laid out in headed sections and includes sample dialogues to help you grasp exactly what might be said. Also, a bonus: a whole section on Coaching Tools, which you can copy and use, in your practice.

Take Time for Your Life by Cheryl Richardson

This was one of the first coaching books I read and I still refer to it. Cheryl Richards starts by explaining what personal coaching is, the coaching partnership and how it works. The key concept is that there are things in your life that DRAIN you and there are things that FUEL you. This book helps you to identify these things and gives you strategies for dealing with them. There are some useful checklists and action plans plus a resource list which may now be outdated. It has worked for many of my clients and still inspires me.

From Coach to Awakener by Robert Dilts

Robert introduces the concept of Large “C” Coaching which involves helping people effectively achieve outcomes  on a range of levels rather than just coaching them with respect to a specific behavioural performance. The book defines the type of contexts and situations which require the Coach to focus on the specific role associated with each level, caretaker, guide, coach, teacher, mentor, sponsor, awakener and provides a suite if tools appropriate to each role.Whilst the book draws heavily on the understandings of NLP, prior knowledge of the discipline is not necessary for the coach to gain many  insights into the power of becoming a “C”oach.

Reinvent Yourself by Fiona Harrold

This pocket size guide offers the reader seven steps to re-inventing themselves:- (1) Who are you now? (2) Who do you want to be? (3) Be authentic (4) What do you want? (5) Fake it! (6) Look the part (7) Move on!
The reader is encouraged to reflect on their present state and also to imagine where they want to be in the future. The book gains its success from the thought-provoking questions it raises in the reader’s mind. It also offers some simple but powerful tools for self improvement. The ‘control over personal destiny’ theme that runs throughout is backed up with appropriate quotes from key figures throughout the ages. The guide is a useful starting point of reference for trainee coaches as well as being a handy refresher for more experienced coaches.