Product Description
Becoming a Coaching Leader shows business managers and leaders at all levels why they should add "coach" to corporate titles and lead their teams to greatness. This book equips you with the skills, disciplines, and knowledge to turn your paycheck-driven teams into vibrant and successful growth cultures. CEO and Head Coach of Building Champions, Daniel Harkavy shows you how to move beyond the theoretical to the very practical "how to" of coaching. He also presents valuable insight for assessing how fulfilled and on-purpose you are as a leader. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Excellent team-building manual
This will take your business to the next level by equipping you beyond where you are now.Especially meaningful if you're tired of being the sales force all by yourself.This guides you on how to BUILD a sales force so you can leverage your time and energy, not to mention increasing your income potential.

Step up your leadership coaching with this book.
Harkavy skillfully guides his readers through a game plan of how to not only improve the focus and balance of your life, but also for the lives of those around you.

A Must read for leaders of people
Daniel Harkavy's book "Becoming A Coaching Leader" is a must read for anyone who leads other people. His Core Four principles are a must if you want to see your company or ministry thrive. Harkavy is a professional coach who coaches some of the top CEo's in the nation.

Take his principles and add them to your personal life, family, and job and you will see immediate results. I have applied them to our church and we are thriving.

Insightful guide to improving your business by improving lives
Would you like to help your team members become more effective, and enjoy their work and personal lives more? Daniel Harkavy teaches you how to do just that by becoming an effective coaching leader. The key to his method is modeling the qualities and behaviors you want to instill in others. To be a coaching leader (and not a mere manager), you need conviction, courage and honesty. By embracing listening and learning, and considering what matters in your life, you can successfully coach people to progress by helping them define their own "Core Four" levels. People who develop a life plan and a business vision, and who manage their priorities, can see how their work contributes to their happiness and sense of purpose. Then, based on their vision statements, they can set clear, purposeful goals that are specific enough to be operational. getAbstract applauds Harkavy's systematic approach to coaching employees and ultimately adding value to your business.

Daniel Knows How to Get Results
Having been through three years of coaching with Daniel's company (Building Champions) I can say they know how to get results. While I didn't work with Daniel personally the coach I did work with taught based on the philosphy of this book.

If you are looking for a way to move your business forward today, this is not the book for you. Daniel believes you have to have a road map to know where you are going before you start the actual business planning. This is about a balanced life while increasing your business success. You start with what you want from life? What do you envision as success in your life? That is your "Life Plan". Without that you don't know in what direction you have to take your business life to achieve your success.

I can rave about the book and Daniel's philosophy of teaching but the best evidence is after following his program step by step I was able to reduce substantially the number of hours I work, enjoy life more, and at the same time increase my income by more than 80%.

While someone else's results may not be the same this is a book you need to study. It will move you and your team, if you have one, to the next level and beyond. Knowing his philosphy as expressed in this book I had to share my success and hope other people will step up and achieve the same or greater results. ... Read more

Product Description
Coaching is a hot topic today. No longer just a word for the athletic arena, a personal coach can guide us in many areas of life. Dr. Gary R. Collins has taken the successful principles of coaching and given them a God-centered application for our lives and the church. Through stories, insights, and interviews with influential coaches, Collins gives us a model of Christian coaching that inspires vision, passion, and a sense of purpose. Christian Coaching demonstrates the characteristics of an effective coach, how to incorporate those characteristics into one’s life, and how to coach and lead others with the same leadership style Jesus demonstrated: servant leadership. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Christian Coaching
I am very, very pleased with the condition of the product and efficiency of the service!I have recommended AMAZON to my family and friends.It is so nice to be able to find what I am looking for at my fingertips and to have the product shipped right to me.Thank You!Ellie

PS.I have only been using Amazon for a couple of months, but have already purchased numerous books!!!


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1576832821/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_title

Arrived quickly. A good product
I had been looking for this book at a reasonable price for a while. I am very pleased with the result.

Very useful teaching!
A real nuts-and-bolts book on the fundamentals of Christian coaching.It is the primary textbook in my current coaching class.Using the class and this book is enough to get me going in the right direction, and to start building a coaching clientele; however, these alone will not sustain my practice, and I know that.I will most likely take another coaching course with more comprehensive materials, but all Christian coaching schools that I know of use this book, and it's easy to see why.I would definitely recommend it for those interested in getting an overview of the "why" and "how" of coaching.

Christian Coaching
This is a keystone book for practical Christian coaching.Dr. Collins provides great examples from his personal story, as well as the experience of many other coaches.He includes a model of coaching which establishes a foundation for academic discussion.A pleasant surprise is the many bibliographical references which provided treasured information for my research on this topic.

Ignore the title
I bought this book as a requirement to one of my graduate classes. It is a good book on mentoring and relationship building, not coaching as in athletics though some of the points could be used in athletic coaching. The essence of the book is comparable to 'life coaching' except it is within a christian context. ... Read more

Product Description

The true story of the 1986 U.S. National Gymnastics champion whose lifelong dream was to compete in the Olympics, until anorexia, injuries, and coaching abuses nearly destroyed her

Customer Reviews (44)

Don't waste a penny on this drivel
This is a story of a spoiled brat who got everything she wanted, yet she wanted to blame everyone around her for her problems.This may be her story, but it is laced with perceptions and feelings that did not necessarily happen.She was obsessed with her weight when she was around 7 years old.Everything that she blames those around her in her life for doing, she did to herself.

She was never a very good gymnast and was lucky that the Nationals in 1986 was underattended.Also, she was lucky that many of the 1988 Olympians were juniors at the time she won this Nationals.

If you want to read about her taking laxatives and her messing her pants, this book is for you.But she should not be rewarded by someone paying for this ridiculous diatribe.

I'm still reading... Two years later, lol!
I don't think this is the worst book ever, but the fact that I've not finished it in almost TWO years says a lot about the book!

Passion, Skill, Brains and Balls
Thank you Jennifer Sey for finally saying what all of us knew but wouldn't say. The book doesn't lie. I was an Elite gymnast in the 80's and I know this book is true. I lived with my coach away from home and trained with some of the top Elites and Olympians in the country. I experienced the abuse (the word I would use for it) depicted in the book on a regular basis and witnessed many other girls experiencing the same. I did know that coaches threw things - mine did. I did know that coaches were verbally and physically abusive - mine was. I did know that some men who had never participated in the sport took up coaching to prey on young girls, trying to gain a sense of purpose and power - mine did. I did know that girls were told to lose weight by any means possible - and did. I also knew that nobody in my circle was aware enough, brave enough or cared enough to say it needed to stop. If the system was questioned, it was done in whispers, so as not to upset any possibility of reaching the ultimate goal...winning.

When I read the book description, I thought it might be an interesting read. What it ended up being was a no-holds-barred, cathartic journey, providing me with insight that no therapist could ever match. Sey's unabashedly raw and honest writing ripped open old wounds and gave a picture of what it looks like to heal. It takes truth to heal. Because she allows herself to be vulnerable yet still maintain the strength to write the actuality of what happened, we get a complete picture of her journey. I started crying in empathy when I read about the pain and anguish, and I ended weeping with the beauty of it all: the beauty of her life, her husband, her two boys, her career, her mended relationship with her parents. Those things only came about through the process of truth.

I was ready for this book. I am forty-four years old. While reading Chalked Up, I reached back into the depths of what drove me as a child and compared that to what drives me now as a woman, thirty years later. I am glad Jennifer Sey was that great a gymnast and did work that insanely hard because it gives her the extra clout needed to tell this story. Clearly, it takes the kind of passion, skill, brains and balls that got her ahead in gymnastics to write books like this one. Please keep them coming. I will be looking for them.

Awesome book!
This was a fantastic book, very well written and very honest. Loved every bit of it, could not put it down.

Sad, but true.
Loved it. Sadly, it speaks true of the sport even today...not all coaches treat their gymnasts this way, of course. Coaches want it even more than the girls do sometimes...the better their gymnasts are=more $$$$$$ for them and their programs. It was very sad to read about all of Jennifers injuries, most of which could have been prevented if given proper time to heal from her previous ones...being forced into competition while severely injured ruined her Olympic dream. ... Read more

Product Description
Game Strategy and Tactics for Basketball: Preparing to Win the Sideline Battles is both a how-tobook and a guide for how to plan strategy and tactics for basketball for an entire season or anindividual game. Coaches often focus on X's and O's and overlook how and when a particularoffense or defense should be applied and used during a game. Game Strategy and Tactics forBasketball: Preparing to Win the Sideline Battles serves as a planning guide and a master checklistfor all the possible situations that a coach will face during a season. The book includes bothtraditional and some "out-of-the-box" strategies to the common situations that coaches face andprovides both the pros and the cons of the approaches described. It is not the author's intention totell each coach exactly what to do, but to serve as a guide in the decision making process.

About the author:
A 24 year veteran of the coaching profession, with twenty-two of those years spent as a varsityhead coach, Coach Kevin Sivils amassed 464 wins and his teams earned berths in the state playoffs19 out of 22 seasons with his teams advancing to the state semi-finals three times. An eighttime Coach of the Year Award winner, Coach Sivils has traveled as far as the Central AfricanRepublic to conduct coaching clinics. Coach Sivils first coaching stint was as an assistant coachfor his college alma mater, Greenville College, located in Greenville, Illinois. His teams werealways known for their discipline, intense effort, execution of fundamentals, and team play.
Coach Sivils is also the owner of KCS Basketball Enterprises, LLC, an enterprise focused onproviding coaches with information to improve their knowledge of the game of basketball andtheir ability to coach.

"If you have been looking for a rigorously thorough handbook on basketball tactics and strategy,you have found it!"
Coach Doug Porter - Head Women's Coach, Olivet Nazarene University
National Scoring leaders: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Champions: 2000, 2005, 2007

"His thought provoking approach makes for an easy read and will definitely stimulate thoughtand, most likely, change the way you go about coaching!"
Rusty Rogers - Two time NAIA Division II Women's National Championship Coach and Two time NAIA National Coach of the Year

"Coach Sivils clearly brings his experience in the game of basketball to his writing. He is a greatteacher who acquired great gifts over the years and it's great he wants to share those gifts withother coaches."
Bill Reidy - Long time successful high school and AAU coach ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A Guide for Basketball and Life
Not since John Wooden have I seen a book about basketball that deals with not just the X's and O's of the game but also the people involved.Coach Sivils gives a clear guide for thinking about the game in terms of winning on the court of course.But many of the strategies he presents for dealing with officials and players, especially the players are useful for success other than on the court.It is rare to find a book that outlines for a coach how to win on the court and also achieve the objective that many coaches overlook - how to develop their players into winners off the court in the game of life.
A must read.

Must for every coach's library - fans will like it as well!
Game Strategy and Tactics for Basketball is a must for every coach's library.This is not an X's and O's book. It is about how to use X's and O's.I have never come across another book like it. Fans who want to have a better understanding of why coaches do certain things in terms of strategy or tactics will enjoy this book as well.The book covers topics like how to slow up the game or slow it down, what defense to use, planning for timeouts and a lot more, there is just too
much to list here.

Blueprint for a winning basketball program!
I had the opportunity to read "Game Strategies and Tactics for Basketball" by Kevin Sivils a couple of weeks ago on a plane flight.I honestly was shocked with the amount of information in the 106 page book.I have read books on coaching basketball for the last twenty years and this is one of the best I have come across. It is concise and makes you think about how you handle every situation.

It isn't just basketball coaching, but administration of your basketball program and that is what I am impressed with.I would recommend it to any basketball coach on the high school level, especially the younger guys.It would have saved me from making some "young and dumb" mistakes early in my coaching career.

It is a blueprint on how you should run a basketball program.I really liked his management ideas on how to prepare at home and on the road.He hit on the mark with his view on special situations and how to plan for them.What things you have "control" over before, during, and after a basketball game.

You are going to want to check out this "information packed" book on basketball coaching/management ideas that will make you think.

Coach Peterman

Insightful and Informative
This book is so well thought out and presented, i am very impressed with it's clarity and focus on team preparation. This book really will help coaches in teaching their players how to be prepared for various situations and how to handle them. Everything from bench decorum and how to control the speed of the game is covered in this book - really brilliant.

Outstanding Book for Coaches!
Kevin Sivils has done a great job in explaining coaching tactics and strategies. I found the book to be well written and very informative. ... Read more

Product Description
Updated forth edition of the 1996 title (see ISBN 0965571203 for further information) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Great resource
Looking for a book to help you not only improve at you job but in your everyday life!This would be that book.

5th Edition is Now Available
The 5th Edition is available directly from the Lominger-dot-com web site for substantially less than these other sellers are offering the 4th edition.

Fabulous resource.

FYI
FYI is a very comprehensive review of leadership competencies.My organization is using the book to assist its leaders with 10 understanding what competencies are; 2) what their personal strengths and opportunities are; 3) developing a plan to more effectively develop their own leadership performance.Easy to read and understand with a wealth of ideas to address developmental opportunities.We have purchased the Card Sort that goes along with the book too.

Worth the money
Although a little outdated, it's the more recent currently available. If you need something urgently, buy it. If you are just curious, wait a little for a revised edition. Independently, it is a good item and contains valuable information considering there aren't many publications like this one readily available.

FYI: For Your Improvement, A Guide for Development and Coaching (4th edition)
Order selection and processing was excellent. Books are being used in a training session right now. Very useful tool.
Thank you.
Laura McGovern ... Read more

Product Description
Few experiences are more rewarding than coaching a youth football team. Your journey through the season will be packed with moments that make you smile and that you and your players will remember for the rest of your lives. But what if you’ve never coached before?

No worries! Coaching Football For Dummies is the fun and easy way to tackle the basics of coaching youth football. This friendly guide shows you how to teach your players effectively, regardless of their age or skill level, and lead your team to victory—even if you’re a first-time coach. You’ll discover how to:

• Develop a coaching philosophy
• Teach football fundamentals
• Encourage good sportsmanship
• Improve your team’s skills
• Ensure safety on the field
• Communicate effectively with parents

Packed with valuable information on preparing your game plan before you even step on the field, this hands-on resource gives you expert guidance in building your coaching skills, from evaluating your players and running enjoyable, productive practices to working with all types of kids—uncoordinated, shy, highly talented—at once. You’ll find a variety of fun-filled drills for teaching everything from tackling and blocking to running and catching, as well as advanced drills to take your players’ skills up a notch. You’ll also see how to:

• Conduct a preseason parents’ meeting—an often overlooked aspect of coaching
• Gather the necessary gear and fit the equipment to your players
• Raise the level of play on offense, defense, and special teams
• Take steps to avoid injuries
• Deal with discipline issues and problem parents
• Make critical half-time adjustments
• Transition to coaching an All-Star Team

Complete with tips for working with parents, keeping your players healthy, and leading your team effectively on game days, Coaching Football For Dummies is all you need—besides a whistle and a clipboard—to navigate your players through a safe, fun, rewarding season! ... Read more

Product Description

The Double-Goal Coach is filled with powerful coaching tools based on Jim Thompson's Positive Coaching Alliance. These strategies reflect the "best-practices" of elite coaches and the latest research in sports psychology.Hundreds of workshops have shaped these tools for maximum effectiveness and ease of use.The lessons and activities can be used in the very next practice to make sports fun and to get the best from players.

The Double-Goal Coach provides the framework for coaches and parents to transform youth sports so sports can transform youth -- allowing young athletes to enjoy sports while learning valuable life lessons.

Customer Reviews (5)

A Book for ANY Coach
Absolutely the best book for any coach of any sport. I searched for this book while I was coaching with someone who was a very negative coach. This encouraged me to counteract her, and it was incredibly successful. Even if you are a veteran coach, you can learn tools and tips for dealing with difficult situations, or fix things that aren't working well for you.

Inspiring yet practical
Many books on the subject of improving youth sports are written to create awareness of the importance of the subject, but say little of practical value on the way of doing this.

Other books treat the 'how' comprehensively but are as dry as fossilized bones.

The DGC avoids these two pitfalls admirably. It does a great job of describing and explaining the problems that youth sports programs have in the US (and in many other parts of the World), with such feeling, sensitivity and clarity that one cannot avoid being moved by the arguments.

Jim Thompson goes further, though, the DGC translates ideals into practical measures to build exemplary youth sports programs.

My organization is currently using the DGC as a blueprint to develop a soccer program in Mexico, and its lessons and arguments are as useful, relevant and potent here as they seem to be in the US, judging by the growth of The Positive Coaching Alliance.

Should be on every youth coach's reading list!
The premise of the book is that winning is not a bad thing. It's not necessarily the only thing however. Thompson uses real life examples from youth through professional, where focusing on the positive, correcting the negative, and focus on improving have helped teams be successful.

It is our job as youth coaches to make sure we are building solid citizens, teaching them life lessons through sports, and helping them become the best athlete they can be. Winning happens to be a great side effect of this approach!

The book is great for coaches and parents alike!

Another hit by Thompson
This book covers some of the same topics as Thompson's classic, Positive Coaching.However, it has some new ideas in it, and also has some lessons learned since Positive Coaching was written.It also has a handbook-type approach - it gives you example talks, helps you plan a practice and also shows youways to help you acquire Positive Coaching skills.I have found all of Jim Thompson's books enjoyable and enlightening.

The Double Goal Coach - Winning With Character
Discussions of character in sports hinge on two sometimes competing beliefs. One holds that sports build character, the other that sports reveal it.

The case can be made that both ideas are valid. Character is regularly revealed in the way that players, coaches, parents and leaders of youth sports organizations (YSOs) conduct themselves on and off the field.

The "Sports Builds Character" belief is a trickier proposition. Who is to question that sports provides a wonderful setting for the development of poise, confidence, determination, resilience, self-sacrifice, courage? The list goes on, and it is not a coincidence that a strong involvement in sports was the common feature of those who tried to take back the plane on 9/11. Yet every Positive Life Skill associated with sports has a counterpart that can be learned equally well. And often more easily. If you can learn fair play and sportsmanship, you can also learn to cheat. If you can learn about commitment, you can also learn to quit on yourself and your teammates. Accountability and accepting responsibility: making excuses. Again, the list goes on.

Many of the adults involved in sports simply assume, based on their own experience, that the positive side of these character traits will emerge. In fact, without a concerted effort to use sports to teach positive Life Lessons, you might as well be flipping a coin.

Attention to these issues is a major focus of "The Double Goal Coach", the latest book by Jim Thompson. The author is founder of the Positive Coaching Alliance ..., an organization based at Stanford University which seeks "to transform the culture of youth sports so that sports can transform youth."

Like many books on the state of youth sports, Thompson chronicles the excesses. What sets the book apart are solutions to these problems based on research in the fields of education and sports psychology as well as lessons in organizational culture drawn from the business world. Theory then becomes practice through the presentation of many practical tools for establishing and maintaining a positive culture for youth sports. Coaches, parents and the leaders of YSO's will find things here that can be put to immediate use.

What is a Double Goal Coach? He or she is a coach who wants to win. Thompson makes clear that the Positive Coaching message is not anti-competitive or about "happy talk". This is not an invitation to go out and kick a ball around with Barney. Indeed, at a time when real competitions at Field Day have been reduced to (at most) a 50 yard dash, Thompson sees the competitive sports experience as an increasingly important, and rare, opportunity for the development of positive character traits - the second, and more important, goal of the Double Goal Coach. Because it's the character traits that will endure long after the ball's gone into the closet.

There are three elements to Double Goal Coaching. The first seeks to redefine winning, changing the definition from one based only on results (the "win at all costs" model, or waac - which so often becomes wacko!) to a "mastery approach" based on effort, learning, and a positive view of the value of mistakes. The essential difference in the approaches has to do with control. Results are so much in the control of others; with a mastery approach, control belongs to the athlete. What's interesting, though, is the research that shows that a mastery approach actually produces better performance than one where the focus is primarily on the scoreboard.

Next comes the concept of Honoring the Game. This is largely a proactive view of sportsmanship issues, based on what you do rather than what you don't do. Honoring the game involves developing and demonstrating respect for Rules, Opponents, Officials, Teammates, and one's Self (ROOTS).

The third element of the Double Goal model involves "Filling the Emotional Tank", motivation through encouragement and positive reinforcement. Again, the book provides a number of useful tools for coaches.

There is also a section of the book for Sports Parents. Thompson promotes the notion of the "Second Goal Parent", whose primary task is to be unconditionally supportive of their child, whose focus is on those Life Lessons and positive character traits, who recognize that their child's participation in sports belongs to the child, and who leave coaching to the coaches.

Thompson advocates a "systems approach" to developing positive cultures for youth sports, and his organization provides an integrated set of workshops for coaches, parents and leaders of YSOs. Where that's not in place, "The Double Goal Coach" will give the individual coach many ways create a more enjoyable environment for his or her team, and one where the players are much more likely to reach their potential as athletes. That a Double Goal approach will also be much more enjoyable and rewarding for the coach is no insignificant bonus. ... Read more

Product Description
Positive Coaching is jam packed with information for coaches in any sport. The book includes over 200 coaching recommendations on specific psychological, motivational, and behavioral situations. There is a special focus on the coach as storyteller -- 50 motivational stories can be used to develop strong communication with athletes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Contents Overview
This book is helpful for human interaction in general.Whether parenting, sitting at a bar, meeting in social clubs, working with customers, employees or employers the perspectives in this book can be helpful. I have outlined a review of every chapter in the book and what is covered.

Chapter 1 explains why coaching is difficult.
Talks about the worst in parents, coach's self-portrait, conflict of interest and hang-ups.
Describes inappropriate role models and commitment frustrations.

Chapter 2 presents the idea of watching for teachable moments.
Describes how to keep track of positive developments for each team member and communicating observations.
Describes how to deliver constructive critism during teachable moments with a track record of positive developments
Endores a high ratio of positive comments to few constructive criticisms.

Chapter 3 shows ways in using teachable moments to maximize benefits.
Encourages use of inspirational stories, metaphors, vision and using emotion to motivate.

Chapter 4 discusses engaging the minds of team members during teachable moments.
Helping team members to think for themselves, having team members coach each other and setting nurturing goals.

Chapter 5 describes a coach's role in building self-esteem.
Relates self-esteem to performance, competence, self-worth and self-endorsement.

Chapter 6 talks about character building.
Describes what the coach's most important character trait is.
Gives an overview about positive character traits to be reinforced.
Encourages character building during off-season activities.

Chapter 7 asserts that mistakes are forgivable and are valuable learning experiences.

Chapter 8 shows how to make practice time productive and fun.
Covers topics such as overlearning, recognizing challenges, making a commitment to learn, being prepared and building around a core.

Chapter 9 depicts the best coaching practices during competitions.
It is best to coach as a cheerleader, help them deal with pressure, emphasize character and preparing them well for the game.

Chapter 10 is about handling parents.
Documents incidents of improper parenting and how to help the team member and parent.
Presents the things that parents need from the person coaching their child.
Sets guidelines on how parents can best help the child and the coach.
Describes a parents impact on character development and how to intervene if necessary.

Chapter 11 puts "winning" into healthy perspective.
Asserts that winning is not the only thing that matters in competitions.
Warns against setting standards that are too high and worrying too much about other people's opinions.

Chapter 12 outlines the valuable lessons that come with losing a competition.
Explains how to handle the disappointment of losing and what to do when things go wrong.
Losing provides an opportunity to assess the competition and getting on the comeback trail.
There is a certain amount of freedom and appreciation that comes with losing.

Chapter 13 talks about nurturing outstanding individual competitors.
Defines the characteristics of an outstanding competitor and self-efficacy.
Coaches are told what they can and cannot do when coaching an outstanding competitor.

Chapter 14 wants coaches to make sure individuals can perform in the context of a team.
Describes awards that can undermine team spirit and how coaching can work to neutralize negative attitudes among team players.
Many ways of encouraging a team effort are discussed.

Chapter 15 recognizes the need to coach the many special team members.
The superstar, the large body type, the weak athlete, antagonistic members, unlikeable members, loners, handicapped, younger siblings, scapegoats, the uncoachable, the coach's (your own) child are examples of special cases that a coach might have to help.

Chapter 16 proposes how the end of a coaching season should be handled.

Chapter 17 encourages the coach to move the league in a positive direction.
Describes three kinds of adults that might be encountered in a supporting sports organization.
The positive impact of the parents and coach working together is discussed.

Chapter 18 approaches touchy topics in the "dark side of coaching"
Basically it explains that much like parents, coaches can unhelpfully project feelings of their own inadaquacy toward their team members.
This chapter helps work through some of the potential pitfalls.

Chapter 19 encourages coaches to teach team members to be positive coaches.
Emphasis is placed on making "unspecial" team members feel special.
Effective coaching will pass the torch of positive coaching onto future coaches.
A key to this is being the kind of coach you would have wanted to have helping your development process.

The book ends with references to sports organizations.
[..]

Life Changing
This book has completely changed my viewpoint on coaching youth athletes. It is an absolute must-read, in my opinion, for all coaches and parents.

Positive Coaching
This was recommended by our baseball coach. My husband read it and said it will be very helpful!

Terrific Information for both Teachers & Coaches !!
The Author has a background that provided him with examples for each of his methods. He has Coached at many different Sports & Physical Abilities.
The book is all about BEING POSITIVE in all your contacts with Athletes & Parents. Nearly 400 pages long, it covers most of the situations Coaches face in their Career. The one I broke a smile on was describing how to deal with NEGATIVE PATENTS. He advises that you stay positive; continue to demand that they be positive & sooner or later, they will leave for another team. A negative person is just NOT HAPPY unless they can be negative. I bought 5 used books & handed them out to my fellow High School Coaches & my neighbor who coaches 12 year old Boy Basketballers.
This book is one you can keep on the top shelf & refer to it as the need arises.

Great for the thinking Coach
I got this book just as I was about to coach a new teeball team and found its insight very helpful. Not a book about what drills to use but about motivation, handling people and protecting peoples love of the sport.More cerebral than I would expect in a coaching book. I used much of the material in my business career.Now I am starting his next book, "Shooting in the Dark". ... Read more

Product Description
True competitive advantage comes not from new products, strategy, or process, but from human talent--from ordinary people achieving extraordinary results. Focusing on one of today's most popular techniques for developing leaders, improving workplace performance, and facilitating change, ADAPTIVE COACHING offers a first-of-its-kind, research-based approach to creating individualized, tailor-made learning opportunities that will close the gap between what companies and clients expect from coaching and the results it delivers.

Rich in detail from the authors' work with more than 2,000 clients in Fortune 500 companies, ADAPTIVE COACHING offers a unique client-centered focus and solid research into how people prefer to be coached. Combining 30 years of experience as coaches and educators teaching others the art of coaching, Bacon and Spear deliver the tools and techniques coaches need to identify clients' real needs, negotiate expectations, understand and adapt to different coaching style preferences, manage the dialogue, and help clients change.

The authors identify eight distinct coaching styles--teacher, parent, manager, philosopher, facilitator, counselor, colleague, and mentor. They also include numerous examples of coaching dialogue and explore in detail the special challenges of coaching across cultures and generations, and of coaching women, minorities, and C-level executives. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Great insights for effective coaching
As someone who seeks to improve their coaching skills, Bacon & Spear provide great advice on how to be a great coach, but from the client's perspective.If we want to be successful as a coach, we need to deliver value to our client and provide them the tools they need in the way they want them to be delivered.Bacon & Spear remind us that our clients need to drive this process in terms of making sure we coach in the style they prefer so that they are most open to our suggestions and advice.

This book is full of valuable tools, helpful scenarios, and useful suggestions on what to do in several different types of situations with different types of clients.It is obvious that they have a wealth of experience that can be ours to tap in order to be the most effective executive coach for our clients.

Author, "Trust is Everything"

Client Centered Approach to Coaching

Adaptive Coaching reveals how the best coaches know how to
use different models of coaching to help their client reach
their highest potential.

Best Coaching Book I've Read
What I like about this book are the concrete examples they give of "almost" coaching and best coaching.The best coaching book I've read.Recommended it to all laypeople looking to be better coaches.

Research-Based Approach Raises Coaching to a New Level
Over the past decade, the concept of coaching in the business world has become so ingrained that it's part of the landscape. A wide range of conversations, methods of feedback delivery, and relationships have been accepted as coaching in a rather loose collection of techniques...and results. As we move into an increasingly challenging period for employers, leaders must become substantially more effective at this process we describe as coaching. A whole new generation of leaders must be taught, coached, and brought to a higher level of performance.

Bacon and Spears, experienced in coaching more than 2,000 individual clients in Fortune 500 companies, share their knowledge and experience. Their researched-based approach emphasizes the skills needed by coaches and that coaching styles must be adapted to what the client needs. The eight styles they identify are directive (teacher, parent, manager, philosopher) and non-directive (facilitator, counselor, colleague, mentor). This model alone will expand, deepen, and enrich the work done by the vast majority of coaches in the corporate world.

The book offers even more, delivering checklists, assessment tools, tips and tools, and a wealth of sample coach-client dialogues. Recognizing the special opportunities the future will hold, the authors include insights into coaching across cultures, across generations, as well as coaching women, minorities, and C-level executives.

An epilogue with even more perspectives adds value to this volume, as do the reference section and comprehensive index. This is not a book for readers who simply want to gain a few insights into improving their coaching effectiveness. You'll learn, but you'll be overwhelmed. Adaptive Coaching is like a college textbook on the topic. It's a heavy, deep, and thorough treatment with relatively small type. The $39.95 price suggests that this is more than the average airplane reading management book...and it is. If you're serious about the critical and fine art of coaching in the complicated corporate environment, you'll gain considerable knowledge, insight, and growth from this book.

Side note: I am the author of Impending Crisis: Too Many Jobs, Too Few People. As a workforce futurist, I see what's coming... including a dangerous dearth of leadership. Application of the principles in this book will help today's leaders strengthen each other and the next generation of leaders. ... Read more

Product Description

Discover proven strategies for applyingpositive psychology within your coaching practice

Written by Robert Biswas-Diener, a respected researcher, psychologist, life and organizational coach, and expert in positive psychology, Practicing Positive Psychology Coaching presents a wide range of practical interventions and tools you can put to use right away in your coaching practice.

Each intervention is clearly outlined and, where appropriate, illustrated by case studies from organizational and life coaching. Providing unique assessments that can be used to evaluate client resources and goals, this practical guide introduces tools unique to this book that every professional can use in their practice, including:

• Findings from new research on goal commitment strategies, motivation, growth-mindset theory, and goal revision

• A decision tree for working specifically with Snyder's Hope Theory in the coaching context

• An easy-to-use assessment of "positive diagnosis," which measures client strengths, values,positive orientation toward the future, and satisfaction

• Measures of self-esteem, optimism, happiness, personal strengths, motivation, and creativity

• Guidance for leading clients through organizational and common life transitions including layoffs, leadership changes, university graduation, middle age, and retirement

Filled with reflective exercises for use in your own personal and professional development, Practicing Positive Psychology Coaching also includes guidance and recommendations for marketing a positive psychology coaching practice. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A must have for anyone interested in using Positive Psychology in Coaching
This is an excellent book for anyone who is a coach and uses Positive Psychology in their work with clients or would like to begin.

Robert's writing is very succinct and easy to read. He gets to the point without making the topic too big and scary, but easy to implement. He writes in a manner that is very easy to digest and have fun at the same time.

The book is set up in a format that is easy to follow so you can find what you are looking for with ease.

Whether you are a seasoned coach or just beginning this book is one you must have on your shelve. You will find yourself going back to it over and over.

Great Job Robert!

Practicing Positive Psychology Coaching
Mr Diener has produced a beautiful, coaches dream workbook here. He has shared his vast experience in coaching and positive psychology to produce a workbook that really 'works'.Since buying his book I take it everywhere, having now read it twice through.His insight and wisdom are evident in the multitude of coaching interventions that he suggests, it is quite clear that his book is a step ahead than the rest, he is pushing boundaries here and considering thought not yet delved into deeply.A highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to build themselves or participating in the transformation of others.

swiss knife of positive psychology coaching
This book is the swiss knife for anyone interested in applying the science of positive psychology in coaching. Biswas-Diener's book is action packed with research driven coaching techniques, great assessment tools, cautionary tails, and it makes for a great reference. And if I was missing anything in my recent studies of positive psychology coaching then it was this book.

perhaps the best book on science and coaching out there...
yes, I am biased but you won't find me writing reviews for every person who is my colleague and friend in the field of psychology. I promote what I am comfortable standing behind (and what I actually read and enjoy). Biswas-Diener'sfirst book on the topic was an overview of the science of positive psychology. This follow-up emphasizes practical applications that can be used in coaching, therapy, consulting, and education. The chapters include unfamiliar territory. In sections on strengths, positivity, and hope (topics we are used to seeing), Robert provides new insights such as a killer overview of the relationship of strengths and weaknesses, as well as specific practical ideas that you can adopt instantaneously. Unusual topics include positive diagnosis, in which Robert presents brand new ideas on multi-axial diagnosis in the context of appreciating positive situations and personal attributes. There is also a chapter on positive assessments reprinted in full--ranging from meaning in life to curiosity, along with specific suggestions for how to use these, including open-ended questions that can be used to debrief clients. One of the best features of this book, and one of the reasons I collaborate with him so often, is that the guy simply knows how to write (unlike the vast majority of scientists or coaches). He veers away from an academic tone (jargon, abstract and nebulous concepts) and the book is filled with playful and emotionally provocative personal anecdotes--choosing sports teams in grade school, climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, etc. Having seen him speak, he is the master of storytelling. I highly recommend this book. If you don't like it, its you not the book. seriously.

Author of Curious?: Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life

Incredibly Useful for Coaches and helping professionals
This book fills a need in the coaching world because too many practitioners who love the science of flourishing and Positive Psychology don't have any idea how to use it with clients.This book takes care of that problem by giving readers a solid background in why Positive Psychology can enhance coaching, and exactly how and why to perform a "positive diagnosis," how "hope theory" is integral to effective coaching, and even how to prepare yourself for a coaching session and certification.This book is a must-have book for a coach's library, and will be well-thumbed by anyone who is serious about doing excellent Positive Psychology Coaching. ... Read more

Product Description
Conflict Coaching: Conflict Management Strategies and Skills for the Individual defines this growing area of conflict resolution and distinguishes conflict coaching as a stand-alone resolution technique. In a service society where human relationships are central to our professional as well as personal lives, individuals value one-on-one attention to obtain custom solutions for handling important interpersonal communication. The CD-ROM accompanying the book provides numerous resources for instructors, coaches, and other interested readers.

Customer Reviews (2)

Good resource
Jones and Brinkert have written an excellent book. It's well-organized and presents a very clear application of the narrative approach to conflict coaching. The CD is a nice resource, as it provides a PowerPoint presentation useful for teaching and learning, as well as coach and client worksheets; however, the client worksheets need some serious editing -- words are missing making some sentences meaningless, and at times the language is so scholarly as to be off-putting to many of the people I would use this with. Moreover, the client worksheets often refer to the client in the third person, which is odd since the worksheets are intended to be for them, not about them. This is definitely worth purchasing for the book alone, but be prepared to make some revisions and corrections if you plan to use the client worksheets.

Basia Solarz
Conflict Transformation Specialist
Halifax NS Canada

Informative, Approachable, Empowering
This book provides an in-depth explanation of the Comprehensive Conflict Coaching model with a strong foundation built on research and theory from a variety of ADR practitioners, authors and theorists.The great thing about this book is that the text provides practical tools and methods to take your skills and awareness to a deeper level and share them with those we serve.Jones and Brinkert offer example case studies illustrating the subject of each chapter, scholarly research throughout, a wonderfully approachable text and a companion CD of tools.Not only is this a terrific resource for a Long-Term Care Ombudsman like me, but also for Organizational Ombuds and other ADR professionals and practitioners seeking to clarify the whats and hows of empowering those we serve to more effectively respond to the conflicts they face.

Drew Strayer, Long Term Care Ombudsman
MA, Organizational Leadership and Conflict Transformation ... Read more

Product Description
"Will someone out there please develop a simple guide to improving employee performance for busy managers like us?"

Your colleagues spoke, we listened ... and here it is!

The Manager's Coaching Handbook provides managers, supervisors, and team leaders with simple, easy-to-follow guidelines for positively affecting employee performance. Within these pages you’ll find practical strategies for dealing with superior performers, those with performance problems, and everyone in between.

Looking for a bunch of long-winded theory? You won’t find it here! We "cut right to the chase" and give you proven tools you can use immediately – tools to make your job (and your life) easier ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The perfect coaching Handbook for ALL Managers
This is handbook is packed with easy to follow tips on how to coach ALL your employees to help then become better at their jobs!This book is a must have for ALL leaders!I would also recommend Daivd Cottrell's book, Listen Up Leader!

Good track to follow
This book gave me a good process to follow when working through a performance issue.It is short and to the point.

The concept of SuperStars, Middle Stars, and Falling Stars struck a chord with me.I would recommend this book for all front line and mid level supervisors and managers.

Rust-Belt Supervising Techniques in New Age Clothing
This short pamphlet dwells more on disciplinary aspects of supervisor-employee sessions than on true coaching. It tries too hard to solve every problem in a one-shot encounter with an employee.
The book pretends to be about improvement through coaching, yet the encounters described in each example have too much of the usual "you-did-wrong-now-fix-it" Theory X style of management that true coaching avoids.
However, the examples are a definite improvement over the usual tactics described as the usual approach to employee performance problems. A better read, for only a few bucks more, would be COACHING FOR IMPROVED WORK PERFORMANCE, by Ferdinand F. Fournies. While Cottrell & Layton's book will get you to first base, you really need a long-term solution that will create self-sufficient, self-correcting workers. ... Read more

Product Description
After 14 NHL seasons, a Stanley Cup victory, and five years as a youth hockey coach, Bruce Driver is the ideal author to bring the highly successful Baffled Parent's formula to one of North America's largest youth sports. In Coaching Youth Hockey, Driver and "hockey mom" Clare Wharton help overwhelmed parent/coaches create a real, functioning hockey team and a valuable, positive experience for all kids.

Following the popular, user-friendly, tried-and- true series format, the authors guide you from the first parent-player meeting, through the first organized practice, right to the final buzzer of the last game.

Clearly and comprehensively, Coaching Youth Hockey presents everything a first-time coach needs, including:

*NHL drills appropriate for youth hockey, shared for the first time in print
*Numerous easy-to-follow play and drill diagrams
*Proven team-management techniques
*Tips on teaching hockey fundamentals ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Aresh Look At Developing New Hockey Players
If you've wondered what's happened to Stanley Cup winner Bruce Driver since he wrapped up his illustrious 15-year career playing hockey with the New Jersey Devils, you'll find the answer in the new book, "The Baffled Parent's Guide to Coaching Youth Hockey".Admirably, Driver has been teaching young, would-be hockey stars the secrets of the game.
Don't be put off by the long title - in this volume, Driver, and co-author Clare Wharton have scored a major goal with this highly readable and entertaining offering.If you've stumbled across it, you've found treasure.Driver has wisely teamed up with Wharton, a skilled writer with an extensive background in Hockey.She has taken the shoulder pads, the knee pads, the helmet and skates of the material and, with humor, molded them into a star of the ice.
With sections on everything needed for first-time and veteran coaches alike, NHL drills appropriate for youth hockey, proven team-management techniques, tips on teaching and understanding hockey fundamentals and so much more, Driver lets us in on all of his secrets.
Hockey moms (and they are legion) who have had to spend endless afternoons - and early mornings, if time on the ice is limited - driving their little Drivers to the ice rink for practice, and dads, stuck at work but footing the bills for all that expensive equipment, will be happy to learn, through this enlightening tome, what happens to junior once he gets there.
"The Baffled Parent's Guide to Coaching Youth Hockey" is a winner!Anyone with even a passing interest in hockey, or sports in general, will find Bruce Driver and Clare Wharton's book a delightful experience.


Art Scott
Mystery writer
And Historian

Great book that touches on every aspect
Overall, this is a great book that touches on all aspects of hockey. I am a high school hockey coach and this book has some really nice drills and information in it. We are using a couple already in practice that work great. One thing that I was hoping for (4 stars instead of 5)was a little more intense drills or more detailed info for the higher levels of hockey.Also, it only has 3 goalie drills which was a little disturbing. As a goalie coach as well as an assistant, I find that upsetting since the position is so important, but yet it's the most overlooked. However if you are a parent or coach looking for a book that touches on every aspect of hockey as well as drills this is definitely the one. I do find the parts on dealing with parents and setting up practice plans also helpful. It was well written and has a lot of great info from an NHL player and Stanley Cup winner. It is one of the best books that puts it all together for you to learn the sport of hockey. I would suggest picking up the book: Complete hockey instruction by Dave Chambers with this book and as far as goaltending is concerned, go to www.hockeygoaltender.com. That has some of the best info concerning that position. With these 3 items you would have a pretty good arsenal on coaching and understanding the sport.

Unsurpassed Clarity, Detail & Readability!
I was floored by thoroughness of expertise and professionalism in this book, which goes hand-in-hand with the sheer passion for the game and wisdom in teaching children that comes through on every page.No detail of technique, sportsmanship or strategy is left out here, and the book is as useful a guide for would-be coaches inexperienced in the ways of the game as it is for veteran coaches looking broaden their knowledge base.

Bruce Driver's talent both as a former Stanley Cup winner and a long time coach combined with Clare Wharton's flawless and engaging writing style makes this book an absolute must for hockey lovers new and old.

REFEREE RECOMMENDATION
As a USA Hockey certified Referee I recommend this book to anyone involved in youth hockey at any level.This is how hockey should be taught.

This book has it all
A complete resource for coaches, yes, but also something every hockey fan and parent should read too.Presented in a concise and logical manner, with no detail left out.Extensive photos and drill diagrams for all situations.I found it to be very well written. ... Read more

Product Description
For managers, coaching for performance and for emotional intelligence are two different things. But that doesn’t mean they exist in different worlds. Performance is just one part of an employee’s overall development as a professional and as a leader -- development which depends on the employee’s emotional intelligence and the ability of the manager to encourage and increase it.

Coaching for Emotional Intelligence provides a carefully planned strategy to help managers address such factors as personality traits, communications styles, and personal behaviors -- the delicate issues that make coaching for EI more challenging than coaching for performance alone.

The book will help readers feel confident and comfortable with sensitive, often personal issues that arise in managing and developing subordinates, and will accelerate the development of high-potential employees and future leaders. Logical, applicable, and realistic, Coaching for Emotional Intelligence makes this often elusive subject simple to grasp -- and easy to nurture in any workplace. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Tips for coaching success
Author Bob Wall's expertise in coaching employees to develop their "emotional" attributes is especially helpful for managers who need a plan for improving their relationships with their subordinates. The book offers useful worksheets and forms, and is loaded with practical workplace examples for mentoring your employees to help them build stronger emotional aptitude on the job. We recommend this book to those who want to improve their mentoring skills and the quality of the guidance they are able to offer their subordinates.

Save your money.
This book is a good marketing piece for the author. Nice to have a book to impress clients with. However as a reader you can save your pocket change and find much better material in other books or reprints, many of them free on line. Or just read the following three sentences which is about all I could find of interest in the book, and nothing here is new. 1.) Emotions play a large part in interpersonal interactions so improve your emotional intelligence. 2.) When providing feedback, set the framework for the conversation, provide an observation of behavior and suggest ways to do things differently. 3.) Finding people doing things right and acknowledging them for doing thing right is a valuable way to motivate people. There I just saved you 20 bucks.

Path to Success
I am astounded at how elegantly Mr. Wall has translated such a complex concept into applicable execution. He shows us not only what makes great leaders great but also how everyone can achieve a high level of interpersonal effectiveness. I have read several writings on Emotional Intelligence and this book, by far, not only gets to the heart of the matter but also evokes a personal journey.

Getting to the heart of the matter
Mr. Wall has done an outstanding job of articulating Lynns model of Emotional Intelligence in a way that supports practical application, deeper understanding and the creation of masterful strategies for improved performance and professional relationships.

Wall,Goleman,Peters. Required reading.................
Bob Wall has taken the best of his experience in Coaching and Emotional Intelligence and put it in to practical advice. Easy to read and a great follow up to his "Working Relationships". If you are are leader this is a book to help improve your own Emotional Intelligence and that of your people. Coaching is not difficult when Wall's principles are applied.



... Read more

Product Description
Positive psychology moves psychology from a medical model toward a strengths model to help clients shore up their strengths and thereby lead happier, more fulfilling lives. Positive Psychology Coaching: Putting the Science of Happiness to Work for Your Clients provides concrete language and interventions for integrating positive psychology techniques into any mental health practice. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Absolutely excellent!!
I read this book for an assignment for my coaching class, and was truly amazed at the material..An absolute must for everyone if you want to read a book on self-development, this would be the book.Although the last chapters are based more on coaching, the first half of the book is very empowering and provides you with techniques that everybody should learn.. I wish I had read this book many years ago... It is by far the best self-development book I have every read, and would recommend to help you with communication amongst your staff or individuals, the book will bring you to a different awareness in connecting and empowering with individuals.

An absolute must to read!!

A must read for anyone in the coaching profession
Positive Psychology as an exciting field on its own its own; and Robert & Ben have taken the field to a practical level. Anyone even without any previous knowledge of Positive Psychology will be able to understand and apply the principles described in the book.

Imperative for Coaches
I love this book!I am an experienced executive coach -- have worked with over 250 leaders in a 10+ year period as a certified coach, and this book adds an important and new dimension.There is language and perspective that will broaden and deepen your coaching with clients.I am not a psychologist, and the entire field of positive psychology is relatively new to me -- I've been learning about it for the past 18 months or so.I find this alignment between positive psychology and professional coaching to be very powerful.I recommend this book for all coaches!

Positive Psychology Coaching: Putting the Science of Happiness to Work for Your Clients
Typeface gives the `aged' look to give the impression of wisdom and for such a new science (about 10 years old) this contradicts what the author is trying to get over as a new dynamic science for wellbeing.

Spacing, I bought a hard copy which is 1½ spaced to give the impression it has more contents that it really does contain. I wish they had produced a paperback half the thickness and half the price.

Not sure where the author takes us. Nothing definite and certainly feel a protectionist attitude by not wanting to `give away' tests to the reader which contradicts the title `Putting the science of Happiness to work for your clients'?

I find the use of the word and meaning `intervention' a little hard to swallow and off-putting. Positive Psychology does not `remove' root causes' but averts to appreciation of strengths. I cannot imagine asking a client to think of happiness during a panic attack?

As a general book on coaching it does the job of providing ideas and suggestions and explains empirical validated tools, simply and effectively.

I would have liked to see such a book offer tons of tests free of charge if it was to live up to its title Putting the science of Happiness to work for your clients.

Mike Whitenburgh
Psychoanalyst.

Best resource for positive psychology and coaching
Until this book, there was not an accessible source to which the coaching psychologist with an interest in applying positive psychology in their coaching practice can readily turn. And what might coaching psychologists be looking for in a book that purports to do this? An understanding of the scientific backbone of positive psychology? Ready applications to coaching psychology practice? Top tips and recommendations for applying positive psychology in the coaching psychology engagement to leverage strengths, enhance well-being, and drive performance? Or all of the above?
The coaching psychology community is fortunate to count Robert Biswas-Diener and Ben Dean amongst its numbers. For not only have they created and delivered a book that ticks all of these boxes, they have done so in a way that makes it a joy to read and an education in itself. They are uniquely qualified to do so. Robert has literally traveled to the furthest corners of the globe in his quest to understand subjective well-being and character strengths across hugely diverse cultures, including Greenland (where he worked with traditional hunters), Calcutta (where he worked with prostitutes), Israel (where he studied empathy in the West Bank), Kenya (where he worked with Maasai tribal people), and the American heartland (where he worked with the Amish). Ben developed and delivered the hugely successful Authentic Happiness Coaching program with positive psychology founder Martin E. P. Seligman, as well as running his own coach training organisation, MentorCoach, for over a decade. Their combined experience, expertise, and insight are apparent throughout the book.
Positive Psychology Coaching begins by taking a look at the coaching paradox (coaching has not yet reached its own full potential, despite helping others to achieve theirs) and the positive psychology solution (positive psychology can provide more of the theoretical, empirical, and conceptual maps that it is argued coaching needs to achieve its potential). It then explores happiness, positioning it as the goal that we rarely talk about but the pursuit of which we all engage in. The next two sections examine the two major foundations of positive psychology coaching: happiness and character strengths. Chapters three and four examine the core factors that influence happiness, as well as what we can do to cultivate them more, before considering specific tried-and-tested happiness interventions that readily lend themselves to the coaching psychology engagement. Chapters five, six and seven examine the application and use of strengths within coaching, dividing the focus between social strengths (fairness, social intelligence) and personal strengths (curiosity, optimism, creativity). The closing two chapters dive down into focusing on how coaches can help clients craft a perfect job before taking a bird's eye view of what the future of positive psychology coaching might hold.
Throughout, the book is replete with gems and insights that any coaching psychologist could use on any day of the week in any coaching psychology assignment. One of my favourites is reframing the family / work / exercise trade-off (i.e., I find it difficult to exercise because it takes time out of being with family or being at work) to a family / work / health trade-off (i.e., exercise enhances health, and health means we are better with our families and at work), making them complementary rather than competitive. On a personal level, that one really worked for me!
Positive Psychology Coaching is also seeded with the experiences and perspectives of positive psychology authorities from around the world, with the authors selecting key quotes from interviews conducted with these people to enhance the reader's understanding of what positive psychology coaching is all about and why it works. And periodically throughout, we are offered boxed review points for easy reference, and top tips for applications in our coaching work. This makes the book a valuable quick reference resource while preparing for a coaching session, as much as a volume to be read through. The appendix sets out a variety of ideas and offerings that can be tailored to individual coaching psychologists' needs and preferences for designing and delivering positive psychology coaching sessions, including strengths-based conversations, appreciative questioning, and the use of positive psychology assessments.
While ten positive psychologists would likely provide ten different answers as to what should be included in a consideration of positive psychology and coaching psychology, it would be churlish to criticise the book on these grounds. It doesn't include a section on flow, but it does address time orientation. It doesn't examine wisdom, but it does explore savouring. What is most important though, is how Biswas-Diener and Dean weave such a smooth narrative from the first page to the last. When starting reading, one is left feeling as if you are joining Robert on one of his famous journeys, and by the conclusion we not only arrive where we set out to be, but we have seen some fantastic things - and learned some important lessons - along the way. Positive Psychology Coaching is simply the best resource for coaching psychologists who want to introduce more of the positive into their practice. This review was published in the International Coaching Psychology Review (March 2007).

... Read more

Product Description
The National Soccer Coaches Association of America assembled an all-star lineup of 30 top coaches to bring you the most complete collection of soccer insight ever put into print. The Soccer Coaching Bible covers every important aspect to coaching the sport, including coaching priorities and principles, program building and enrichment, practice management, technical and tactical instruction, player and team development, and career growth. The contributing coaches include:

C. Cliff McCrath, Anson Dorrance, Steve Sampson, George Perry, Joe Bean, Charlie Slagle, John Rennie, Mike Jacobs, Joe Morrone, Lauren Gregg, Jeff Tipping, Barry Gorman, Ron McEachen, Layton Shoemaker, Jim Lennox, Peter Mellor, Tony Waiters, Jay Hoffman, Peter Gooding, Al Miller, Tracey Leone, Jay Martin, Miller Bugliari, Tim Schum, Chris Petrucelli, Colleen Hacker, Jeff Vennell, Schellas Hyndman, Tony DiCicco, Glenn Myernick,

Each time you open this book you’ll learn something new and useful for your next practice, game, or season. Whether you coach at the club, high school, or college level, The Soccer Coaching Bible is an essential addition to your coaching library. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Steve's Review
Great introductory reference for beginning or intermediate soccer coaches.Lots of good ideas for team and club building

Some useful chapters, some not so much.
I bought this book when I first began coaching High School soccer.This book covers a variety of topics, most of which were not in any way applicable to my program.

I gave this book three stars because I firmly believe that a book which calls itself "The Soccer Coaching Bible" should be far more usable by far more people than just the high-end club coaches (who frankly, probably don't need the help).There were some very useful discussions on tactics and strategy, but for the most part this book has sat on the shelf.

Some very big name coaches contributed to this work, and there is a lot of information here, but most of it will be completely not useful to the majority of coaches who could really use a soccer 'bible'.

Intermediate to advance
This book is great but I have not had timeto finish reading. All the topics are well done.

Tom Hull - Review as Coach and Owner
Nicely organized book for any soccer coach or aspiring coach.This covers ground that some books tend to miss.We've used this in our youth clinics and drill instruction.I enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone that will be putting time into the development of athletes and/or teams.
We've move onto Football in that season as many people do but there are drills that translate into other sports.This includes Basketball and Baseball as the top-3.Again this is highly recommended and can help with strategy and scoring.Very appropriate.
Tom Hull
Coach
Binghamton New York
Richmond - Central Virginia
Boca Raton - Glades & Federal Highway

Superb
This book is for every soccer coach out there, at any level. It has fantastic contributions from the likes of Anson Dorrance and Steve Sampson. I am a UEFA A licensed coach, and this book was well worth me reading! ... Read more

Product Description
A pragmatic and passionate guide that establishes the many benefits of coaching in order to create a working environment for individuals and organizations to ensure that both fulfill their full potential. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Effective Coaching by Myles Downey
I really enjoyed this book. I was hoping to find tools for coaching and expertise by someone who was credible,I found it on every page. Myles talks simply,clarely,I couldn't put the book down. I found everything I was looking for on effective coaching. Tools, insights, examples and much more. It is a powerful book, one I would keep in the library for continued reference. He shares how to achieve actual results for individuals, teams, and organisations. It's a keeper.

A Great Introduction to Coaching
Having trailed along on the business sidelines for a number of years, coaching is suddenly enjoying a major surge of popularity.But what's it all about?Tennis in the Boardroom?Golf swings by the water cooler?

Myles Downey's book, despite its relative brevity, makes an excellent job of introducing some of the key considerations involved in training or hiring business coaches.At 135 pages (including the Introduction) you obviously aren't going to get an in-depth explanation of what coaching can do for you and/or your company.What I think you WILL get is a pretty good feeling for whether coaching is something you want to get involved with.

If that makes the book sound a bit airy-fairy, I apologise.Mr Downey also does an excellent job of laying the groundwork for becoming an "effective coach" - if that's what you're after.There are plenty of very practical tips, including useful models, such as the "Spectrum of Coaching Skills" and the "GROW" (or "TO GROW") outline for any coaching session.

One of the highlights of the book as far, as I was concerned, was the inclusion of snippets of dialogue (ranging from a few lines to several pages in length) used to actually demonstrate how to handle various elements of the coaching function.

The one element of the book I felt a little uneasy about was Mr Downey's hypothesis that a manager can also function as coach to one of his/her subordinates.As Mr Downey himself points out, facts and thoughts might emerge during a coaching session that could potentially be somewhat damaging when it comes to appraisal time.There seems to be an assumption that a "good" manager could somehow separate the two functions and ignore in 'manager mode' the things s/he has learnt whilst in 'coaching mode'.

I'd suggest that this is a piece of impractical idealism, which places an unrealistic and unfair burden upon the manager and the coachee alike.

Rather than sweeping such considerations under the rug, it seems to me that coaching is likely to remain a fad until issues such as this have been fully addressed and resolved. ... Read more

Product Description
Whether working in another country or bridging corporate and professional boundaries, the demands of global business require new ways of managing and motivating people. Author Philippe Rosinski introduces an innovative form of coaching to meet the demands of today's diverse and international workplace: Coaching Across Cultures: New Toold for Leveraging National, Corporate and Professional Differences. While the concept of culture generally evokes nations- as in Spanish or French culture- Coaching Across Cultures addresses cultural differences from many perspectives: national, corporate or professional. These cultural components have a significant impact on every one of our interactions: how we think, organize ourselves, define our purpose, relate to power, view time and cope with uncertainty. With plenty of real life examples and activities, Rosinski offers new approaches to practical and effective coaching methods to help you push beyond the confines of your own culture's norms when working with clients or coaching a team. Written for coaches, executives, and managers, Coaching Across Cultures demonstrates how one can discover creative solutions to problems and leverage cultural differences, turning powerful ideas into action to facilitate the highest performance possible. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Valuable information and new perspectives for global coaches and business leaders
Philippe Rosinski's book is essential reading not only for global coaches but also for corporate leaders and business professionals who interact with diverse customers, clients and colleagues. The book provides a comprehensive overview of the diversity of cultural orientations, as well as specific tools and recommendations for broadening and leveraging different cultural orientations in the workplace.

The centerpiece of the book is a comprehensive model, The Cultural Orientations Framework, which provides a structured format for identifying, assessing, developing and leveraging cultural differences. This model can readily be implemented in the workplace, serving as an objective tool for raising an executive's awareness regarding his/her cultural orientation blind spots. As an executive coach working primarily with American executives who are focused on increasing the breadth and flexibility of their cultural orientations, I have found this book to be a valuable resource for enhancing the cross-cultural capabilities of global executives.

Cross-Cultural Understanding for Coaches
This is the first, and currently only, book on coaching cross-culturally. The author brings the multifaceted perspective of culture into the coaching equation. The book starts with an introduction to coaching and culture and then goes in depth in cultural perspectives. The author wraps up the book with a couple chapters integrating all this into coaching practice.

Coaching is defined as "the art of facilitating the unleashing of people's potential to reach meaningful, important objectives" (page 4). Surprisingly there is nothing distinctly cross-cultural in the definition. Such as "the art of facilitating in culturally relevant ways the unleashing of people's potential..." This definition could come from any book on coaching. Culture is defined broadly to include not just nations and peoples, but corporate culture as well.

The real meat of the book is the second section, nearly half the text. The author presents a series of Cultural Orientations each with tools for how to assess them through coaching. Orientations such as a sense of power and responsibility, time, identity and purpose, organization and communication each have a chapter devoted to them. The author begins each chapter with a presentation of the various cultural perspectives on the Orientation, for example, concerning time there are grids of scarce or plentiful; one activity at a time or multiple tasks; and past, present or future orientation. The author presents a tool for the coach to understand the client's orientation, and for the client (and teammates) to understand himself or herself. The final section is a synthesis of the theory into practice. The author illustrates how he uses his detailed Cultural Orientation grid during coaching sessions.

This book is helpful for those interested in the cross-cultural issues. The book gets a bit lost in trying to reach a wide audience by focusing on at least three audience needs: skills for coaching people of other cultures, cross-cultural team awareness, and personal cultural awareness. The niche this book best fits would be a multicultural team trying to understand each other and how a team leader might coach them through that process of understanding.

STERN'S MANAGEMENT REVIEW RATES THIS BOOK EXCELLENT!
The book is not solely dedicated to the internationalarena but for everyone who works with people from different organizations and backgrounds. The author's aim is to raise the level of awareness of cultural orientations and suggests how to use differences constructively. The book breaks out of the usual confines of cultural assumptions to find creative solutions. It introduces coaching and cross-cultural concepts, provides a framework for integrating coaching and cultural perspectives, and examines numerous cultural orientations. Rosinski presents a Culture Orientations Framework to assess and profile culture, and a Global Scorecard to help set targets at all levels. Chapters discuss how to leverage power and responsibility, time management, identity and purpose, organizational arrangements, notions of territory and boundaries, communication patterns, and modes of thinking. This is a very thoughtful treatment of an unusual and highly important subject.

Don't bother if you ONLY deal with people JUST like you.
Let me be clear, I don't finish reading books these days unless they are good and I certainly don't bother writing reviews unless I think the book is top notch.So it is a pretty safe bet that if you like any of the other books that I have reviewed, you will like this one.

Coaching Across Cultures is another one of those - must have books - for any serious coach working with professionals.Even if you are not interested in an international practice, (and who isn't) this book still is required reading.The book is really about understanding and integrating our differences. Rosinski who lives currently in Belgium, is an Engineer and a MCC by training who has worked in Silicon Valley.

The book is a bit of a smorgasbord.However, it is well designed and packaged so that each section can be considered a self contained component on cultural issues.Part One makes the case for a cultural framework when coaching and points out the dangers of our assumptions and belief systems when working with others of any origin or background.Part Two provides a high level overview of the key components of developing a cross cultural mindset.Although generalized in content, it also provides concrete examples and practical applications of how this plays out in our interactions with others. Part Three is a bit more conceptual and is well suited to those who come from an organizational development perspective.Roskinski has created his own Global Scorecard approach that is tied into his Cultural Orientations Framework.For my reading, it seems thorough, usable and comprehensive.

Coaching Across Cultures is well documented with references, a glossary and some interesting appendixes.There is little to find fault.Perhaps that is because, Rosinski himself is careful never to find fault.He is a great diplomat and finds a place for all styles and approaches whether it is the transactional techniques of some North American coaching styles to the transformational style of others.

If there is one area that I find a little weak, it is his discussion of self-assessment as a precursor the organizational assessment through his Global Scorecard.Now I am the first to admit that assessments are not only my area of interest, it is my business - so I have a bias.That said, I found Rosinski focus on the tools he prefers (the MBTI specifically) left me with the impression that this is THE tool.I also believe that this was not Roskinki's intention - as he does mention a few others but not some that I would have expected.Now don't get me wrong, I love the MBTI and the others he includes but I thought that at least a few more should have been mentioned or acknowledged.

This is a solid, well-written and great new contribution to the field of coaching and working within the global setting.Don't just get this book - read it.I can almost guarantee it will have a positive affect on how you will interact in the future with your clients. ... Read more

Product Description
College students with AD/HD are negatively affected by serious difficulties in time and task management. Written in an Issue/Answer format, this book makes it easy to address the needs of students and to design a program for them. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Authors don't understand the relational issues a person with ADHD has
The book is written by a pediatrician (Quinn), a coach (Ratey) and a PhD (Maitland).

The book is filled with very practical explanations and coaching suggestions and would deserve a raving 4 stars if it weren't for Chapter 6 (Social Skills) and it would deserve even 5 stars if it wouldn't constantly invite the coach to teach the person with ADHD to rely on others and their help.

Let's see why I gave it 3 stars.

Speaking about how to keep a friendship, the authors write (verbatim): "The small things in friendship count - remembering a friend's birthday, showing support by attending games or performances, calling just to say "hi", emailing a get well card, etc. These may seem like unimportant details, but make a big impact on keeping friends and show you really care" (page 120).

How patronizing is that? How many persons with ADHD aren't aware that birthday wishes are important??? We all know very well, the problem is that we can't remember a date or a good idea for a card or an email, NOT THAT WE DON'T KNOW WHAT HURTS OUR FRIENDS.

In page 121, they write (again, verbatim): "Most persons with ADHD will claim they know what the person is going to say before they say it, so they don't need to listen. This attitude can get them into trouble by assuming too much. Friendships are two-way streets. Stress the importance of keeping engaged, asking for feedback, and not to ever assume what someone else is thinking without verification".

These lines betray their approach to ADHD coaching, ie normalization. Let's teach these people with ADHD that they don't, in fact, have intuition, and let's make them insecure of their gifts because people don't like honesty. How about teaching the persons with ADHD to keep the intuition for themselves and not blurt it out UNLESS they verified that the other person is receptive to hearing feedback instead?

Finally, the following lines really made me throw up. Again, verbatim (page 125): "Frequently, ADHD students wait for someone to complain about something they have done, before asking for feedback. Urge the student totake the initiative to communicate about these issues in a direct manner".

Wait a moment! If I take action X, do I have to secondguess people around me every minute or can I hope and even expect (or - in fact - demand) that if THEY have issues, THEY come forward (ie personal responsibility, whoever gets hurt says so!)?

This coaching approach to relationships is absurd and *dangerous* for our life! Since we are supposed to be insensitive, we are asked to deny our gifts and become a nice little codependent person.

THIS IS NOT COACHING!!!!! This is a crock!

If you really have to buy this book, skip chapter 6. It's useless.

Read College Confidence with ADD by Micheal Sandler instead!

A MUST for ADD Coaches!
This book is an absolute must for EVERY ADD Coach, whether they work with college students or not!
What makes this book so valuable is that it is not just a lot of theory. It is nitty-gritty coaching technique at its best. The various issues that face ADD college students are examined closely, then specific recommendations are made about how the coach can help the student/client. Examples of check-ins are provided along with step-by-step outlines that take the coach through the important points.
Not only is this essential for coaches who work with ADD college students, but it is also extremely valuable for anyone who coaches people with ADD/ADHD. The introductory material makes it clear that this book is not meant to take the place of coach training, but this reviewer believes that this should be an essential text book for all ADD coaches. The authors have done us an invaluable service. ... Read more

Product Description
There?s a lot of conversation about how to make schools better. Unfortunately, the nature of those conversations often makes things worse. Evocative Coaching: Transforming Schools One Conversation at a Time maps out a way to change that. By taking a teacher-centered, no-fault, strengths-based approach to performance improvement, the Evocative Coaching model generates the motivation and movement that enables teachers and schools to achieve desired outcomes and enhance quality of life. Viewed as a dynamic dance, the model is choreographed in four steps ? Story, Empathy, Inquiry, Design ? which are each laid out in its own chapter with powerful illustrative materials and end-of-chapter discussion questions to prompt further reflection.

Bringing together the best research and wisdom in educational leadership and professional coaching, authors Bob and Megan Tschannen-Moran have developed a simple yet profound way of facilitating new conversations in schools through Story Listening, Expressing Empathy, Appreciative Inquiry, and Design Thinking. It?s an iterative process that moves beyond old ways of thinking, doing, and being. It?s an inspirational process that reinvigorates the passion for making schools better, one conversation at a time.

This happens when coaches:

• give teachers our full, undivided attention;
• accept and meet teachers where they are right now, without making them wrong;
• ask and trust teachers to take charge of their own learning and growth;
• make sure teachers are talking more than we are;
• enable teachers to appreciate the positive value of their own experiences;
• harness the strengths teachers have to meet challenges and overcome obstacles;
• reframe difficulties and challenges as opportunities to learn and grow;
• invite teachers to discover possibilities and find answers for themselves;
• dialogue with teachers regarding their higher purpose for teaching;
• uncover teachers? natural impulse to engage with colleagues and students;
• assist teachers to draw up a personal blueprint for professional mastery;
• support teachers in brainstorming and trying new ways of doing things;
• maintain an upbeat, energetic, and positive attitude at all times;
• collaborate with teachers to design and conduct appropriate learning experiments;
• enable teachers to build supportive environments and teams;
• use humor to lighten the load; and
• inspire and challenge teachers to go beyond what they would do alone.

Each chapter provides a research-based theory to support the strategies presented, and includes specific suggestions and anecdotes. The Evocative Coaching model makes coaching enjoyable by getting people to focus on what they do best, and it invites larger, more integral conversations so that people talk about their work in the context of other things they care about. Resting on strong, evidence-based practices, the Evocative Coaching model offers educators the help they need to meet the challenges of increased accountability and expectations. This model can also be used effectively by coaches and leaders in other organizational contexts.

Table of Contents:

• Chapter 1: What Is Evocative Coaching?
• Chapter 2: Coaching Presence
• Loop I: The No-Fault Turn
• Chapter 3: Story Listening
• Chapter 4: Expressing Empathy
• Loop II: The Strengths-Building Turn
• Chapter 5: Appreciative Inquiry
• Chapter 6: Design Thinking
• Chapter 7: Aligning Environments
• Chapter 8: Coaching Conversations
• Chapter 9: The Reflective Coach

To learn more about Evocative Coaching and to sign up for the Evocative Coach Training Program, visit www.SchoolTransformation.com. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

An inspirational book that will make a difference
I first learned about "Evocative Coaching" in Bob Tschannen-Moran's wonderful "Lifetreck Coaching" Newsletter, andimmediately sensed that this is the coaching approach so desperately needed to facilitate transformation in our schools. As a middle school teacher, leader and evocative coaching trainee, I am totally convinced that everyone will benefit from the wisdom and expertise the authors have to share in this amazing book.Bob and Megan Tschannen-Moran have createda positive and practical model for change. "Evocative Coaching" is a book that resonates with - and responds to - the needs of teachers and educational leaders alike. A transformational book, written with heart, and filled with a wealth of tools and insights that just make sense. Having read "Evocative Coaching" and participated in the training program, I feel more confident, reenergized and excited about returning to my classroom and team. Evocative Coaching is a book you will read and live "one conversation at the time".

Teacher Support Just Got Easier
Have you ever wished you had a recipe book for how to cook up a better way of working with and inspiring teachers?Well, Bob and Megan Tschannen-Moran have done exactly that in this marvelous book. As a Wellness Coach who strives to meet the needs of educators, I have struggled to help teachers relieve stress related to classroom performance and (frequently unmet) needs for support from administrators.Both of those areas are addressed throughout the book, with a variety of right-brain, creative strategies for engaging and transforming schools.The authors break down this process into a uniquely supportive set of techniques and attitudes that give teachers an opportunity to trust themselves more and become re-inspired with their passion for teaching as well as their innate wisdom for best practices.As is often the case with processes that encourage authenticity and mindfulness, I found that I could benefit by applying theapproaches outlined in this book to my personal life.If you teach or you want to help teachers, buy this book, share it with your colleagues, and keep it in a handy location.

Effective resource
Evocative Coaching provides an effective resource for educators who work together incoaching relationships. The dynamic process is easy to learn and apply.This process provides a respectful approach to coaching and an alternative to traditional coachingmodels current found in schools. Evocative Coaching is extremely well written and apleasure to read. Reading this book and participating in the companion training conversations/course has transformed the way I plan to work with professionals in the future.

The right way to approach school changes
Most people look for ways to improve what they are doing; schools and teachers are no exception.This approach to helping teachers and schools grow in a beneficial way is right on target from a number of different angles.Combining what is known about education, adult learning, communication, coaching, and authentic listening, this book can help anyone who wants to grow, especially those in the world of education.

As I close in on a master's degree for myself, I have read a great number of books for the classes I am taking and areas I am studying.I also am an active reader with lots of pen marks, notes, and highlights in books that I read and connect to.This book has as many or more marks than any other book I own!Thanks for this blessing, Bob and Megan! ... Read more