Co-Active Coaching, 2nd Edition: New Skills for Coaching People Toward Success in Work and, Life

Part I is "Coaching Fundamentals." Here they outline the model which places the client squarely in the center. The model focuses on the coach using his or her skills to focus on the client's fulfillment, balance, and process. The intake session is discussed here sufficiently to create the context of the later coaching sessions.

Part II is "Co-Active Coaching Skills." The authors detail in this section five skills key to the coach's success: listening, use of intuition, exploration of curiosity, action and learning, and self-management. There are activities to practice each skill at the end of each chapter--anyone wanting to coach should not skip these exercises, which are carefully designed to get to the heart of the skill described.

Part III is "Co-Active Coaching Processes." This section explains "the three core principles of coaching:" fulfillment, balance, and process. Especially helpful here is Chapter 11, "Tips and Traps," a valuable addition that warns and prepares the coach for things that may not go quite right....

The last section is "The Coach's Toolkit," and this alone is worth the price of the book. It includes Action Plans, Client Activities and Worksheets, Intake Checklists--everything a coach needs to begin a successful coaching program. A wise coach will undertake the exercises and worksheets for himself or herself, and thus will better understand what the client is asked to do.


Whole-person coaching...a powerful approach.   February 28, 1999
122 out of 126 found this review helpful

Co-coaching is distinctive in that it involves both the coach and the client; it is also referred to as personal/professional coaching because it addresses the whole person (the whole of their life).

Many books we have reviewed on this subject, while of value within the workplace, do not strive to address the multidimensional nature of the individual. In contrast, the approach presented here is distinctly holistic.

The authors' offer a model plus a set of skills and techniques. The book is filled with specifics and excellent insights, and gives extensive guidance about how to be highly effective in coaching. About 75 pages are devoted to "The Coach's Toolkit," consisting of forms, checklists, exercises, resources and a glossary. This book offers a potentially powerful approach to coaching. It is, in our view, requisite reading for anyone involved in, or considering, coaching. Highly recommended.


excellent resource!   March 25, 1999
82 out of 85 found this review helpful

As a professor of Organizational Psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology, I've seen a lot of interest expressed by psychologists in the process of personal and executive coaching. Conventional training in psychology is not necessarily a very good preparation for this work. Rather, what is needed is the sort of empathetic and careful relationship building, informed by but not restricted to psychological approaches, that comes through in this book. I heartily recommend it to all who are interested in developing a greater sensitivity to the coaching process!


Model + Skills + Techniques = Success   September 3, 2001
Susan G. Dunn (San Antonio, TX United States)
61 out of 66 found this review helpful

While I am already coaching, this book was very helpful to me. There are as many ways of coaching as there are coaches, and this delineates one succinct method to follow in a relatively new, unregulated, and confusing field. The numerous pages of "tools" are worth the money alone. Wish I hadn't spent what I spent on a CD to get other versions. The skills and techniques affirm what I've been doing already, but push me onward with conviction, adding layers to my understanding of how to be most effective. It's the clearest description of coaching I've come across and I recommend it highly. It's well written, authoritative and highly useable.


Learn to Probe and Listen   March 9, 2000
24 out of 24 found this review helpful

This book has many important facets and should be on the book shelf of anyone who counsels or coaches. The tools and techniques for probing, getting answers and really listening are alone worth the cost of the book.