The Coaching Manual: The Definitive Guide to the Process, Principles & Skills of Personal Coaching

by Julie Starr

The Coaching Manual is the most current, comprehensive, practical, best-illustrated coaching source I have ever seen. It compellingly teaches the mindset of keeping the responsibility on the coachee combined with a powerful, realistic skillset." Dr. Stephen R. Covey, author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Are you a good listener? A perceptive observer? Or perhaps you know instinctively when something isn't right'? We are all born with some coaching ability and the key to becoming a great coach is knowing what your strengths are and building on these. The Coaching Manual will help you do precisely this. Starting from where you are now, you'll find all the powerful tools, techniques and guidance you need to take you to where you want to be. Both a complete learning experience and an instant source of fresh insight and tips, the manual is your definitive reference throughout your coaching career. In this edition, you'll * The principles, values and beliefs of a good coach * Becoming a coach - key questions and considerations to help take your coaching forward * How to plan a coaching assignment * The Coaching Path' a simple structure for an effective coaching conversation * How a less directive style can produce dramatically different results * What the barriers to a good coaching conversation are and how you can avoid them * Emotional Maturity - how is it both a requirement of you and an improvement you might encourage in others? The Coaching Manual is the foundation resource for coaches everywhere.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Business, Management, Leadership, Personal Development, Reference

356 pages, Paperback

First published October 17, 2002

Reviews

[Elin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very thourough and interesting book on coaching. Took me forever to read because I wanted to take notes on everything and really pay attention. It was also a slow read due to the tendency to overexplain, for example, on page 207:

"In face-to-face situations, coaching generally takes place in a room of some sort."

You don't say!
But ultimately, the thouroughness was good and I have a much better grasp on what coaching means now, and I feel equipped to explore further whether it's something I'd enjoy.

[Simon Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent companion to my coaching journey

Reading this while studying for my level 3 qualification, I was pleasantly surprised to find the book easy to read, with useful diagrams and tables to support the clear and concise text. Julie Starr’s use of toolkit, and greyed boxes of activities and ‘in a nutshell’ summaries are excellent ways to reinforce the key learning.
Would recommend for anyone thinking of becoming a coach in some form of professional or personal sphere.

[Anna Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

This offers a clear and well structured guide to the coaching process. It starts off explaining the need for directive coaching and the value of Incisive Questions. It includes a number of frameworks and structures to help you think about the coaching process.

I came away with a good view of how to set up a session and a coaching programme. I did find it a little dry and a lot less inspiring than other books I have read in the field (e.g. Nancy Kine's Time to Think) but a reliable primer nonetheless.

[Dawn Wadeson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant insight into the fundamentals of coaching, particularly aimed at those starting their coaching journey. Lots of repetition through diagrams was helpful in ingraining the information and I found the reflection activities particularly useful. One thing I would’ve loved to see more of would’ve been more storytelling to bring the concepts to life - there were some examples but it would’ve been great to have followed one coachee through the entire book for example, to give a real insight into how the concepts support coaching discussions.

[Erik Brickarp · Rating 5 out of 5]

The coaching manual explains "the glue" in coaching. Since there's a lot of "glue" (the things that keep coaching together) and that "glue" can seem quite vague at first ("now I know all these techniques but how do they fit together?") I think this is an amazing book to pair with e.g. Coaching for Performance or any other "technique focused book".

It's a pretty good book on its own but best paired with one or more of the many technique and/or model focused coaching books out there.

[Austeja St. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author uses simple language, many examples and is a good tool for the ones willing to apply coaching behavior practically in work or personal environments. I mostly liked formulation of questions and sections “pause and reflect” that perfectly help to recognize own behavior and come up with thoughts on how to proceed further in various situations.

[Darren Carthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good one to pick up after reading Whitmore, something I felt that was missing from that book that Julie covers quite well is the barriers presented by our ego to effective coaching, particularly the need to "fix it" or find a perfect solution for our client. I also found the definition of directive vs non-directive coaching useful and coupled with the Star model and coaching path, this book presents a pretty clear methodology for approaching a coaching assignment. I need to go back and review the comprehensive free resources in chapter 10, but they'll become more relevant before and after a coaching session.

[Emma Neumann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly,
My concentration for books isnt that great. Ive build up reading more over time. Its such a highly reviewed book but i just found it could of been narrowed down abit. As a coach it may be that alot of it ive already picked up over time but it was more of use towards the end part of the book. I dont know might be it wasnt what i was looking for

[Martin Sheppard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good generic introduction to and explanation of coaching for the uninitiated. The inclusion of the exercises was helpful to make the reader think about how they might take their own coaching activities forward.

[Cory Sydee · Rating 5 out of 5]

An epic guide for coaches. Really useful to help you through the process of how to go about a coaching conversation, how to structure sessions, the principles and skills needed for coaching and so much more.

[Zeynep Demirelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as a part of my Coaching and Counselling course. It is really like a step-by-step manual. It sometimes states things that are too obvious, but regardless, it was an easy read and it covers all the basics.

[Manon Zannone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't stress enough how much this is an absolute must-read when working in the coaching field.

[Iain McCormick · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to read a really comprehensive approach to coaching then this is the book to read. It’s excellent.

[Demi Lopes · Rating 5 out of 5]

The exercises that the book provides are very reflective and definitely found this book to move me forward in my coaching career and people skills.

[Jamie Turnbull · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introduction to the art of coaching. Very clear, useful guidance and lots of practical tips and advice.

[David Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything you need to know about coaching.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful collection of coaching skills and scenarios to use them in. Lots of free tools on Julie's website which are highlighted at the end of important sections.

[Samson Ong · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good book on leadership and individual coaching that can be applied immediately.

[Mikaela (Booklover1974) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars

[Me · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent for those entering the field. Could be a text book. Great sections on many crucial aspects.

[Lavinia Ninatti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some parts where useful, but overall too long, heavy to read and sometimes too generic!

[Isobelle Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really useful step by step guide to coaching with downloadable resources

[Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Good information but book is too wordy overall and repetitive. Skipped some sections.

[Ondrej Ko · Rating 5 out of 5]

arguably the best starting point for your own coaching journey..

[Oleksandr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coaching manual

Very well written and gets to the point. I really enjoyed reading how the author shows coaching has to be authentic with your values and what kind of coach you would like to be. A great coaching book to read for any one who's thinking of becoming one or is in the field

[Yakov Pyatnitskov · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Prosperous Coach (another terrific book about coaching as connecting with one person at a time) is more of a motivational talk than this one is a down-to-earth manual on the craft of coaching.

I loved the attitude in the book – Ms. Starr clearly cares a great deal both about novice coaches and the profession in general – and the exercises, especially for developing deep listening. I also liked fictional examples of stories with clients and those gave the material another dimension.

It is well-structured and the language is clear and concise but not dry.

Along with PCoach mentioned above this is the best book on coaching I've found so far.

[Kostas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite the repetition of some lame cliches that seem to thrive in self development books such as this (for the last time: we DON'T only use 10% of our brain capacity, because no one really knows what the full potential of our brain is, neither is there a standard scientific measure for this 'potential') this is a mighty fine book and probably the best possible introduction to coaching. The author speaks with authority and experience and gives countless practical examples in an easy to understand and empowering language. Highly recommended to anyone interested in this topic.

[Gerard Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitive guide for any coach....

Excellent resource for the collaborative coach method

Many conversation examples between coaches and coachees

Key principles of coaching are explained and what coaching is not

Great coach skills are explained in detail

Excellent summary of the book's key points is given in chapter 10 and also good summary points at the end of each chapter.

I also found the coach toolkit at the end of the book to be very useful with documents which are downloadable from the authors website.

Overall a very definitive guide to collaborative coaching.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear and very accessible book about coaching. It surely can be of interest to people both new and experienced with coaching as it covers the basics and also goes in some depth into skills coach needs, structure of coaching session and assignment, and work with EI (called emotional maturity in the book).

As for some of the check-lists and questions in the book, I definitely plan to return to them from time to time.

[Timo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best reflective textbook on coaching individuals I have come across. The book has a very solid basis in both theory and practice and will benefit anyone with a sincere wish to improve his or her coaching practice. For me, the book uncovered a number of not so productive aspects of my own coaching which did not make it easy or fun to read but essentially a reflective learning experience.