I spent some time today reading the ‘heart of coaching’ introduced to me by my very good friend Rita from Kuala Lumpur Malaysia to whom I spoke today on Skype. Her company based in Malaysia covering the Fareast regularly runs training seminars and certifies trainers. Thomas G Crane the author of the bestseller ‘Heart of Coaching’ is one of her regular speakers and trainers.

Three chapters of the book are offered by the Author, free of charge as a teaser, which are just enough to get you excited to read on.

Book Description

This is the 10th year and the 4th version of this book being a vital resource for those who are willing to develop coaching as a contemporary leadership skill. It presents the powerful process called Transformational Coaching as a comprehensive and systematic way to plan, organize, and conduct coaching conversations. It de-mystifies into easy to understand and follow steps, thus making it a communication tool for leaders and their teams to coach in all directions – Up toward one’s Boss, Down toward one’s Direct Reports, and Laterally to one’s Peers. Huge benefits accrue to the organizations where this becomes a cultural norm…and a true “coaching culture.”

In the spirit of keeping “The Heart of Coaching” a vibrant and contemporary resource for our readers, we offer this Third Edition where we do several important things. We have deepened the connections between Emotional Intelligence and the art and practice of coaching. We added “setting organizational context” to the expectation-setting portion of the conversation so that coach and coachee both clearly address the “big picture” framework of Vision, Mission , Strategy, Key Objectives, and Core Values.

We added more effective ways for both coach and coachee to explore their individual roles as “co-creators” of the situation they are discussing. We added the powerful step of clarifying the “vision for success” as framing for the contemplated action planning. We also remind the coach to acknowledge overall progress of the coachee as they support them in enhancing their effectiveness over the long haul.

Lastly, we have (in chapter 9) clarified the distinctions between the two primary coaching genres – Executive Coaching and Collegial Coaching. It is important to clearly understand how external coaching relationships and processes are different than the internal coaching relationships and processes between people working side-by-side as colleagues.

As coaching is yet another of my favorite subject, looks like I shall purchase the book soon; if I have the permission from my wife as she has been complaining about the storage of the numerous books I have. May be I shall have to purchase a ‘kindle‘ the e-book soon.