Coaching for Improved Work Performance, Revised Edition

Coaching for Improved Work Performance, Revised Edition
Average customer rating:

A valuable reference on an important skill

Great Handbook for New Managers

Best business book EVER

One of the most useful management books yet

Most Disappointing

Coaching for Improved Work Performance, Revised Edition
Ferdinand F. Fournies
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0071352937

Book Description

Managing employees in today’s rapidly evolving workplace can sometimes feel like negotiating a minefield. Such recent new trends as flextime, telecommting, 360-degree feedback, the flattening of hierarchies, and the increased use of temps and contract workers present tough new challenges for supervisors in every field. This timely, completely revised and updated edition of Ferdinand Fournies’s classic management coaching "bible" shows you proven ways to get workers to perform at the highest level while eliminating the self-destructive kinds of behaviors that have become increasingly prevalent in recent years.
In this book, you’ll be taught specific face-to-face interventions you can use to enhance performance in every kind of workplace situation--from sales to creative brainstorming. There are also interventions uniquely suited to resolving problems ranging from low productivity to absenteeism to conflicts between individuals. You’ll learn precisely what to say and do so that each person you supervise will want to give you his or her best work--even when that person was previously thought to be a "problem employee." Packed with brand-new case studies from Fournies’s latest research into the dynamics of the modern workplace, this classic guide takes all the guesswork out of becoming the kind of inspired, "hands-on" manager that every company today is looking for!

Customer Reviews:

A valuable reference on an important skill.......2007-09-02

This is an excellent book on coaching. You will read other views here to the contrary, but that is largely due to the many interpretations of the word "coaching." My primary focus is coaching managers and salespeople in a highly demanding, very technical field. There are many useful and effective tools presented in Fournies' work. Not everything will be applicable in every situation, but this book will give you many ideas for respectful, empathic coaching. If you are a "life coach" or a "mentor" you may prefer other techniques, but you'll still find some good advice here. Looking for achievement and opportunities to provide reinforcement can hardly be considered bad advice. Many managers simply don't know how to make the transition from technical expert or great performer to someone responsible for the performance of others. Fournies gives some valuable tips on doing so.

My recommendation is to read several books on coaching, beginning with John Whitmore's 3rd edition of Coaching for Performance. If you coach salespeople, also read Managing Major Sales by Rackham and Ruff. And if you are coaching others, read Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman; coaching others requires, first and foremost, self-awareness, self-regulation, and empathy. Goleman's book will raise awareness of the importance of these qualities in business and in life.

Great Handbook for New Managers.......2007-04-03

I have been a sales manager for 10 years. In that time I have read close to 100 books on management and leadership. this is one of my favorites. It is an easy read, it makes solid points and it provides clear direction on what a manager needs to do to help get the most out of their people. I highly recommend this book.

Best business book EVER.......2006-11-10

This is a must have for anyone in a supervisory or managerial role. Simple concepts, easy read...with actual dialogues to help you practice the coaching techniques discussed. And best of all, IT WORKS.

One of the most useful management books yet.......2006-11-06

I wish I had found this book when I started managing people 20 years ago, it would have saved me a lot of painful trial and error. It is a remarkably practical guide that addresses the main problem that many managers face: how to confront performance issues in a way that will yeild a positive outcome, while not crushing or otherwise demotivating the employee. It includes examples of realistic conversations (including the extended silences that often happen, and the brush-off responses, the stalemates). It is also a book that can be constructively shared with your entire team - including those with performance issues - as it helps defuse all emotion and keeps the conversations on the actual and observable behaviors that are getting in the way of the business.

Most Disappointing.......2006-08-24

Having worked in the mental health community for sometime, I was already familiar with this technique and have been using it already. I felt the book was really droll and somewhat condescending in tone. I wouldn't purchase it again. His companion book "Why Employees Don't Do What They're Supposed to Do and What to Do about It" is a more practical read and enjoyable too--I would recommend that one.

The Heart of Coaching: Using Transformational Coaching to Create a High-Performance Coaching Culture (3rd Edition)

Average customer rating:

Awesomely helpful book on coaching!
The Heart of Coaching: Using Transformational Coaching to Create a High-Performance Coaching Culture (3rd Edition)
A sound and practical coaching method
Coaching for Results
Life Changing Skills

The Heart of Coaching: Using Transformational Coaching to Create a High-Performance Coaching Culture (3rd Edition)
Thomas G. Crane
Manufacturer: F T A Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Workplace | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Masterful Coaching

ASIN: 0966087437
Release Date: 2007-03-01

Book Description

More and more leaders and their organizations are becoming convinced in the business case for creating a "coaching culture". This book provides the tools for leaders and teams to develop a common language and shared protocol and a learning and development orientation towards people. These critical dynamics support the entire culture becoming a "feedback-rich, high-performance" organization.

For this to occur, a common coaching approach driven by coaching UP, DOWN, and SIDEWAYS is necessary. Coaching flows in all directions to managers, peers, and direct reports. Coaching becomes the normal "way we do things around here."

The premise of "The Heart of Coaching" was never more true. "As coaching becomes a predominant cultural practice...it will create a performance-focused, feedback-rich organization capable of creating and sustaining a competitive advantage."

This "Second Edition" makes the use of the enhanced coaching model easier to use than ever, since it now includes a colorized snapout reference card. Additionally, several powerful enhancements of the Transformational Coaching methodology make it one of the most comprehensive, and systematic approaches to coaching you will find today.

It guides leaders, managers, and entire teams who want to enhance or master their coaching skills through 2 critical aspects of coaching: 1. establishing authentic, healthy and respectful coaching relationships, and 2. organizing and conducting the actual coaching conversations that lead to commitments for positive results that both the coach and the coachee are willing to support.

Customer Reviews:

Awesomely helpful book on coaching!.......2007-08-28

This will become one of your go-to books re: the coaching process. I know it's one of mine! Incredible insights as well as lots of advice, tricks, tips, etc. A must buy for coaches, or those who aspire to become coaches.

The Heart of Coaching: Using Transformational Coaching to Create a High-Performance Coaching Culture (3rd Edition).......2007-03-29

This book does have some good background information about coaching. It is pretty dry though. If you want to learn about coaching, take an accredited coaching certification program. I did, and this was one of our required reads. It happened to be my least favorite and gave me very little practical information to use during a coaching session. If you want to read an inspiring, empowering book, read Breaking the Rules by Kurt Wright.

A sound and practical coaching method.......2005-09-28

Tom Crane goes to the true essence of coaching. He developed a comprehensive coaching method to transform knowledge into performance and action into results. A must read not only for coaches, but also for managers and leaders.

Coaching for Results.......2005-05-20

This book gets to the "heart" of the matter - pun intended. "Coaching," according to author Thomas G. Crane, "is a healthy, positive, and enabling process that develops the capacity of people to solve today's business problems." Bingo! Crane focuses on what coaches can achieve focusing their coaching on three principles: building a foundation of trust, learning together, and forwarding the action (and the self) forward. This what Crane calls transformational coaching. Consider it to be the art and the practice of helping others learn about their strengths, their weaknesses, and their opportunities for development. Tightly written and with ample diagrams and charts, this book is a treasure chest of ideas of executive coaches and an easy to follow guide for all managers who desire to coach for results. Don't simply read "The Heart of Coaching," practice its principles and you will help those you coach grow and develop.

Life Changing Skills.......2003-02-15

As a senior manager with a major international manufacturing entity, I am continually educating my superiors, peers and subordinates about the value of developing exceptional coaching skills. After extensive research, The Heart of Coaching was the written vehicle we chose to develop these skills within our organization.

The most important aspect of this work, that sets it apart from all others, is it's focus on changing yourself and your own behavior rather than changing others. It is written with a simplicity that creates immediate understanding of the most effective behaviors of leaders who combine "heart" with results.

Book Description

A new edition of the book that took the art of coaching to new heights, this is the definitive guide to mastering the skills needed to help people unlock their potential and maximize their performance.

Customer Reviews:

Foundations of Business Coaching.......2007-02-12

This book is an excellent expose of one of the primary sources, and the development of principles and techniques of business coaching from that starting point. He refers frequently to the work of Tim Gallwey and his inner game books. I was familiar with Gallwey's work, and appreciated the excellent organization, content and style of the book.

I found the book also to be of significant value to anyone who wishes to contribute to other people's success, be it in family, social, or other relationships. Parents should find the content valuable in moving from the control stage of parenting to the empowering stage of parenting.

Valuable coaching classic.......2007-01-10

Whitmore has provided a very good secular overview and guide to coaching in Coaching for Performance (I am a Christian coach). It is easy to read and gives lots of examples of using coaching technique in everyday life and work. It appeals to me as a classic as Whitmore came in at the early days of coaching and writes with clarity and enthusiasm. In this edition outlines its development. I purchased this book as it was often quoted in the Life Caoching couse I studied as part of a theology degree.

As someone with a sporting background I find his many references to sports coaching quite natural, however I can see this as an irritation to anyone who has never experienced coaching in the sporting arena. These references however do add to the readers' understanding of coaching technique and practice. I would recommend this book to anyone new to coaching, but would suggest further study and supervised practice if you want to do more than simply use a few coaching techniques in your worlplace and everyday life.

Good all round resource.......2007-01-10

I found this book very good as it gives a good general background to coaching as well as an introduction to coaching in the corporate environment. There were some parts that I did not agree with as I felt they contradicted the basic coaching principle of always working in clients agenda, but, that said, it is a good overall resource.

Really Excellent Book for Coaching Introduction.......2006-11-07

If you are new to the coaching topic, this book helps give you a general understanding to coaching using the GROW model. Very helpful!

great original book on coaching - still work a read!.......2006-03-18

This book was outstanding when it first came out - and it has truly stood the test of time. Sir John provides a welcome breath of reach air from the often all too frequent US-based and over-hyped coaching genre. Along with Thomas Lenard, Sir John Whitmore is one of the real pioneers of life coaching and workplace coaching. A great book.

Developing High Performance People: The Art of Coaching

Average customer rating:

Sharp, wise and practical

Developing High Performance People: The Art of Coaching
Oscar Mink
Manufacturer: Perseus Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0201563134

Customer Reviews:

Sharp, wise and practical.......2000-05-25

I've used this book both as a manager, working with individuals and my work team, and also as a consultant and facilitator working with client groups. It is a fantastic resource for the following reasons: 1. it has a very sound foundational model that is built on trust, organisational learning principles and action research; 2. it has an excellent blend of theory and practice, with heaps of case studies, anecdotes and wisdom acquired through experience; 3. it has a lot of really useful tools, reasources, survey instruments and so on - excellent stuff that helps you apply the ideas easily and straight away; 4. it has a lot of humanity, compassion and profound thought about what it means to be an individual working in a complex, dynamic organisation of today; 5. the ideas in it are built on values and ethics, an unusual, but welcome, approach to me; 6. what it advocates is practical, achieveable and realistic - it's not touchy-feely waffle, it is sound advice and tested approaches. Good on you cobbers!

The Consultant's Toolkit: High-Impact Questionnaires, Activities and How-to Guides for Diagnosing and Solving Client Problems

Average customer rating:

A Solution Seeking A Problem?
Worth the Price
Valuable Book
Awesome for Actionable Purchase
A Good Thought Jogger

The Consultant's Toolkit: High-Impact Questionnaires, Activities and How-to Guides for Diagnosing and Solving Client Problems
Mel Silberman
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0071362614

Book Description

Written and field-tested by practicing consultants, The Consultant’s Tool Kit will save consultants both time and money-as it makes their work with clients much more effective. Each tool or activity is designed to solve a common consulting problem. Reproducible worksheets, exercises, and questionnaires are easily downloaded from the web and customized by consultants to fit the exact needs of each client—and help them effectively implement the solutions.

This collection of field-tested tools, customizable questionnaires, and techniques for working with clients provides crucial problem-solving help in areas such as:
• Managing and leading change
• Organizational initiatives
• Assessing team and organizational functioning
• Improving relationships between departments and business units
• Creative problem-solving techniques

Mel Silberman, Ph.D., (Princeton, NJ) is a best-selling author and editor. A professor of adult and organization development at Temple University, he is the author of Active Training.

Download Description

Written and field-tested by practicing consultants, The Consultant's Tool Kit will save consultants both time and money-as it makes their work with clients much more effective. Each tool or activity is designed to solve a common consulting problem. Reproducible worksheets, exercises, and questionnaires are easily downloaded from the web and customized by consultants to fit the exact needs of each client¿and help them effectively implement the solutions.

Customer Reviews:

A Solution Seeking A Problem?.......2007-09-08

A good book with some solid approaches to consulting that many have found to be useful.

The only downside, if you can call it that, is that quite a number of the solutions may not work well in a good number of real-world consulting assignments.

Overall not a bad read and worth further investigation if you're looking for something to lead you step-by-step through solving certain client problems.

Worth the Price.......2007-02-19

Part of my consulting practice is to create and facilitate group learning for various situations. I enjoy leafing through this book to both remind myself of tools, techniques and concepts I have explored in the past, and also to expand my options to incorporate new material into the mix. It is a bit like hanging out with a bunch of other consultants for a day to share ideas.

Valuable Book.......2006-07-17

This is a wonderful book that combines the expertise of a wide range of experts in the consulting field. Due to the different styles of the authors, the reader is bound to find several that really address their concerns.

The book is a useful toolkit as it has templates that one can easily adapt to meet their needs. Most of the common consulting problems are addressed. Among the readily useable tools are the various exercises, questionnaires and reproducible worksheets and techniques for working with clients, among others, which make this a very user friendly book that makes life easier for a consultant, particularly those like me that are relatively new to the profession.

This is a well written book that is easy to follow and understand and that should be a valuable tool to both the seasoned professional and the novice. It is certainly a very valuable reference book that can be used as a checklist when delivering services.

Awesome for Actionable Purchase.......2006-02-19

This book led me to synergist my P2P bottom-line best practices, to synergize both inside and outside the box, to leverage a value-added, results-driven mindset for their B2B core competencies in which their historical trends have led me to conclude that by doubling or even tripling their efforts of efficiency on the office front, it will yield a new entity of massive synergistic proportions.

A Good Thought Jogger.......2005-03-30

Silberman has brought together 45 different tools to help the consultant carry out a variety of projects. The book is probably due for a new edition, but many of the tools are as relevant now as they were when the book was published.

Because the book's scope is broad, it's best used as a way to frame your thinking on how to solve a problem, or to suggest a summary approach to a client issue. It's a good reference to be sure you're not leaving things out that you should think about, rather than a comprehensive guide to engagement problem-solving.

This is an ambitious book with lots of great ideas.

Michael McLaughlin, coauthor with Jay Conrad Levinson of Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants.

Adaptive Coaching: The Art and Practice of a Client-Centered Approach to Performance Improvement

Average customer rating:

Best Coaching Book I've Read
Research-Based Approach Raises Coaching to a New Level

Adaptive Coaching: The Art and Practice of a Client-Centered Approach to Performance Improvement
Terry R. Bacon
Manufacturer: Davies-Black Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Be Your Own Coach: Your Pathway to Possibility (Crisp Fifty-Minute Series)

ASIN: 0891061878

Book Description

This book fills the huge gap between what companies and clients expect from coaching and what it actually does for them. Zeroing in on this popular technique to develop today's leaders, improve performance, and facilitate change, the book shows how to deliver coaching that helps anyone achieve extraordinary results.

Customer Reviews:

Best Coaching Book I've Read.......2005-08-03

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.......2003-10-13

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.

Coaching and Mentoring: How to Develop Top Talent and Achieve Stronger Performance (Harvard Business Essentials)
Average customer rating:

Good Overview

Coaching and Mentoring: How to Develop Top Talent and Achieve Stronger Performance (Harvard Business Essentials)
Harvard Business School Press
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 159139435X

Book Description

Effective managers know that timely coaching can dramatically enhance their teams’ performance

Coaching and Mentoring offers managers comprehensive advice on how to help employees grow professionally and achieve their goals.

This volume covers the full spectrum of effective mentoring and the nuts and bolts of coaching.Managers will learn how to master special mentoring challenges, improve listening skills, and provide ongoing support to their employees.

Customer Reviews:

Good Overview.......2007-01-10

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It is well-organized so it makes for an easy read. Gives you some helpful information and a good overview of what is involved in mentoring and coaching. However, you will need other books for more detailed skill building.

Action Coaching: How to Leverage Individual Performance for Company Success

Average customer rating:

An excellent overview
Action Coaching
A Solid Effort!
Coaching in Context

Action Coaching: How to Leverage Individual Performance for Company Success
David L., PhD Dotlich , Peter C., PhD Cairo , and Peter C. Cairo
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Unnatural Leadership: Going Against Intuition and Experience to Develop Ten New Leadership Instincts (The Jossey-Bass Business & Management Series)
Head, Heart and Guts: How the World's Best Companies Develop Complete Leaders

ASIN: 0787944777

Book Description

Chances are, if you're a manager in most any organization today, coaching has become an integral part of your responsibilities. And there's no more effective approach to coaching than Action Coaching. Developed by the authors through their work with Levi Strauss, Colgate, Bank of America, Arthur Andersen and other leading companies, Action Coaching is the only coaching process that dramatically increases an individual's personal performance in direct correlation with established organizational goals. Here, Dotlich and Cairo share the same advice, techniques, and tools they've used to transform hundreds of managers and executives into first-rate coaches. Moreover, they clearly demonstrate how Action Coaching can be used as a strategy for achieving organizational goals by aligning personal improvement with a company's vision for the future.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent overview.......2006-01-27

The need to cope with change, inside and outside of the organization, and the employee's need for personal development should be brought into alignment, say these founding partners of CDR International, a consulting firm that specializes in executive coaching. Action coaching is a process that fosters self-awareness, and guides personal development so that an employee's personal development goals are congruent with the goals of the organization.

Action coaching differs from traditional coaching in three ways:
1. The employee's relationship to the coach is a business relationship rather than a therapist-patient relationship.
2. Action coaches tailor their strategies to the individual and the strategies are geared towards performance breakthroughs, where traditional coaching tends to be unfocused and generalized.
3. Where traditional coaching focuses on personal insights, Action coaching translates insights into actions with organizational results.

There are eight steps to implementing Action coaching in your organization:
1. Determine what needs to happen and in what context.
2. Establish trust and mutual expectations. Make sure the employee understands the purpose of the coaching as well as the steps in the process.
3. Contract with the employee for results. There should be a formal written and oral agreement with the employee about the purpose of the coaching and specific goals to achieve.
4. Collect and communicate feedback.
5. Translate talk into action. Use your feedback to enact change. Review and revise goals when needed. Make sure the goals are still in alignment with the business needs of the organization. Set deadlines.
6. Support the employee in taking big steps.
7. Foster reflection about actions.
8. Evaluate both individual and organizational progress.

Action Coaching.......2005-10-12

I have more than thirty years of successful experience using models of leadership, management, and supervision in training classrooms, and I have passionately absorbed the ideas and content in approximately 400 leadership-related texts during the last 20 years.

Action Coaching is to coaching effectiveness what The Supervisor's Survival Kit by Elwood Chapman is to first-line/project lead effectiveness. I've used and advocated the latter book for thirty five years.

Action Coaching, and I haven't finished it yet, "begins with the end in mind". The authors define Action Coaching as "a process that fosters self-awareness, resulting in the motivation and the guidance to change in ways that meet organizational needs." The approach is directly linked to organizational goals and an action plan (both of which are dynamic). There are processes to involve the executive's boss in the process. (Good luck, you say, with getting executives to devote time to such a process!?) Feedback on progress toward important goals and leadership development is valued and seen by the CEO.

The book is loaded with tips, tools, exhibits, questions, processes, and ideas for helping a manager become a more effective coach, even without the support of the organization. The authors of Action Coaching offer forty helpful, easy- to- understand exhibits that: serve as diagnostic tools, offer suggestions on handling difficult situations, provide checklists of to-do's, feature evaluation and role-playing tools, etc.

Wouldn't it be helpful to have a resource where the processes and approach had been successfully field tested in corporations with real executives, with real CEO's who had extremely important strategic challenges ahead of them, and where traditionalist leadership paradigms and behaviors made it impossible to accomplish the articulated goals? That is precisely what these authors did in developing and refining their processes and approaches?

What the Action Coaching is not is a lock-step guide, prescribing every important step and nuance along the way toward helping executive leaders grow. It is a particularly interesting, believable, and seemingly sound approach based on the experiences that they have had with major organizations. The process with individuals and with organizations is one that enables both to help themselves, becoming less dependent upon the external coaches, while building coaching expertise internally.

This is the best book of coaching I have ever read, and I've read quite a few.

Bill Parker
Bill Parker Associates
A Leadership Development Resource
Richmond, VA

PS This is the fourth book I have read by David Dotlich and his colleagues within the past six months. I'd recommend every one of them: Action Learning (1998), Unnatural Leadership (2004), and Leadership Passages (2004). Put together, the series represents a longitudinal action-research case study. Readers of Unnatural Leadership can appreciate the need for the ten new leadership instincts when they remember that they grew from strategic goals and leadership development experiences with corporate clients/partners.

A Solid Effort!.......2001-02-17

David L. Dotlich and Peter C. Cairo discuss how to use action coaching to improve individual effectiveness and boost your overall organization. Their approach begins with fostering self-awareness and then uses this awareness to motivate change that the organization needs. Action coaching involves a series of steps and some specific coaching tools. While this book provides a fairly well-organized and well-written introduction to the concept, it covers familiar training and development ground. If you are a beginner in this area, the repetition of steps and processes will come in handy. Experienced trainers will find the coaching tools quite familiar and the assessment questions fairly obvious. Thus, we at getAbstract.com recommend this book for those who are new to training and development, or for employees who are considering getting coached.

Coaching in Context.......2000-09-07

Dotlich and Cairo have put together a fine and practical book that really helps focus coaching skills towards results. They give a very specific approach to developing an action plan to produce results from coaching. In fact they address four kinds of results - self-awareness results, performance improvement results, performance breakthroughs and finally full-blown transformations. Maybe most important for modern organizations is the anal;ysis of coaching skills in the context of the organizational needs, not just individual developmental needs. We develop and support people because our organization needs their current compliment of skills enhanced with other skills or it needs to rehabilitate a counterproductive approach. Although much of their work is not necesarily new, I believe they have packaged it to be more usable and accesible. I would highly recommend this book for someone looking for a chance to evaluate their own coaching skills, develop an improvement action plan and maintain high levels of motivation to improve their performance. Who know, maybe even transform their performance!

The Mental Keys to Hitting: A Handbook of Strategies for Performance Enhancement

Average customer rating:

Great Book
This Book Turned My Game Around
Great Book!
Excellent Youth Coach's Hitting Manual. SEE THE BALL.

The Mental Keys to Hitting: A Handbook of Strategies for Performance Enhancement
H.A. Dorfman
Manufacturer: Diamond Communications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Essays & Writings | Baseball | Sports | Subjects | Books

General | Baseball | Sports | Subjects | Books

Sports Psychology | Miscellaneous | Sports | Subjects | Books

General | Sports | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Mental Game of Baseball: A Guide to Peak Performance
The Mental ABC's of Pitching: A Handbook for Performance Enhancement
Heads-Up Baseball : Playing the Game One Pitch at a Time
The Louisville Slugger® Complete Book of Hitting Faults and Fixes : How to Detect and Correct the 50 Most Common Mistakes at the Plate
Coaching the Mental Game: Leadership Philosophies and Strategies for Peak Performance in Sports and Everyday Life

ASIN: 1888698381

Book Description

This book is a must additon to every player's training and game day routines. Anyone serious about playing baseball should find this book as important as a bat or a glove.

Customer Reviews:

Great Book .......2006-08-28

Best book on the subject I have ever read - very usable.

This Book Turned My Game Around.......2006-08-02

Until I read this book I was throwing helmets, tossing bats, and swearing after every at-bat. The Mental Keys to Hitting gave me confidence to go to the batter's box with a plan and execute to the best of my ability. A must-read for any player.

Great Book!.......2006-03-18

For the player who wants to excell at a high level, the information in this book is critical to that success. Easy to read & understand.

Chuck Schumacher
Owner-- Chucks Gym
Baseball & Martial Arts
Training & conditioning

Excellent Youth Coach's Hitting Manual. SEE THE BALL........2001-06-12

The Mental Keys to Hitting is the Greatest most user friendly baseball coach's book ever. I thought the mental aspects of Seeing the ball were extremely effective. Most readers reading this review might think that every player is seeing the ball properly. Players do not see the ball as well as they should because they have never been taught the proper mind set of seeing the ball.Coaching hitters to see the ball is one of the most important things a coach can teach his players.This is absolutely not coached at any level of youth baseball. Mr. Dorfman does an excellent job of explaning this simple but often overlooked method of batting. I have bought The Mental Game of Baseball, The Mental Game of Pitching, and The Mental Keys to hitting. These three books are the TOP Three baseball coaching books ever written. I highly recommend this book and the other two books by Mr. Dorfman. This book will teach you the coach how to apply these mental princples to help you to effectively coach your youth league baseball team.

Explosive Running : Using the Science of Kinesiology to Improve Your Performance

Average customer rating:

Technique from a Book? Bad idea.
Almost a good running publication
Add specifity to any running program
How serious do you want to get about your running?
Awesome!

Explosive Running : Using the Science of Kinesiology to Improve Your Performance
Michael Yessis , and Michael Yessis PhD
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Running & Jogging | Exercise & Fitness | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Sports Medicine | Specialties | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Running & Jogging | Individual Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books

General | Sports | Subjects | Books

Track & Field | Other Team Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books

Anatomy | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Daniels' Running Formula
Lore of Running
ChiRunning
Running Within: A Guide to Mastering the Body-Mind-Spirit Connection for Ultimate Training and Racing
Road Racing for Serious Runners

Accessories:

Tanita BC554 Ironman Glass InnerScan Body Composition Monitor Elite Series

ASIN: 0809298996

Book Description

If you are a serious runner, you want to improve your ability to run faster and longer without injury. Many runners have bought better shoes or spent longer hours on the track trying to improve, only to end up frustrated with back and leg pain. But the secret to improving your run is simple--your stride is only as good as your physical abilities allow. Making a few simple changes in strength, flexibility, speed of movement, and technique will help you reach your genetic potential. In Explosive Running, Dr. Michael Yessis, a respected sports fitness expert, demonstrates the method he has used successfully with thousands of runners. His method consists of three overlapping steps all runners should go through in order to improve their performance and make the transition to effective, efficient, and faster running. Included are detailed discussions of the biomechanics of running, special strength exercises, stretching, troubleshooting common problems, nutrition for optimal running, and tips to maintain a running program. This book employs unique sequence photography that captures and analyzes movements that are key to a good running stride. Explosive Running will give you a much greater understanding of the sport and help you improve in a much shorter amount of time than most other books on the subject. Michael Yessis, Ph.D., is president of Sports Training, Inc., a training facility for professional athletes. He is the author of Kinesiology of Exercise and Explosive Golf and has appeared on "Today" and CNN.

Customer Reviews:

Technique from a Book? Bad idea........2007-01-24

I bought this book wondering if it would show me any tips to improve my running technique. The book does serve as a good introduction to running technique and I would suggest the book to a person who knows nothing on the topic. However, the book left me more convinced than ever before that one cannot improve technique from lessons in a book. Coaches exist for a reason and this is one of them. Runners who have great body and muscle awareness are not going to have major problems and thus are not going to need this book. On the other hand, runners who have poor body awareness are going to need a knowledgable person (a coach) to watch them run and identify the problem. So they don't need the book either and are better of spending their money on a coaching session. This book might be useful for a student taking a college course in coaching running but that is about it.

Beside this general complaint the book itself leaves a lot to be desired. The photographs in the book are rather poor. They are simply clips from a video and suffer from all the problems that causes. It was really mind boggling to me that the publisher was so cheap as to not pay for a still camera to take photos. The poor quality images make it difficult at times to really understand what the author is refering to in the picture. It is most unfortunate that the authors obvious knoweledge is hindered by this problem. Further, there isn't a modern fad (running barefoot, neuromuscler training) that the author doesn't fall for. It used to be "muscle memory" was all the rage. The book would have been stronger if these issues were left out as the author comes across as pandering.

All in all I think this is a book that might serve some useful purpose for a person who knows little about proper running technique. But for a person with difficulties it is not a substitute for a some sessions with a good coach.

Almost a good running publication.......2006-12-03

Almost. Yessis and Yessis (two authors) focus on the biomechanics of running, which is unusual and perhaps distinctive among publications - we've got the way to train, mostly from Jack D., and now this is an almost good book for telling us how to run. The descriptions of proper running style, and the exercises to achieve proper running style, are in the book.

But you really have to dig. What makes this book 'almost good' is that there is no structure or system to its presentation. Y & Y say what they have to say. Once. Twice, a different way. Third, a different way. And so on.

The redundancy is really not the bad point - the bad point is that there's so much laid out, it's hard to tell what you should do first. Doing it all, well, that would take eight hours a set.

Another bad point. There are far, far more 'non-examples' of runners displaying INcorrect running style than examples of runners displaying correct running style. For the typical reader (I presume I am among them), I want to see someone running right . . . not endless pictures of people who are running and are doing two, three, or four things wrong.

It seems like Y & Y have one favorite sprinter in the book who does it all right. Everyone else, be they your average marathon runner or the state high school 1,500 meeter champ or a nationally ranked 5,000 meter competitor, displays a running style per Y & Y that is "almost, but not quite, right."

The pictures are a great, great idea - but next version show us how to run, biomechanically, the right way. Give us pictures of people who either naturally or with training, are doing it ALL right. (A value-added add-on of course would be a DVD with video clips of runners running the right way.)

The explanations are helpful - but somehow, some way, please structure the presentation. Provide exercises per running element, or simple to easy, or beginner to advanced, SOME sort of organization that makes sense so that as readers we can figure out fairly easily what it is we each should incorporate into our workout schedule.

Add specifity to any running program.......2004-12-14

This book complete's any running book collection. It goes in depth into the biomechanics of running, specific weight training exersizes for breakthrough running, and specific stretching for runners. This book covers the information that most other books only breifly skim over. The knowledge that Michael Yessis shares in this book could be eaisily added to any running program, to make you a faster, and more efficient runner. I would reccommend this book to anyone who is serious about running and looking to add more specifity to their running program. If you want to run faster, and farther without getting injured this is a book for you.

How serious do you want to get about your running?.......2004-06-27

This book would be great for anyone who is serious about running and desires to find ways to increase performance. The sections that break down the actual mechanics of running are complicated, but I found them to be interesting. The sections on stretching and weightlifting exercises specifically for running are outstanding. The chapter on the effects shoes have on feet and the case for spending more time barefoot is also a highlight.

If you are a casual runner who is happy and not interested in making running a top priority in your life, then I would personally skip this book. If you are "into" running and seeking a deeper understanding of what the mechanics of the run are and how to improve your run, then I cannot see how this book would not help you.

Awesome!.......2002-07-01

This book is everything the title says it is . . .explosive. I noticed benefits in terms of my speed and endurance from the start of training. I was also gratified to read the authors endorsement of barefoot running! If you are a serious runner seeking to improve your speed, endurance and running economy. This is the book for you.

Tim
Anacortes, Washington

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