What are the best books for coaching?

I asked a number of coaches and they recommended a wide range of books – from those outlining coaching models and techniques, best practice in leadership and management , positive psychology, to books taking a spiritual approach to coaching and business.

They also recommended books drawing on theories of Neuro Linguistic Programming and personality types. There were also many texts suggested aimed at supporting clients in taking action and making change.

Which are the most popular?

Perhaps, as you would expect, the majority of books recommended were texts to support clients in taking action and making positive change. These books are also often as useful to coaches as their clients.

The next most recommended were books on business development – particularly on marketing and growing a coaching practice – particularly effective ways of attracting new clients.

In all 68 books were recommended – here are 6:

Co-Active Coaching: New Skills for Coaching People Toward Success in Work and Life, by L. Wentworth, P. Sandall, H. Kimsey-House. Publisher: Davies-Black Publishing; 2 Pap/Com edition (February 25, 2007)

This book outlines the Coaches Training Institute’s (CTI) model for coaching and discusses how to design a good coaching alliance. It then explores the nuances and skills of a coaching relationship, giving definitions and detailed examples of how each of these play a part in a successful coaching partnership. These skills include listening, intuition, curiosity, forwarding and deepening the learning, and self-management. The book also explores three distinct parts of coaching — fulfillment, balance and process.

The final section of the book is called the Coach’s Toolkit. It is filled with tools, forms and checklists to serve both individual and corporate clients. In addition, the book comes with a CD with more information, examples of coaching conversations and printable forms.

Coaching for Performance by John Whitmore – Nicholas Brealey Publishing; 3 edition (May 25, 2002)

In this highly influential book, Sir John Whitmore describes what he believes coaching is, how it can be used, and the skills required for coaching. Whitmore also outlines his GROW model which can be used both in a personal, corporate and team context. In the book Whitmore, explores what coaching is, looks at the skills of questioning and introduces his GROW model (Goals, Reality, Options and Will).

Whitmore also discusses a range of topics – including motivation, coaching the corporation, feedback and assessment and coaching teams, emotional intelligence and spirtual intelligence and their relation to coaching.

Four Steps to Building A Profitable Coaching Business/ A Complete Marketing Resource Guide for Coaches - Deborah Brown-Volkman – iUniverse (October 30, 2003)

This book will show you how to build and market a profitable coaching practice in four easy steps. It walks you through the process of deciding who to coach and how to create a program that potential clients will pay you lots of money for. You will understand the components of creating a winning marketing strategy and learn tips and techniques to implement your plan. You will also discover how to become masterful at both marketing and selling.

Get Clients Now! by C.J. Hayden – Amacom; 2 edition (1 Oct 2006)

“Get Clients Now” empowers readers with practical, proven strategies for choosing the right marketing tactics for their situation and personality, diagnosing exactly what’s missing in their marketing and fixing it, and replacing unproductive cold calling with the power of relationship marketing. Filled with hundreds of tool and techniques, as well as a powerful 28-day plan that enables readers to energise their marketing efforts and dramatically increase their client base, the second edition contains up-to-the-minute strategies for relationship-based marketing in the Internet age.

Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott – Piatkus Books (August 21, 2003)

Susan Scott maintains that a single conversation can change the trajectory of a career, marriage or life. Whether it’s conversations with yourself, partner, colleagues, customers, family or friends, Fierce Conversations shows you how to have conversations that count. Scott reveals how to overcome barriers to meaningful conversations and her book is packed with exercises and questionnaires to help you have the best conversations possible.

Wishcraft – How to get what you really want by Barbara Sher – Ballantine Books; 2 edition (Dec 2003)

In the first part of this book Barabar Sher takes you through a series of exercises designed to get you to dream your wildest dreams about your life and what it could be. Sher also encourages you to distinguish between ‘real’ dreams and fantasies . The second part of the book gives you great approaches to achieving them and is full of challenging and effective exercises.

This short list gives just a flavour of the resources available to you as a coach – and now all you have to do is get reading!

© Sonia Thomas May 2008

When faced with a problem or a dilemma our natural inclination is to look for information. If you’ve just lost your ex you’re probably looking to purchase or check out books on relationships. There are thousands of titles all claiming to help you meet your need. How are you supposed to choose which one is best for you?In this article, I’ll give you the best method to choosing the best relationship books. The answer will most definitely surprise you. Keep reading…

First of all, don’t let the fancy letters after the author’s name fool you. There is a difference between school or academic knowledge and real life knowledge. Many people stay in school for years and end up with a whole bunch of letters after their name. All that really says is that they’ve spent time in school and completed the academic requirements to receive the degrees. This does not in any way equal real experience.

Instead of getting drawn in by the letters behind the author’s name you should look for an author who has been down in the trenches. These people either helped put another couple’s relationship back together or went through the process of fixing their own broken pieces. These aren’t people who worked with therapy patients, but relationships of people they actually cared about.

Next, you don’t want to get books that tell you to set your relationship on a shelf for 30 days and work on yourself during that window of time. Most of these books give this same advice. The online ebooks take this concept and turn it into a 50 page pdf document and charge you money for it. These are not what you need. Don’t waste your money on them.

Are you troubled over the name of your newborn baby boy? Perhaps you need some help sourcing for some ideal baby boy names that you would like your baby to have. There are many different ways you can look for baby names. If you prefer more traditional methods, you can always try referring to some baby name books.

Baby name books are available in local bookstores, or online shopping stores like Amazon. You can easily find tons of books on the subjects. For quick references, you can even borrow baby name books from the public library, and you don’t have to spend a single cent.

Here are 5 popular titles from Amazon online book store that you may be interested in:

1) The Baby Name Wizard: A Magical Method for Finding the Perfect Name for Your Baby by Laura Wattenberg

2) The Complete Book of Baby Names by Lesley Bolton

3) 100,000 + Baby Names: The Most Complete Baby Name Book: Including 300+ Fascinating Lists, The Latest Naming Trends, Key to Gender-Neutral Names by Bruce Lansky

4) Cool Names by Pamela Redmond Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz

5) Best Exotic Baby Names: New, Historical, Ancient, Mystical by Allison Jones and G. Kirscheimer

Each of the above titles cost no more that $12.00, so consider them inexpensive. The benefits of buying online is that you get to assess the titles quickly based on customer ratings and reviews.

Why use a baby name book.

A baby name book is a good place to start because it offers you lots of ideas. You can browse through the book in alphabetical order, and derive the meanings of the names from a baby name book.

Other ways you can get baby name ideas.

Family and friends – Talk to your family and friends. Often, you find that they are just bursting with ideas, and they are glad that you are willing to seek their opinion. Write down all the ideas you hear, and see if there is anything you like. If there are a few names that you like, you can always go back and do more research on the names.

Baby names website – The Internet is another ideal place for baby name ideas. You can browse these sites like you browse a baby name book. Simply select the alphabet, and you will be presented with a list of baby names, together with the meanings of the names. You can print out the entire list, or bookmark the websites so that you can revisit them at a later date.

Celebrity names – Celebrity names are widely promoted, so you may have a few ringing in your ears. If there is name that you particularly like, why not adopt the name for your baby? The name will sound like music to your ears as you continue to call your baby by name many years down the road.