Performance Coaching, 3rd Edition

Part One

The fundamentals of performance coaching

Introduction

Coaching is a relatively new profession and yet arguably as old as human communication itself. Socrates is sometimes said to have been the first coach, because many of the quotations attributed to him display the coaching approach of asking questions instead of giving instructions, for example: ‘I cannot teach anybody anything; I can only make them think.’

Coaching is not just a workplace phenomenon. Many of the managers I have trained shared stories of how their newly acquired skills improved their relationships with family and friends. An Indian manager told me that in 20 minutes he resolved a family feud that had lasted 20 years by asking questions from the GROW framework described ...