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Executive Coaching with Backbone and Heart: A Systems Approach to Engaging Leaders with Their Challenges
Praise for Executive Coaching with Backbone and Heart
"In this book, O'Neill brings form and structure to the art of executive coaching. Novices are provided a path while seasoned practitioners will find affirmation."
--Daryl R. Conner, CEO and president, ODR-USA, Inc.
"Mary Beth O'Neill's executive coaching gave me the tools and clarity to become a far more effective leader and change agent. The bottom line was that we succeeded with a monumental organizational turnaround that had seemed impossible to accomplish."
--Eric Stevens, former CEO, Courage Center
"O'Neill writes in a way that allows you to see this experienced coach in action. What a wonderful way to learn!"
--Geoff Bellman, consultant and author, The Consultant's Calling
"Mary Beth brings a keen business focus to coaching by not just contributing insights but through helping me and my team gain the insights that we need to solve our own problems. She has the ability to see through the sometimes chaotic dialogue and personalities in order to help a team focus on the real issues and dynamics that can impede organizations from achieving their goals."
--John C. Nicol, general manager, MSN Media Network
"Effective leaders require courage, compassion, and initiative. O'Neill's systems-based coaching serves as a guide for both coaches and executives to better enable good decisions and good decision-makers."
--Paul D. Purcell, president, Beacon Development Group
"With Mary Beth O'Neill's coaching, I've become the kind of leader who balances both the needs to get results and to develop great working relationships.?Since I started working with her, I've won accolades as the Top Innovator for my company, and as Professional of the Year for my industry.?More important, I've been able to scope my job in a way that allows me to learn and contribute at the same time, all the while delivering great results to the bottom line."
--Lynann Bradbury, vice president, Waggener Edstrom
"In this book, O'Neill brings form and structure to the art of executive coaching. Novices are provided a path while seasoned practitioners will find affirmation."
--Daryl R. Conner, CEO and president, ODR-USA, Inc.
"Mary Beth O'Neill's executive coaching gave me the tools and clarity to become a far more effective leader and change agent. The bottom line was that we succeeded with a monumental organizational turnaround that had seemed impossible to accomplish."
--Eric Stevens, former CEO, Courage Center
"O'Neill writes in a way that allows you to see this experienced coach in action. What a wonderful way to learn!"
--Geoff Bellman, consultant and author, The Consultant's Calling
"Mary Beth brings a keen business focus to coaching by not just contributing insights but through helping me and my team gain the insights that we need to solve our own problems. She has the ability to see through the sometimes chaotic dialogue and personalities in order to help a team focus on the real issues and dynamics that can impede organizations from achieving their goals."
--John C. Nicol, general manager, MSN Media Network
"Effective leaders require courage, compassion, and initiative. O'Neill's systems-based coaching serves as a guide for both coaches and executives to better enable good decisions and good decision-makers."
--Paul D. Purcell, president, Beacon Development Group
"With Mary Beth O'Neill's coaching, I've become the kind of leader who balances both the needs to get results and to develop great working relationships.?Since I started working with her, I've won accolades as the Top Innovator for my company, and as Professional of the Year for my industry.?More important, I've been able to scope my job in a way that allows me to learn and contribute at the same time, all the while delivering great results to the bottom line."
--Lynann Bradbury, vice president, Waggener Edstrom
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
86 people are currently reading
540 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
October 13, 2012
This book was highly recommended in coaching training that I received this summer. I can see why. First of all, the two basic ideas of backbone and heart. Backbone is the idea of not caving on contracted goals and action plans. Heart is entering deeply into your client's goals, challenges, and personal development needs.
O'Neill begins the book by discussing the coach's posture as one of results orientation, partnership, engaging specific leadership challenges and linking team behaviors with business goals. She then explores the critical element of establishing a signature presence in the stressful climate of coaching rather than simply trying to please the client. One of the most helpful elements in this chapter was her discussion of immediacy--connecting what is going on in the coaching conversation with the client's behavior 'out there'. Chances are, if you are reacting in a certain way, superiors and reports probably are as well. She concludes this section with two chapters on systems thinking--understanding how your clients challenges are shaped by their organizational system and understanding triangles and how to deal with being part of one (particularly by not becoming a surrogate for client or boss).
Part two moves on to the four phases of coaching methodology. Phase One is contracting and focuses on clearly defined goals in three areas: business results, team interactions, and leader interpersonal behaviors. O'Neill's system always links the last two to clearly established business results. Phase Two is planning with a strong emphasis on action plans that are established and implemented by the client and plans that provide alternative behaviors to co-created dysfunctional patterns. Phase Three is Live Action Coaching, where the coach works with the client and his or her team in an actual business setting. The coach doesn't take over meeting but works with the client and team in prompting responses that accord with the coaching plan rather than pre-existing patterns. Phase Four is debriefing, which debriefs both client and coach effectiveness and establishes next steps.
The book concludes with chapters on determining the Return on Investment in coaching, making the transition in your work to coaching, and helping leaders coach their supervisees (key here is to be clear when you are speaking as boss and when you are speaking as coach).
While my coaching will be in a ministry building situation, I see many parallels, including the needs to establish clear results, working on staff behaviors and team interactions, identifying unhelpful patterns and the four stages in the coaching process. I suspect I will come back to this book again and again and I would recommend it to others who would like a good reference on effective coaching.
O'Neill begins the book by discussing the coach's posture as one of results orientation, partnership, engaging specific leadership challenges and linking team behaviors with business goals. She then explores the critical element of establishing a signature presence in the stressful climate of coaching rather than simply trying to please the client. One of the most helpful elements in this chapter was her discussion of immediacy--connecting what is going on in the coaching conversation with the client's behavior 'out there'. Chances are, if you are reacting in a certain way, superiors and reports probably are as well. She concludes this section with two chapters on systems thinking--understanding how your clients challenges are shaped by their organizational system and understanding triangles and how to deal with being part of one (particularly by not becoming a surrogate for client or boss).
Part two moves on to the four phases of coaching methodology. Phase One is contracting and focuses on clearly defined goals in three areas: business results, team interactions, and leader interpersonal behaviors. O'Neill's system always links the last two to clearly established business results. Phase Two is planning with a strong emphasis on action plans that are established and implemented by the client and plans that provide alternative behaviors to co-created dysfunctional patterns. Phase Three is Live Action Coaching, where the coach works with the client and his or her team in an actual business setting. The coach doesn't take over meeting but works with the client and team in prompting responses that accord with the coaching plan rather than pre-existing patterns. Phase Four is debriefing, which debriefs both client and coach effectiveness and establishes next steps.
The book concludes with chapters on determining the Return on Investment in coaching, making the transition in your work to coaching, and helping leaders coach their supervisees (key here is to be clear when you are speaking as boss and when you are speaking as coach).
While my coaching will be in a ministry building situation, I see many parallels, including the needs to establish clear results, working on staff behaviors and team interactions, identifying unhelpful patterns and the four stages in the coaching process. I suspect I will come back to this book again and again and I would recommend it to others who would like a good reference on effective coaching.
July 10, 2021
I thought this was a pretty useful book overall. I really liked some of the concepts about executive coaching that Mary speaks about. One of the key strategies for coaching executive that I learned from this was a triple approach of ensuring that you can make sure that you're working with the executive to understand what you can do to support them at a personal level. What you can do secondly to support them at their program or project level. And then thirdly what you executive coach can do to coach the executive at a company wide level so that they try to increase their brand in the organization. Setting up a way in which you can track against these three challenges and be able to give feedback in the moment sometimes and join the executive in the meetings is a key to making sure that that executive is aligned and on cue to hitting the targets that you've specified at the start of your engagement.
There were lots of other models in this book but for me the importance of having backbone and having those difficult conversations but doing it with empathy is a key part of beautiful conversations and something that the book also espouses.Anyway here are some of the best bits from the book:
They also suffer from a belief that they should not ask for help, which exacerbates their lonely at the top experience. Coaches of top executives needs to treat these matters with seriousness and without being intimidated by the issues themselves.
The coaching method outlined in this book follows four straightforward stages: the initial contract, planning contact, live action interventions and then debriefing. It's a very simple method.
Backbone is about saying what your position is, whether it is popular or not. Heart is staying in relationships and reaching out even when that relationship is in conflict.
I told bill in the presence of his team that it was time to name what is clear and unclear and what do we need? Also said that it felt uncomfortable, not because they were doing anything wrong because the situation was by nature unclear. It could also mean that they were on the verge of a burst of creativity because original thinking starts when they are willing to stop hanging onto familiar territory and start moving out into the unknown. I told bill to hang out in the confusion and hold less tightly to their needs to have clarity quickly. This is a bit like the concept created by Danny Meyer, the restaurateur, which is about loving the problem.
I admired their development of a fluid structure that serviced and anticipated changes. And I was glad that we all had continued to manage the ambiguity by staying in conversation, distinguishing what is known and not known, clarifying plans to move ahead, and stating the needs that people had of others.
Good ways of dealing with anger: identify the trigger to your reactivity. Then figure out your typical reaction to that trigger. Choose an alternative response to get you started down a different path. Same track with the goal you have for yourself in the session. You also have to be willing to enter a void before getting to the other side. Increasing your tolerance means strengthening and emotional muscle that you can hold on in that void. It's more than doing any specific action.
However even an incremental increase in tolerance can provide a geometric gain in bringing newness to the situation either a dramatically different resistance, or a breakthrough with the client or both.
Once you have identified your reactions you can do the last two steps. Tell the leader your direct experience and link it to her work world. You might say for example I hear you talk about your successes but I'm not seeing the connection to the topic we're discussing. Frankly I'm starting to guessing why you're doing it. Maybe your team tries to second guess your you sometimes too of course you can always take a chance when you use immediacy. You could be way off or two directly on target. You could offend your client. You could scare her off by getting too intense too soon. In the best case you could catch your clients attention in a new way and engender an invitation from the leader to get more of that kind of feedback from you without using immediacy, it's impossible to get to the heart of some issues. Immediacy helps a client identify her knee jerk patterns and helps her make new choices it takes tremendous presence to do this as a coach using the ability to observe patterns of interaction and reactivity in your client while you are also participating and interacting with her. When you do have the presence to stop the action conversation to report your observations and reactions, you evoke more presence from your client. The trance of her reactivity may break long enough for her to see herself in a new way. This can be a tremendous gift to your client. It requires courage to speak on the part of the coach and courage to listen on the part of the client.
Interactional fields take a life of their own even as individuals in an organization, and go. I once worked for a restaurant that maintained the same level of service and quality through several years. Though they aspire to be world class theywe're good but not exceptional. The managers and 70% of the staff left and newcomers took their place. The forcefield remained the same: good but not excellent. There were factors in place affecting system that were more enduring than the individuals within it.
What do these interactional webs have to do with coaching? Practically everything. First it's critical to know how organizational systems affect you: the ones you are in and Co create. Reactivity also shows where you are particularly vulnerable in a system and respond with kneejerk habits. When you maintain a self differentiated presence you can feel the effects of a system to avoid reacting automatically. The more you develop the four approaches to presents the greater is your effectiveness in maintaining your equilibrium in the systems force field.
Although Barbara talked about excellence she did not insist on behaviors that would get their. She didn't challenge the actions or inactions of team members leading to their mediocrity. That was her side of the avoiding. The new team members avoided challenging each other to higher performance.
Homeostasis is a fancy word for the forces keeping the system at its current level of functioning, thus preserving the established patterns
At first it's easy to feel gloomy about systems: the thing is bigger than all of us. however there is a common proverb of system thinking: the unit and focus for change as a system and the agent of change the individual.
New line leaders get this kind of immediate feedback so rarely that it's gets their attention and test the cliche they often used but do not live by: I don't just want another yes man. I call it the stick my finger in their chest moment which can be delivered at once boldly and respectfully, directly engaging the presence of the client. He may step into the moment seeking what information and learning about himself. When this happens he will say something to the effect of : this is the kind of feedback I can do something about. The three necessary conditions for a successful coaching contract are the willingness of the leader to :number one seem self honestly number to own his part in the patterns of play and number 3 receptive to immediate feedback.
Goals: the business results needed. Find out what Team behaviours needs to be different to accomplish the results. Explore what personal leadership challenges the executive faces in improving those results and team behaviours. Identify specific behaviour is the leading needs to enhance or change in himself.
When executive connects improvements and his leading to specific work goals he also builds in his own biofeedback system.
Management competencies code on Strategic Thinking, customer relations, vision project management, facilitating meetings, decision making, utilising staff in change agent role, promoting conversations, coaching, thoughts management, advocacy, team coherence comma systems functioning.
There were lots of other models in this book but for me the importance of having backbone and having those difficult conversations but doing it with empathy is a key part of beautiful conversations and something that the book also espouses.Anyway here are some of the best bits from the book:
They also suffer from a belief that they should not ask for help, which exacerbates their lonely at the top experience. Coaches of top executives needs to treat these matters with seriousness and without being intimidated by the issues themselves.
The coaching method outlined in this book follows four straightforward stages: the initial contract, planning contact, live action interventions and then debriefing. It's a very simple method.
Backbone is about saying what your position is, whether it is popular or not. Heart is staying in relationships and reaching out even when that relationship is in conflict.
I told bill in the presence of his team that it was time to name what is clear and unclear and what do we need? Also said that it felt uncomfortable, not because they were doing anything wrong because the situation was by nature unclear. It could also mean that they were on the verge of a burst of creativity because original thinking starts when they are willing to stop hanging onto familiar territory and start moving out into the unknown. I told bill to hang out in the confusion and hold less tightly to their needs to have clarity quickly. This is a bit like the concept created by Danny Meyer, the restaurateur, which is about loving the problem.
I admired their development of a fluid structure that serviced and anticipated changes. And I was glad that we all had continued to manage the ambiguity by staying in conversation, distinguishing what is known and not known, clarifying plans to move ahead, and stating the needs that people had of others.
Good ways of dealing with anger: identify the trigger to your reactivity. Then figure out your typical reaction to that trigger. Choose an alternative response to get you started down a different path. Same track with the goal you have for yourself in the session. You also have to be willing to enter a void before getting to the other side. Increasing your tolerance means strengthening and emotional muscle that you can hold on in that void. It's more than doing any specific action.
However even an incremental increase in tolerance can provide a geometric gain in bringing newness to the situation either a dramatically different resistance, or a breakthrough with the client or both.
Once you have identified your reactions you can do the last two steps. Tell the leader your direct experience and link it to her work world. You might say for example I hear you talk about your successes but I'm not seeing the connection to the topic we're discussing. Frankly I'm starting to guessing why you're doing it. Maybe your team tries to second guess your you sometimes too of course you can always take a chance when you use immediacy. You could be way off or two directly on target. You could offend your client. You could scare her off by getting too intense too soon. In the best case you could catch your clients attention in a new way and engender an invitation from the leader to get more of that kind of feedback from you without using immediacy, it's impossible to get to the heart of some issues. Immediacy helps a client identify her knee jerk patterns and helps her make new choices it takes tremendous presence to do this as a coach using the ability to observe patterns of interaction and reactivity in your client while you are also participating and interacting with her. When you do have the presence to stop the action conversation to report your observations and reactions, you evoke more presence from your client. The trance of her reactivity may break long enough for her to see herself in a new way. This can be a tremendous gift to your client. It requires courage to speak on the part of the coach and courage to listen on the part of the client.
Interactional fields take a life of their own even as individuals in an organization, and go. I once worked for a restaurant that maintained the same level of service and quality through several years. Though they aspire to be world class theywe're good but not exceptional. The managers and 70% of the staff left and newcomers took their place. The forcefield remained the same: good but not excellent. There were factors in place affecting system that were more enduring than the individuals within it.
What do these interactional webs have to do with coaching? Practically everything. First it's critical to know how organizational systems affect you: the ones you are in and Co create. Reactivity also shows where you are particularly vulnerable in a system and respond with kneejerk habits. When you maintain a self differentiated presence you can feel the effects of a system to avoid reacting automatically. The more you develop the four approaches to presents the greater is your effectiveness in maintaining your equilibrium in the systems force field.
Although Barbara talked about excellence she did not insist on behaviors that would get their. She didn't challenge the actions or inactions of team members leading to their mediocrity. That was her side of the avoiding. The new team members avoided challenging each other to higher performance.
Homeostasis is a fancy word for the forces keeping the system at its current level of functioning, thus preserving the established patterns
At first it's easy to feel gloomy about systems: the thing is bigger than all of us. however there is a common proverb of system thinking: the unit and focus for change as a system and the agent of change the individual.
New line leaders get this kind of immediate feedback so rarely that it's gets their attention and test the cliche they often used but do not live by: I don't just want another yes man. I call it the stick my finger in their chest moment which can be delivered at once boldly and respectfully, directly engaging the presence of the client. He may step into the moment seeking what information and learning about himself. When this happens he will say something to the effect of : this is the kind of feedback I can do something about. The three necessary conditions for a successful coaching contract are the willingness of the leader to :number one seem self honestly number to own his part in the patterns of play and number 3 receptive to immediate feedback.
Goals: the business results needed. Find out what Team behaviours needs to be different to accomplish the results. Explore what personal leadership challenges the executive faces in improving those results and team behaviours. Identify specific behaviour is the leading needs to enhance or change in himself.
When executive connects improvements and his leading to specific work goals he also builds in his own biofeedback system.
Management competencies code on Strategic Thinking, customer relations, vision project management, facilitating meetings, decision making, utilising staff in change agent role, promoting conversations, coaching, thoughts management, advocacy, team coherence comma systems functioning.
July 10, 2018
This was an excellent book explaining many systems concepts that I was unfamiliar with. Its definitely a new member in my top five book list.
May 31, 2024
Recommended to me by an executive leader, I thought this book would be informative for how executives can coach their leaders. Instead, except for a single chapter (11) at the very end, it’s how coaches of executives can guide them into more effective developers of their leaders and teams.
“Executives need to bring backbone by standing up for and articulating their positions in the face of others challenging them. They bring heart when they have compassion for those they lead and seek to understand their challenges, concerns, and ideas.”
The other points directly applicable to leadership include:
-Executives need to both develop leadership capacity while also achieving results. I’ve made similar arguments in my own published articles which highlight the importance of making sure the team is capable of meeting objectives first in order to best reach success
-Avoid managing/coaching only what you know how to do vs what is needed
-Be proactive in development, especially in breaking patterns of engagement that aren’t working to try new approaches
-Use specific listening skills when coaching/developing, particularly concreteness (getting specific about the issue), empathy (effort to show you understand concerns), confrontation (pointing out discrepancies between what one is saying vs what they’re doing), and respect (having the capacity and resources to resolve the situation)
The lessons here are sound ones, but I don’t like the framework of the book as aimed at coaches for executives rather than executives as coaches. This is almost entirely directed at an outsider coach guiding executive level leadership on how to accomplish their objectives and develop their leaders, not how executives can be self-aware of these lessons themselves and styles of informal coaching. It’s “coaches, do this to guide executives in bettering their organization”, but should be “executives, better your organization this way”; just cut out the middleman. This whole approach made it challenging to weed out which aspects were solely related to third-party coaching versus which ones could just be applied directly.
“Executives need to bring backbone by standing up for and articulating their positions in the face of others challenging them. They bring heart when they have compassion for those they lead and seek to understand their challenges, concerns, and ideas.”
The other points directly applicable to leadership include:
-Executives need to both develop leadership capacity while also achieving results. I’ve made similar arguments in my own published articles which highlight the importance of making sure the team is capable of meeting objectives first in order to best reach success
-Avoid managing/coaching only what you know how to do vs what is needed
-Be proactive in development, especially in breaking patterns of engagement that aren’t working to try new approaches
-Use specific listening skills when coaching/developing, particularly concreteness (getting specific about the issue), empathy (effort to show you understand concerns), confrontation (pointing out discrepancies between what one is saying vs what they’re doing), and respect (having the capacity and resources to resolve the situation)
The lessons here are sound ones, but I don’t like the framework of the book as aimed at coaches for executives rather than executives as coaches. This is almost entirely directed at an outsider coach guiding executive level leadership on how to accomplish their objectives and develop their leaders, not how executives can be self-aware of these lessons themselves and styles of informal coaching. It’s “coaches, do this to guide executives in bettering their organization”, but should be “executives, better your organization this way”; just cut out the middleman. This whole approach made it challenging to weed out which aspects were solely related to third-party coaching versus which ones could just be applied directly.
November 9, 2020
Extremely helpful book
I set out on a course to work as an executive coach and found the Three key factor methodology to be an incredible useful model rightfully emphasizing the need to start out with the required business result to get the buy-in and way to filter any possible intervention against the criteria whether it would significantly impact the required business result. But then working on the team interactions proves to useful: contrasting the actual misgivings of the leader about team behavior and letting him discover what he really wants to see step by step let’s him too discover what he should change in his personal style. The book is jam-packed with useful advice and contains references to more material. Will definitely come back to study the book for a second time.
I set out on a course to work as an executive coach and found the Three key factor methodology to be an incredible useful model rightfully emphasizing the need to start out with the required business result to get the buy-in and way to filter any possible intervention against the criteria whether it would significantly impact the required business result. But then working on the team interactions proves to useful: contrasting the actual misgivings of the leader about team behavior and letting him discover what he really wants to see step by step let’s him too discover what he should change in his personal style. The book is jam-packed with useful advice and contains references to more material. Will definitely come back to study the book for a second time.
April 22, 2023
Slog to get through cause it covers so much that’s applicable for day to day coaching and management and it’s dry as can be but worth it. Big time. My copy looks like Ted Kazinsky got his hands on it with so many notes and tabs. This feels like a full on methodology (or more likely lots of pieces of a future personal methodology) for running into trip and professional coaching engagements. It incorporates original work from others in highly practical form with a few good examples.
I’d love to do a full on immersive seminar or certification in this approach. I think it would be a good use of time.
I’d love to do a full on immersive seminar or certification in this approach. I think it would be a good use of time.
October 27, 2024
My Marriage was sinking down the hole, I was dying in Pain & Silence not until I came across this powerful spell caster who did not just helped me get back on my feet physically, emotionally, spiritually & financially but also cast the love spell that got my life back on track again with my husband. In a space of less than 24Hours My husband came back To Me Since Then My Marriage has been stable all Thanks To Dr oaikhen Baba For All He has Done For Me & how he keeps Saving life's , property , relationships & Marriages, I Can Assure You To Get In Touch With Him. Contact Email 📧 [email protected]
April 4, 2020
This is a really straightforward and practical book on partnering with leaders as a coach and working with them to achieve their goals. The system perspective is important in organisational and team contexts. The summaries at the end of each chapter serve as a useful aide memoir and I’m sure I’ll be dipping in and out of them in my role as an agile coach.
September 21, 2019
Practical and Pertinent Content in Context
Insightful and helpful business coaching content. The application of the content to “Coaching in a business” is still relevant today. Practical examples and checklists used were good.
Insightful and helpful business coaching content. The application of the content to “Coaching in a business” is still relevant today. Practical examples and checklists used were good.
January 6, 2018
The narrator is boring... it made a very interesting and useful book sound dull
August 30, 2020
Great intro to executive coaching from a systems perspective. must read for anyone who hopes to coach executives in an organizational context.
November 30, 2020
Thorough, academic but with some easy takeaways. Systems view is helpful.
July 25, 2021
An excellent model for executive coaching. I highlighted a fair amount, took pages of notes, and am ready to return to page 1 and start over again :)
May 27, 2022
Full of direct and impactful takeaways which immediately changed my sessions
October 24, 2016
Subtitled “A Systems Approach to Engaging Leaders with Their Challenges,” this is a practical and information approach to the field of coaching. The author begins with a brief introduction to the process of executive coaching, citing four key ingredients: Maintaining a results orientation, Partnership, Engaging the specific leadership challenges, and Linking team behaviors to the bottom-line goals (including the need to set specific expectations for teams). O’Neill’s “backbone and heart” themes is explained in these two sentences: “Backbone means knowing and clearly stating your position, whether it is popular or not. Heart is staying engaged in the relationship and reaching out even when that relationship is mired in conflict.”
The author goes on to make a solid case for “developing a strong signature presence” while emphasizing the “systems” nature of working with the executive who is easily triangulated with others (including the coach). The effective coach, she argues, is able to work from the “middle of the triangle” to assist the coachee in real change. Using a number of vignettes in stepping through the process, O’Neill deals with what she calls the four phases of coaching:
Phase 1 - Contracting: Find a way to be a partner
Phase 2 - Planning: Keep the ownership with the client
Phase 3 - Live Action Coaching - Strike while the iron is hot
Phase 4 - Debriefing - Define a learning focus
In closing this portion of the book, O’Neill posits what she calls “An ROI Method for Executive Coaching: Have the Client Convince the Coach of the Return on Investment.
The final section of this exceptional book, Special Applications, deals with diverse topics including making the transition to executive coaching, helping the leader coach employees, and coaching for the coach. Appendices include reviewing the core activities and outcomes of coaching, a self-assessment on coaching skills, questions to use with clients, and suggestions on combining consulting and coaching for enhanced results.
The author goes on to make a solid case for “developing a strong signature presence” while emphasizing the “systems” nature of working with the executive who is easily triangulated with others (including the coach). The effective coach, she argues, is able to work from the “middle of the triangle” to assist the coachee in real change. Using a number of vignettes in stepping through the process, O’Neill deals with what she calls the four phases of coaching:
Phase 1 - Contracting: Find a way to be a partner
Phase 2 - Planning: Keep the ownership with the client
Phase 3 - Live Action Coaching - Strike while the iron is hot
Phase 4 - Debriefing - Define a learning focus
In closing this portion of the book, O’Neill posits what she calls “An ROI Method for Executive Coaching: Have the Client Convince the Coach of the Return on Investment.
The final section of this exceptional book, Special Applications, deals with diverse topics including making the transition to executive coaching, helping the leader coach employees, and coaching for the coach. Appendices include reviewing the core activities and outcomes of coaching, a self-assessment on coaching skills, questions to use with clients, and suggestions on combining consulting and coaching for enhanced results.
Read
January 22, 2016I really like many aspects of this book. O'Neill comes from a strong systems and performance orientation. Additionally, I was very intrigued with the way she has applied the classic OD action-research approach to coaching:
-Entry & Contracting
-Data collection and feedback
-Action planning
-Implementation and follow through
-Evaluation
I feel very comfortable with this framework and see how it is generalizes to Executive Coaching.
The client responsibility model is crucial for managing the players in the coaching process and for the coach to avoid becoming triangulated and a potentially dysfunctional member of the system.
Her orientation is consistently strong for linking coaching to business outcomes. Her one page summary for business goals and measures is excellent. I have already made it a template for use with clients. It covers bottom line, process and human system goals. Highly useful.
-Entry & Contracting
-Data collection and feedback
-Action planning
-Implementation and follow through
-Evaluation
I feel very comfortable with this framework and see how it is generalizes to Executive Coaching.
The client responsibility model is crucial for managing the players in the coaching process and for the coach to avoid becoming triangulated and a potentially dysfunctional member of the system.
Her orientation is consistently strong for linking coaching to business outcomes. Her one page summary for business goals and measures is excellent. I have already made it a template for use with clients. It covers bottom line, process and human system goals. Highly useful.
February 12, 2016
Пока что лучшее, что читал про коучинг руководителей. Очень структурная подача, диалоги, иллюстрирующие разные этапы и сложности коучинга, системный подход к роли коуча в развитии руководителя и его месту в организации. Для меня очень полезно было еще раз увидеть применение live-action coaching - наблюдения за руководителем и моментальной обратной связи в рабочей обстановке: на встречах, совещаниях и переговорах. Еще интереснее оказался подход к оценке ROI коучинга. Многие из примеров и инструментов я уже успел применить и в коучинге своих клиентов, и для себя как для руководителя (), и уверен, буду еще не раз возвращаться к книге.
November 4, 2014
Systematically written with lots of practical tips for coaching. The examples illustrate the ideas and approaches very well. This definitely takes time to digest and also deserves several readings.
October 28, 2016
I will be adding this book to my coaching resources shelf, for sure. There were great tips about managing yourself in ambiguity, questions that help test the client's willingness to scrutinize their role, the 3 key factors methodology for goal setting, and the ROI method were all noteworthy.
Want to read
August 31, 2015Recommended by Joe Dunn and Jody P
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 25, 2015
It is one that I go back to regularly. Mary Beth taught the coaching class for my master's degree and has rich experience and depth impacting leaders and organizations.
January 24, 2017
There are sometimes the right books at the right time. This book challenged me in my coaching approach and I'm fairly happy, that I read it.
July 27, 2019
Couldn't finish it, so I gave up after about a third. Almost no valuable insights for me. What's worse, the Audible version suffers from terrible, almost mechanical narration.
July 20, 2008
Must read for anyone interested in the wild, wild west of executive coaching.
April 16, 2017
A very insightful and practical book for coaches and leaders. I can directly apply many of the concepts, tools and processes to my coaching work at practice, specifically the 3 key factors for leaders, linking team and interpersonal interactions with business results. and the part relating to pattern identification and shift. This is a book I can refer to often later on.
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