Coaching for Performance

"Coaching is as much about the way these things are done as about what is done."

"Yes, but it demands the highest qualities of that manager: empathy, integrity and detachment, as well as a willingness, in most cases, to adopt a fundamentally different approach to his staff."

"The pace of technological innovation frequently leads to managers finding they have never learned the skills of the teams they employ."

"The most effective questions for raising awareness and responsibility begin with words that seek to quantify or gather facts, words like what, when, who, how much, how many."

"Identify the performance level that you believe will provide you with a very good chance of achieving the end goal."

"By following the coachee's train of thought, rather than asserting his own, the coach gains the coachee's confidence, because their interest and their need is being respected."

"All contributions, however apparently silly, need to be noted down, usually by the coach, in case they contain a germ of an idea which may leap into significance in the light of later suggestions."

"It is the construction of an action plan to meet a requirement that has been clearly specified, on ground that has been thoroughly surveyed, and using the widest possible choice of building materials."

"If the manager just tells the performer his own opinion, the actual engagement of the performer's brain is likely to be minimal, there is no ownership and no means for the manager to measure what has been assimilated."

"The first demand on a team leader is to understand fully the stages through which a team will develop in order that he may encourage and accelerate the process."

"For some people, coaching both demands and causes a fundamental change in the way they perceive themselves and others, be they colleagues, subordinates or competitors."

"What are the benefits to an organization of adopting what I call a coaching culture?"