Career Stories & Articles

Book Review

Masterful Coaching:  Extraordinary Results by Impacting People and the Way They Think and Work Together. 
By Robert Hargrove
Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer Publishing, 1995, 310 p.

The book consists of three sections. The first deals with the personal development necessary to become a masterful coach. Hargrove defines masterful coaching as a journey that does not depend on a person's role in their organization, but rather on “whether you dare to see and meet the calling to make a difference.”  This first section provides guidance in how to have conversations that engage people and transform their behaviors.

A premise of the book is that coaching can be a form of stewardship, where everyone in an organization can be committed to the future of the organization and its people. Hargrove points out that many organizations have begun to recognize that most people have a need to make a difference in the world, and so they are working to eliminate artificial boundaries between what people care about at work and what they care about as people. Coaching can be used to unite these two worlds and lead people in taking more effective action at work. 

The third chapter of the book, "Coaching Happens in Conversations" takes a detailed look at the mechanics of a conversation: listening and speaking. In this chapter, Hargrove

distinguishes how a coach can listen and recognize limiting assumptions, conclusions, and beliefs that are expressed through people's speaking.  The reader is then given tactical information for how to intervene and transform the person's speaking, then coach them into taking successful action.

The second section of Masterful Coaching is a powerful look at the fundamentals of coaching using the context of team learning.  Hargrove provides the reader with clear distinctions, guidelines, methodologies, exercises, and case studies for becoming effective in the seven areas he defines as fundamental to coaching:

1. Setting stretch goals.

2. Eliciting internal commitment, motivation, and self-directed learning.

3. Creating a successful theory of action.

4. Practicing the fundamentals.

5. Observing breakdowns.

6. Providing meaningful feedback.

7. Teaching new skills and capabilities.

The third and final section of the book reveals "the secrets of masterful coaches":

• Trigger breakthrough thinking.
• Build shared understanding.
• Recognize and disperse posturing and defensiveness.
• Go for results now.
• Add value by design.

In this last section of the book, the author provides tools, ideas, and methods for becoming a truly masterful coach. The reader learns how to coach through an impasse, create opportunities for breakthrough thinking, and facilitate collaborative conversations that produce a shared vision and shared direction.

Masterful Coaching is a powerful, practical, and strategic guide for coaching. It is an excellent resource and reference for all people interested in developing masterful coaching techniques.

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