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The Tao of Coaching: Boost Your Effectiveness at Work by Inspiring and Developing Those Around You

By: Max Landsberg
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: HarperCollins Business
ISBN: 0006388116
ISBN-13: 9780006388111
Released: 06 Oct 1997
RRP: £7.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Lessons already learned? - By: N. Daisley, 03 Jul 2004
Hmm. To be honest, I found the book a bit facile; I came to this having had my one-time cynicism about 'life-coaching' well & truly eroded both by good books, & a series of excellent face-to-face coaching sessions.

But I do know that people don't necessarily respond like machines just because you push the right buttons, & (from bitter experience) people don't necessarily handle even the most skilful & careful encouragement & intervention, in the appreciative way they are supposed to do! This book makes it look so easy..... just change your approach & the world will run like a well-oiled machine.

Also, I had hoped we had got beyond categorising people as ISTJs, ENFPs etc... deal with people as people, for crying out loud, don't fit them in boxes just to make yourself feel more comfortable. It doesn't get you very far.

I'm thinking that many people would feel a bit patronised by being instructed to read this, while those who need to learn its lessons would never be convinced to read it anyway. But fundamentallly it talks sense, so it gets _some_ stars from me.

Fastest learning in a while - By: Clare, 03 Apr 2003
This book follows Alex in his career progress whilst giving practical examples for coaching. Great reading for middle managers.

The insight for each situation helps the reader grasp potential coaching situations - in & out of work - & each chapter has hidden messages of other coaching skills to use.

I read this book in 4 hours & I reallly enjoyed it. You can do the exercises, refer to the theory, become absorbed in Alex's life & note paralllels to your work politics or simply wryly smile at the cartoons in each chapter.

Landsberg points out that accommodating individual differences is key; whatever your learning & reading style, much of the content should hit home.

great for the new coach or manager, 22 November, 2002 - By: , 27 Jan 2003
This was the first title I read when I became a coach & I found it to be the best introduction one could hope for.
It provides a step by step guide to the founding principles of coaching & is intelligently simple.
The tale of Alex that runs through the book made it an enjoyable read but I found it to be a rather artificial (Anyone who behaved as ineptly as Alex in the company I work for would have been sacked years ago).
Overalll this book is a great introduction to business coaching but does not go far enough to be of value to those with experience in the role. I would suggest reading it when you start to coach & then give it to someone who would like to start to coach.
great for the new coach or manager - By: , 22 Nov 2002
This was the first title I read when I became a coach & I found it to be the best introduction one could hope for.
It provides a step by step guide to the founding principles of coaching & is intelligently simple.
The tale of Alex that runs through the book made it an enjoyable read but I found it to be a rather artificial (Anyone who behaved as ineptly as Alex in the company I work for would have been sacked years ago).
Overalll this book is a great introduction to business coaching but does not go far enough to be of value to those with experience in the role. I would suggest reading it when you start to coach & then give it to someone who would like to start to coach.
Mediocre and Behind the Times - By: , 29 May 2002
This book, though first published in 1996 is apparently based on training sessions run by those well-known *consultants* McKinsey & co. way back in 1990.

Have we reallly learnt nothing new about coaching in the course of the last 12 years? To be blunt, if you put this little book up against *some* of the latest publications on the subject you might conclude that we'd learnt nothing at alll in that time.

Unfortunately, for this author, "The Tao of Coaching" only stacks up well in comparison to the less significant entries in the coaching genre.
Compare it with the better books now available on Coaching, & this set of stage managed situations & mechanical solutions looks more like a book that has seriously LOST it's "Tao".

Whilst there are undoubtedly a few good ideas here, the majority of the book - especiallly the author's tedious creation "Alex" (whose cloddish behaviour is used to illustrate the book's main points) - is tired, mediocre & totallly unrepresentative of coaching in the new millenium.

This *may* have been a welcome addition to the Coaching library when it was first published. Now it's just well past its sell-by date.