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Earl M.A Carter & Frank A. McMahon
London: Kogan Page, 2005
178 pages. Paperback. £18.99
ISBN: 0-7494-4464-9
Reviewed by Manfusa Shams
Depicting both positive (happy) and negative (sad and despair) emotional expressions on a human face in the front page, this book makes an emotional appeal to offer practical workplace coaching guidance to improve employee performance. It sets out to outline an interpersonal approach to workplace coaching. There are nine chapters, the first four chapters deal with theoretical groundwork and the last five chapters provide a practical guide to workplace coaching.
Coaching practice is increasingly becoming a profession on its own. There is a growing need for a practical guide to help setting up a coaching practice as a stand alone practice, and this book is a timely production to meet such need, a useful compendium for practitioners in coaching psychology.
The book begins with an introduction to people management to highlight the importance of an effective performance management system in the workplace. This brief introductory section (pp.1-10) shows how effective coaching practices can improve employee performance. It presents nine principles of a performance management system and highlights the importance of coaching rather than supervision in management in the workplace. The section is followed by the first chapter (pp.15-21) on ‘managing people’. The chapter starts with an introduction of who is the approach for and the benefits of coaching to improve employee management and performance. The discussion is presented with key features of coaching for people management.
Chapters 2 and 3 provide the groundwork for the practical application of workplace coaching to improve employee performance, hence the discussion outlines the essential elements of workplace coaching and focuses on how to get started.
Chapters 4 and 5 present an excellent discussion of the way workplace coaching can improve day-to-day job performance (chapter four), and a detailed practical stepby-step guide to design a structure for a formal review is presented in Chapter 5. Chapter 5 also elaborates the groundwork necessary for conducting a performancerelated review for employees and provides some good tips for a coach to manage behavioural and emotional aspects during the review process, for example, good listening skills, nonjudgemental attitudes confidence building with acceptance from employees within a strict, continuous professional boundary. Compared to the previous chapters, Chapter 6 focuses on actual coaching practice used by the line managers. This chapter shows the application of a performance-based approach, which is essentially the level of competence required of a coach, and criterion-based approach, which refers to the conditions accompanying performance and standard of performance. This chapter could do with a few more examples to clarify these theoretical constructs. As it is, the readers have to try hard to work out what conditions within employment need to be considered by a coach while reviewing and / monitoring an employee’s performance.
The discussions in Chapters 7 and 8 are centred around the application of effective coaching practices to organizational performance. Chapter 7 focuses on disciplinary practice for underperformers and misconduct at work place with examples from two case studies (pp.115, 119). Chapter seven is useful as it shows the transition from coaching mode to discipline mode for employees from a managerial perspective, i.e. when a line manager can switch from coaching employees to a disciplinary action.
The coaching approach to ‘risk management’ is discussed in chapter eight. This chapter shows a cost-effective coaching approach to assess the risk at workplace including the consequences of dismissal (Chapter 7). A practical guide to coaching practice involving employees’ code of conduct is also provided.
Chapter 9 provides a summary of the previous chapters and includes a reminder of the nine principals of people management and their use in workplace coaching. The authors have provided dynamic discussions in each chapter to show the way each of these nine steps can be implemented, they have also cautioned about the knowledge required to run key activities on people management within these nine steps. The author’s reminder for the usefulness of nine steps for middle managers is particularly valuable here. In Chapter 9, readers are also invited to reflect on the discussion around applying the nine principles, as the authors say, ‘You have now read the book, so you can now make a judgement about how easy it is to comprehend and learn’ (p.139).
From a practitioner’s perspective, this book is undoubtedly an excellent practical guide to workplace coaching. The author has provided a thoughtful critical analysis of organisational performance with the use of appropriate coaching approaches, and practices. The discussion of nine principles in employee management is outstanding. This discussion confirms that the organizational culture itself can be a barrier to employee management and performance. In this discussion, the author reconfirms the important role of organisational culture to employee management and performance.
A simple yet informative discussion of barriers to improve employee management is definitely a pragmatic step to ensure the importance of a practical and appropriate coaching model (nine steps as outlined in this book) to improve employees performance.
The Appendices in this book must not be overlooked, as here rich case studies are presented, alongside discussions around codes of conduct, key performance indicators, and an executive coaching model. The authors’ emphasis on good practice in workplace coaching with specific attention to manager’s accountability as one of the determining factors around the maintenance and enhancement of employee performance is indicated. Workplace coaching is not about just coaching senior managers with regards to employee performance but also about improving the senior manager’s performance in relation to employee performance.
The author has used simple language, provided appropriate examples with case studies, presented diagrams to clarify practical steps, a clear set of professional guidelines for dealing with employee performance, ethics and professional accountability. Areas that are not explicitly covered that the reader might find useful include cultural specific coaching practices for minority ethnic employees and specific workplace coaching practices tailored to meet the needs of employees in various types of organisations (such as self-employment, virtual organisations and transcultural business organisations).
Dr. Manfusa Shams
Consulting Editor,
The Coaching Psychologist.
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