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Don't Just Do Something, Sit There: An introduction to non-directive coaching

Bob Thomson, University of Warwick, UK

 - written by an experienced coach in clear and easily understood language
 - aimed at managers, consultants and HR professionals who want to use a non-directive approach to empowering others and releasing their potential
 - chapters can be read as stand alone guides to topics such as listening, questioning, becoming a capable coach, and the inner game of coaching
 - contains practical exercises that can be used to create a programme to develop people’s ability to coach others

Don't Just Do Something, Sit There offers anyone who would like to learn how to coach or to develop their existing coaching skills a practical guide to coaching people using a predominantly non-directive approach. It explores how a coach can help others to think through their situation and find their own way forward, one which reflects the reality and constraints of their situation.The book considers the skills which underpin successful coaching – listening attentively, asking questions that help the other to think, and playing back to communicate or check understanding. It explores the spectrum of directive to non-directive coaching, considers practical aspects such as confidentiality, describes a range of tools that a coach might use, and looks at how a line manager can adopt a coaching style. It also considers the philosophical and psychological foundations of non-directive coaching.

ISBN 1 84334 429 7
ISBN-13: 978 1 84334 429 2
January 2009
212 pages  234 x 156mm  paperback  
£28.00 / US$50.00 / €35.00

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£59.95 / US$100.00 / €75.00

About the author

Bob Thomson is a Learning and Development Adviser at the University of Warwick. As well as coaching managers and academics across the University, he runs the Warwick Coaching Scheme where staff of the University act as coaches to other staff, using a primarily non-directive approach. He also leads the University’s open studies Certificate in Coaching. He was previously Leadership Development Manager at National Grid Transco where he developed the coaching skills of managers and commissioned external coaching for senior executives. Bob has qualifications in coaching, counselling and management learning. He is the author of the Chandos book, Growing People: Learning and Developing from Day to Day Experience.

Contents

What is non-directive coaching?
 - Introduction
 - Silent coaching
 - Ideas arising from the silent coaching exercise
 - Defining coaching
 - Directive and non-directive behaviours
 - Directive and non-directive approaches
 - Coaching or mentoring?
 - Awareness and responsibility

Listening
 - Introduction
 - Levels of listening
 - Listening with the head, the heart and the gut
 - Silence
 - Active, attentive listening
 - Why listening is so important
 - Listening and being non-directive

Questioning
 - Introduction
 - Listening and questioning
 - Open and closed questions
 - Crisp questions
 - Other types of question
 - Reframing
 - Leading questions
 - Incisive questions
 - What do you do when you don’t know what question to ask?
 - Questioning and being non-directive

Playing back
 - Introduction
 - Three ways of playing back to the client
 - Using the client’s exact words
 - Managing the conversation
 - Communicating empathic understanding
 - Taking notes

Becoming a capable coach
 - Introduction
 - Learning from experience
 - Coaching trios
 - Modifying the GROW model
 - Practice clients
 - Journalling
 - Supervision
 - Coaching qualifications
 - Going round the learning cycle

Directive and non-directive coaching
 - Introduction
 - The directive to non-directive spectrum
 - Giving advice, making suggestions and offering feedback
 - The skilled helper
 - Advice on giving advice
 - Providing information
 - Advice and solutions from a line manager
 - Coaching versus mentoring
 - Are awareness and responsibility enough?
 - Some evidence

Ethical and other issues in coaching
 - Introduction
 - The EMCC code of ethics
 - A code of ethics
 - Two-way contracting
 - Three-way contracting: who is the client?
 - Evaluation
 - Keeping notes and records
 - Supervision

Tools you might use in coaching
 - Introduction
 - Rich pictures
 - Sorting cards
 - Writing a letter
 - The empty chair
 - Psychometric tools
 - 360-degree feedback

Coaching as a line manager
 - Introduction
 - Similarities
 - Differences
 - The coaching dance
 - Coaching in the hurly burly
 - Coaching a team
 - A coaching culture
 - Servant-leadership

Metaphor and clean language
 - Introduction
 - Metaphor
 - Clean language and symbolic modelling
 - Using metaphor and clean language in coaching

Psychological bases of coaching
 - Introduction
 - The three schools of Western psychology
 - Transactional analysis
 - Psychosynthesis
 - A community of selves
 - Applying these ideas in coaching

The foundations of a non-directive approach
 - Introduction
 - Carl Rogers and the person-centred approach
 - Carl Rogers’ three conditions for effective facilitation
 - Tim Gallwey and the inner game
 - Two equations
 - Rogers and Gallwey

The inner game of coaching
 - Introduction
 - Preparing for a coaching session
 - Interference during a coaching session
 - Potential and Self Two

Becoming an even more capable coach
 - Introduction
 - Some questions for you
 - Some things I am taking from writing the book
 - Some questions for me