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Coaching History

1979 Book – A Manager’s Guide to Coaching

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Published: April 21, 2008 under Coaching History

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1979 Managers Guide 21979 Managers Guide to Coaching1979 Managers Guide to Coaching1979 Managers Guide to Coaching1979 Managers Guide to Coaching1979 Managers Guide to CoachingDavid Megginson and Tom Boydell wrote this booklet for coaches for managers and trainers of managers in the United Kingdom. In this, they defined coaching as: “a process in which a manager, through direct discussion and guided activity, helps a colleague to learn to solve a problem, or to do a task better than would otherwise have been the case” (p. 5). Megginson and Boydell saw that coaching was concerned with improved task performance and therefore central to an organization’s bottom line.

One concept that grabbed my attention was the definition of “one of the skills of a good coach is that his ideas become merged with the ideas of those he is coaching.” This corresponds to my belief that neither my client nor I am the same after we have worked together.

Key coaching skills addressed in this booklet include: attending, paraphrasing, recognizing and expressing feelings, suspending judgment, silence, drawing out, and giving and receiving feedback. Just think, almost 30 years ago the skills of coaching align with the primary coaching skills used today.

About the Author

Dr. Vikki Brock, MCC, is Team Lead for the one-of-a-kind Virtual Museum of Coaching here at The Coaching Commons. Based on interviews about the evolution of coaching with over 175 coaching 'influencers' she also contributes mightily to our Coaching Hall of Fame. Though some may consider 'The History of Coaching' a dry topic, Vikki believes 'the roots determine the fruits' and promises the museum won't be a stuffy place. Vikki is also the only executive and leadership coach we know who supports clients from a 50 foot sailboat named Cuidado, moored in Ventura, California next to the Channel Islands National Park.

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There is 1 Response so far...

patrick williams on April 27, 2008

Thanks for posting this book….i love when we find more proof that coaching was not just invented in the 90s…but had some early visionaries of the power of the process before it moved to Professional status

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