If your work requires that you elicit the best from other people, this book is for you. Written for professionals in many fields, The Mindful Coach combines a practical roadmap for motivating people, enrolling them in their own development, and supporting them in reaching for their potential. The book describes a coaching process that delivers these results, and that is broad enough to apply across many fields.
The Mindful Coach distinguishes between seven roles in the coaching process, and suggests that, integrated and deployed skillfully, these roles provide a practical roadmap for any coaching conversation. Sample dialogues show each role in practice, and the text offers comments and guidelines for the use of each.
The uniqueness of the book is in large part due to the strong emphasis placed on the development of the coach. While the book draws from Buddhist thought, it is also very practical in providing the tools and methods to ensure that coach is as authentic and engaged as possible with the person being coached, and that the coaching process is truly accountable to the learner. This ethical commitment, with the corresponding exhortation to provide true service to the learner, provides a refreshing and powerful theme that runs throughout the book.
With 26 exercises, a complete index, references, and access to on-line development tools, this book provides all you need to move your coaching to the next level.
Douglas K. Silsbee, an internationally known consultant and executive coach, has been a catalyst for change for more than a quarter of a century. A master teacher, he has taught in eleven countries on four continents, working with leaders in Fortune 100 companies, non-profits, and government. Doug integrates his Buddhist practice and personal commitment to growth into the work that he does in leadership effectiveness, organizational change, and performance management.
Formerly a uranium geologist and Director of Corporate Programs at North Carolina Outward Bound, he has worked independently since 1986. Selected recent projects have included global training for product development teams at United Technologies, diversity training for US WEST Communications, and teaching coaching skills at PricewaterhouseCoopers, the American Red Cross, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Among many other clients, he has coached faculty members at the Central American Institute of Business Administration, executives at GE and Sara Lee, and ministers of the Cabinet of Nicaragua, Doug also teaches coaching skills at professional conferences and public multi-day workshops.
With his wife Walker, Doug owns a retreat center on 63 acres of beautiful mountain land north of Asheville, North Carolina. They have three teenage and grown children.