The Mindful Coach: Seven Roles for Helping People Grow

The Mindful Coach offers a powerful approach to developing effective coaching skills using a seven-part model. The book's emphasis on mindfulness also taps into the growing contemporary interest in spirituality and meaning in the workplace.

Writing this book has been an enormous pleasure and challenge. Many people have contributed in one way or another. I'm pleased to offer this book, not only to professional coaches, but to all professionals who take their own development, and that of others, seriously.

Coaching and developing people is a critical capability of leaders in any field. This book provides a practical method for doing this more skillfully, based on a proven approach. The reader looking for a set of skills and tools will be happy with the practical tools included here.

The book, however, goes beyond tools and skills. The uniqueness of this book is the particular emphasis on the corresponding development of the coach. The act of coaching itself, when entered into by a thoughtful practitioner, provides a constant invitation to learning.

In my own work with leaders in business, government, and education, I've often felt that I was learning alongside those I was working for. The underlying premise of this book is that we can't truly serve the learning of others unless we are, at the same time, doing our own work. As you coach, you must also be a learner. It's my hope that the book will both inspire and guide you toward this end.