Over the last three years, my friend Jake and I have been
benefitting hugely from having executive/leadership coaches to help us elevate
our capacity to lead, to serve, and to bring our best, not only to the fight to end extreme poverty, but also to every area of our lives. During the last
couple of years, in some of my sessions with my coach, I talked to him about
potentially learning the skills and getting formal training and certification
to be an executive coach. He was very supportive, and over the last several
months I have been receiving formal training and I am in the process of
certification to be an executive/leadership coach. While I plan to write more
about that experience, at some point, this post is about a book that is part of
the required curriculum for certification with the Coaches Training Institute
(CTI).
The book, Co-ActiveCoaching actually has four authors: Henry Kimsey-House, Karen Kimsey-House,
Phillip Sandahl, and Laura Whitworth. These four authors are some of the first
people to launch into professional coaching, and they have influenced the field
for more than a quarter century. Among those who have commented or endorsed the
book are legendary leadership development guru and author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,
Stephen Covey.
The book is considered a best-selling must have book for
those in the professional coaching industry, and based on my experience and
formal training, I would say that it is incredibly helpful for those who are
working in the coaching vocation formally, and for those who have had formal
training in training, but that without formal training, the language and terms
would be difficult to get one’s mind around the depth of their meaning. This is
not to say that the book is hard to understand, because it is not super-complex
language; it is more to say that without an appropriate context the reader
might have some difficulty bringing these tools to their fullness.
As someone who is now a practitioner (again more on that in
a future post), I highly recommend the book as a valuable tool and reference
guide for executive or leadership coaches. The book is a thorough guide to the
principles, cornerstones, contexts, and tools needed for effective coaching.
The book has been used as a curriculum at graduate business schools such as
Yale and Duquesne. I believe that even without formal training on the Co-Active Model, the book can guide managers and leaders with regard to bringing
out their best and the best in those around them, but make no mistake, this is
not a “productivity tool book” but more of a reference guide for those who are
serious professionals dedicated to the development of themselves and others.
