Why I wrote Think Like a Coach

I wrote Think Like A Coach for three reasons:

1.Everyone deserves a great manager

Your manager is a major influence over your success.

So much so that I turned down a dream job because I had a strong sense the manager would let me take blame to save herself.

When I think back over the best managers I’ve had, they all used a coach-like management style. They asked lots of curious questions, listened to me and gave me space to work things out myself.

I created the Coaching Two-Step as a way to give managers the essential elements of coaching in an easy to remember way.

2.Coaching is an underused management style

Managers can’t be trained to coach in the same way as professional coaches, they work in completely different contexts.

As a coach I can keep confidentiality but a manager can’t always do that.

I have no vested interest in what the people I coach do, but a manager does. They have targets to reach.

I have no influence over the outcomes of the people I coach but a manager does. They make decisions on pay, promotions and opportunities.

The training also sends a message to managers that coaching is an added extra to an already busy day, so they don’t use it.

I wanted to bust that myth and show you how to be coach-like in normal, everyday conversations.

3.There are very few coaching books aimed at managers

I waded through 75 pages of results on Amazon for ‘books on coaching’.

They all said they were for managers but when you dive into them, there’s a lot of theory, models and acronyms – super interesting to read but not easy to remember or apply in real life.

Managers are busy so I wanted to write something short and skimmable that you can dip into just before conversations such as giving feedback, setting goals or delegating.

And Another Reason

I also wrote Think Like A Coach because I’ve always wanted to write a book.

It’s been an awesome experience and has helped me get clear on where I want to focus with Think with Jude and with this newsletter.

Can you guess the focus?

It’s my two great loves, coaching managers and teaching them to coach.

Thank you so much for being here with me. When you send me a message it brightens my day and because of you I’ve had a place where I can test and develop ideas.