The Weekly Coaching Conversation (book review)
A Business Fable about Taking Your Team’s Performance and Your Career to the Next Level
Author: Brian Souza
The Weekly Coaching Conversation is a parable: author Brian Souza turned all the research he and his team did on coaching into a simple story that reflects the key points of their findings.
The story tells of sales manager Brad Hutchinson and his transformation from manager to coach. This happens through a chance encounter in a bar with Coach, a legendary business leader. Coach decides to take Brad under his wings and, over a period of weeks, teaches the young sales manager in the finer arts of coaching.
While this structure might sound corny, it works. The book is an easy read and the main message sticks: coaching is the way to lead and improve a team. The reader also gets an understanding of the basics of coaching and it’s clear how to implement them: in a weekly conversation. Had the author presented his findings in a dry, non-fiction style, it would certainly have been less pleasant to get through.
Yet even though the book is simple and clear, I haven’t really been able to implement that much from it in my daily work. This is strange, since I really enjoyed reading it and most of the content seemed to make a lot of sense. But as I’m writing this review and going over my notes, I do realize I haven’t changed much in my daily work.
Perhaps this is a flaw on my side, though there are other business books which I have used and implemented. The parable therefore maybe does its’ job too well: it’s a great story to read, but it lacks a clear (and perhaps boring) guide on how to implement and execute. While a story makes it easier to read, cases and examples from the real world might help to show and inspire how to actually implement this, and which techniques to use under which circumstances.
The Weekly Coaching Conversation - A Business Fable about Taking Your Team’s Performance and Your Career to the Next Level
Author: Brian Souza
Rating: 3/5
Sign up for the monthly Just Finished email (click here).
One simple email delivered to your inbox; each last weekend of the month, one great book and one amazing article recommendation.
