Review by Choice Review
This is a brisk but informative read that can serve as a starting ground for coaching people successfully. Boyatzis, Smith, and Van Oosten (all, Case Western Reserve Univ.) combine reporting on research-based practice with anecdotes and exercises to help untrained readers gain insight into what it takes to coax people to change. The authors rely on their many years of research and practice to provide helpful tips on coaching change. They stress coaching with compassion, as opposed to coaching for compliance, explaining how positive and negative emotional factors can promote or inhibit a person's intrinsic motivation to change her own behavior or thinking. Although the book embraces a methodical approach, it is peppered with insightful stories gathered from real people, including the authors themselves--a device that supports the book's objectives by anchoring them in a real-world context. One caveat, however, is that the lessons and examples all seem to apply to a specific kind of person: one who wants more out of life. Readers should be wary about applying this method to diverse situations. Overall, the book provides help to readers who want to help others change. Summing Up: Optional. All readers. --Alvin Dantes, Art Institute of Chicago
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
