Training from the Back of the Room! - Sharon L. Bowman

65 Ways to Step Aside and Let Them Learn
The author's four-step instructional design and delivery process involves learners every step of the way. 
Designed to be user-friendly, Training from the BACK of the Room! is filled with definitions, descriptions, and practical training strategies for each of the 4 Cs:
Connections—Fifteen opening activities that connect learners to the topic, to each other, and to what they want and need to learn.
Concepts—Twenty strategies that engage and involve learners during the lecture or "direct instruction" training segment.
Concrete Practice—Fifteen strategies in which learners actively review content and practice skills.
Conclusions—Fifteen learner-led summaries, evaluations, and celebration activities.

In addition, the book offers "nice-to-know" information that will add to what you have learned: the secret about adult learning theory, a new way to write learning outcomes, The World Cafe, tips for interactive e-learning, and other useful resources to expand your learning adventure.

[Book Description Source: www.amazon.com ] 


Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 4.27 out of 5 (136 Ratings; 18 Reviews - As on April 23 2017)
My Rating:  4 out of 5
My Comments:  A very innovative approach to training that promotes Learning by Doing. Techniques described in this book will appeal to learners who tend to get quickly bored by lecture style delivery by trainers.


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Lateral Thinking - Edward de Bono

A Textbook of Creativity

THE classic work about improving creativity from world-renowned writer and philosopher Edward de Bono.
In schools we are taught to meet problems head-on: what Edward de Bono calls 'vertical thinking'. 
This works well in simple situations - but we are at a loss when this approach fails. 
What then? 
Lateral thinking is all about freeing up your imagination.
Through a series of special techniques, in groups or working alone, Edward de Bono shows how to stimulate the mind in new and exciting ways. 
Soon you will be looking at problems from a variety of angles and offering up solutions that are as ingenious as they are effective. 
You will become much more productive and a formidable thinker in your own right.

 [Book Description Source: www.amazon.com]

Goodreads Rating - 3.83 out of 5 (1841 Ratings, 96 Reviews)

My Rating:  2 out of 5.  A path-breaking technique, but a very insipid treatment of the subject.

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Buy the Kindle  version
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The Big Book of Team Building Games - John W. Newstrom & Edward Scannell

Quick, Fun Activities for Building Morale, Communication and Team Spirit 
Did you know that games can be a terrifically effective way to build team spirit, communication, and trust among people who work together day in and day out?

Team-building games and activities are so stimulating and enjoyable that everyone in the department actually looks forward to them! 
Now you can choose from 70 varied and imaginative games and activities that have been specifically designed for the manager who's looking to:

• Raise sagging morale in a department
• Liven up boring staff meetings
• Improve communication
• Promote a culture of harmony and cooperation
• Have fun with your work team

Each of these games is fast, creative, easy-to-lead, and will help you accomplish your team building goals.
Learn valuable tips on how to present games and how to select activities for particular situations. 
Get essential advice on what not to do when leading games, and much more!
 [Book Description Source: www.amazon.in]
 

Goodreads Rating - 2.0 out of 5 (46 Rating, 2 Reviews) 
My Rating:  2 out of 5. 

Buying Options 
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Facilitating Groups by Jenny Rogers

Getting the Best Out of a Group
A systematic, well-written and compact book which will serve well as a quick reference for the facilitators.

Book Description (Source: www.jennyrogerscoaching.com)
Every manager, every coach, every HR professional, every trainer, every team leader – anyone who needs to get the best out of a group needs to know how to facilitate. Facilitation bypasses coercion, teaching or chairing. 
It’s about how to read a group, how to challenge appropriately and how to name the apparently unnameable; it’s about having the skills which make it safe for the silent to speak and the over-talkers to calm down.
 It’s about knowing that the role is to remain objective and why that matters so much. It’s about being able to design events which perfectly match what the group needs and then to run such events with aplomb. 
This book, written by a facilitator with 30 years of experience, cuts to the heart of the practical skills that any facilitator needs

• How to get clear what facilitation is and isn’t
• How to get the measure of what is going on in a group under the surface
• Preparing and designing events with impact
• 6 vital skills that every facilitator needs
• How to deal with facilitator nightmares – eg the person who runs out of the room crying, the angry participant, the one who talks obsessively, the silent – and many more.

   

Coaching Essentials by Patricia Bossons, Jeremy Kourdi & Denis Sartan

Practical, proven techniques for world-class executive coaching
Now a billion dollar industry, executive coaching is one of the fastest-growing sections of the coaching market and is widely used by senior managers and chief executives in large organizations.
In this accessible guide, fully updated for this second edition, Patricia Bossons, Jeremy Kourdi and Denis Sartain offer clear explanations of key coaching theories before putting that theory into context with a comprehensive selection of practical tools and techniques. 
Benefits and uses of each technique are explained and then followed with advice on how to apply the technique and make it work for you - allowing readers to match situations or issues with specific coaching techniques for optimum results.
The unique, practical approach of this book will make it essential reading for managers and leaders at all levels as well as professional coaches and students.

ow a billion dollar industry, executive coaching is one of the fastest-growing sections of the coaching market and is widely used by senior managers and chief executives in large organisations.

In this accessible guide, fully updated for this second edition, Patricia Bossons, Jeremy Kourdi and Denis Sartain offer clear explanations of key coaching theories before putting that theory into context with a comprehensive selection of practical tools and techniques. Benefits and uses of each technique are explained and then followed with advice on how to apply the technique and make it work for you - allowing readers to match situations or issues with specific coaching techniques for optimum results.

The unique, practical approach of this book will make it essential reading for managers and leaders at all levels as well as professional coaches and students. - See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/coaching-essentials-9781408157206/#sthash.aZxeboWF.dpuf

Now a billion dollar industry, executive coaching is one of the fastest-growing sections of the coaching market and is widely used by senior managers and chief executives in large organisations.

In this accessible guide, fully updated for this second edition, Patricia Bossons, Jeremy Kourdi and Denis Sartain offer clear explanations of key coaching theories before putting that theory into context with a comprehensive selection of practical tools and techniques. Benefits and uses of each technique are explained and then followed with advice on how to apply the technique and make it work for you - allowing readers to match situations or issues with specific coaching techniques for optimum results.

The unique, practical approach of this book will make it essential reading for managers and leaders at all levels as well as professional coaches and students. - See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/coaching-essentials-9781408157206/#sthash.aZxeboWF.dpuf

n this accessible guide, fully updated for this second edition, Patricia Bossons, Jeremy Kourdi and Denis Sartain offer clear explanations of key coaching theories before putting that theory into context with a comprehensive selection of practical tools and techniques. Benefits and uses of each technique are explained and then followed with advice on how to apply the technique and make it work for you - allowing readers to match situations or issues with specific coaching techniques for optimum results.

The unique, practical approach of this book will make it essential reading for managers and leaders at all levels as well as professional coaches and students. - See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/coaching-essentials-9781408157206/#sthash.aZxeboWF.dpuf

Now a billion dollar industry, executive coaching is one of the fastest-growing sections of the coaching market and is widely used by senior managers and chief executives in large organisations.

In this accessible guide, fully updated for this second edition, Patricia Bossons, Jeremy Kourdi and Denis Sartain offer clear explanations of key coaching theories before putting that theory into context with a comprehensive selection of practical tools and techniques. Benefits and uses of each technique are explained and then followed with advice on how to apply the technique and make it work for you - allowing readers to match situations or issues with specific coaching techniques for optimum results.

The unique, practical approach of this book will make it essential reading for managers and leaders at all levels as well as professional coaches and students. - See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/coaching-essentials-9781408157206/#sthash.aZxeboWF.dpuf

Now a billion dollar industry, executive coaching is one of the fastest-growing sections of the coaching market and is widely used by senior managers and chief executives in large organisations.

In this accessible guide, fully updated for this second edition, Patricia Bossons, Jeremy Kourdi and Denis Sartain offer clear explanations of key coaching theories before putting that theory into context with a comprehensive selection of practical tools and techniques. Benefits and uses of each technique are explained and then followed with advice on how to apply the technique and make it work for you - allowing readers to match situations or issues with specific coaching techniques for optimum results.

The unique, practical approach of this book will make it essential reading for managers and leaders at all levels as well as professional coaches and students. - See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/coaching-essentials-9781408157206/#sthash.aZxeboWF.dpuf

[Source:Book description on the publisher's website]

My Comments: 
Has short 3-4 page write ups of about 60 coaching techniques and the situations they need to be applied. Though systematically well-structured, the book is rather a dry and boring read. Not recommended for cover to cover reading but may be useful for a quick reference.



 
 
Buy the Kindle book version.
(Anybody can read Kindle books—even without a Kindle device—with the FREE Kindle app for smartphones and tablets.)

Confident Coaching - Amanda Vickers and Steve Bavister

From executive mentoring to life coaching, more and more people are turning to and/or training as coaches.
This book covers the fundamentals for those looking for an introduction to coaching.
It also offers practice and extension for people with some existing coaching experience, whether they work inside a company or in a freelance capacity, in life coaching or executive coaching, or are managers wishing to coach their in-house teams more effectively. 
Areas covered include the various stages of coaching; fundamental models, theories, and concepts; interventions; timing; and practical tips for dealing with challenging situations. 
Sample coaching interactions are included to bring techniques to life, along with activities, case studies, anecdotes, and diagrams.

[Based on the book description on Amazon.com]

 My Comments: 
A very good introductory book on Coaching.



 
 
Buy the Kindle book version.
(Anybody can read Kindle books—even without a Kindle device—with the FREE Kindle app for smartphones and tablets.)

Coaching Agile Teams

Author:         Lyssa Adkins

Published:   2010

Publisher:    Pearson 

Paperback: 344 pages.

  

Coaching agile teams is a challenging task. It means going beyond establishing and maintaining basic agile processes. The ultimate goal of an Agile coach should be to enable creation of a high-performing, self-sustaining, continuously improving and innovating team. Lyssa Adkins, a well known agile coach, presents her approach towards this goal through this book. This book while quite an useful addition to the agile coach's library is probably not the best choice as a first book to read on agile coaching.

To read an extended summary of this book please visit my business blog.

Agile Coaching

Authors: Rachel Davies, Liz Sedley

Published: 2009

Publisher: The Pragmatic Bookshelf
Paperback: 240 pages

This book is a must-have tool of an Agile Coach ! Highly recommended reading for every one in the agile team as well!

Read more about this book

The Secrets of Success in Coaching: 12 Ways to Excel as a Coach

Author:        Mick Cope
Published:    2010
Publisher:     Pearson Education Limited
Paperback: 152 Pages

According to the author the coaching can be really successful only when the coach is truly competent, follows a client-centric coaching approach, has a deep sense of ethical responsibility and seeks to help the client deliver change that is of value and sustainable.


Through this book the author shares with the reader his years of coaching experience and intends to help them become a highly successful and competent coach.


The book offers a tool kit of 12 techniques to excel as a coach. Each  technique is supplemented by a list of questions to ask the client. Answering these questions will develop a sense of self-awareness in the client which will be of great help in  their professional or personal journey towards self-improvement.


The techniques described are simple and practical. However couple of them are somewhat idealistic in my view - for e.g. not to coach the clients  who do not take ownership of their goals, objective of the coaching  being to make the client self-reliant and not dependent on the coaches anymore. 
Really noble intent ! But how many coaches  follow this principle !


The book is elegantly written using a very simple language and in short self-contained chapters, so that one can read a chapter and apply the idea immediately with their clients. A real handy and concise guide which every consultant or coach will find useful.


Key Takeaways:
(Extracts from the last chapter of the book)

• Look for real clients with a real passion to change – and if they are not ready to change don’t feed their delusion by playing at a coaching relationship.
• There is only one coaching question – ‘So what is stopping you?’ Your role is not to fix the client – rather it is to help the client understand this question, its relevance to them and how to frame and answer the question.
• Great goals are robust, clear and the client understands what they will feel like once delivered. Great outcomes create great journeys.
• There is no single style – there are just variations. The more that a coach can understand the variations, learn to flex and adapt their style and use these styles in an effortless way with the client, the greater chance they will have of delivering a coaching outcome that is successful and sustainable.
• The trick with solution generation is to get a fix that will give a successful and sustainable outcome. Success can be easy – it is the sustainable bit that can be hard. This is where you have to work hard to really push the client to be innovative about solutions they might never have considered attempting.
• The ability to look beyond what the client is saying and listen to what isn’t being said is critical. The more that a coach can tune and hone their ability to listen to the unsaid, the deeper appreciation they will have of the real issue and the better chance there will be of creating a real and sustainable outcome.
• In most cases big successes come from small changes. Your job is to help the client understand this and then learn how to push the pause button and change the important choices.
• Most people have made a change that they have failed to sustain. The coach’s job is to turn the ‘I’ve failed’ statement into ‘That’s interesting’. From this point the client can learn about what happened and why it happens, and then learn to recognize the triggers that cause regression and anticipate and avoid them next time round.
• The first gift that you offer is to help client fix the problem and the second gift is to help ensure it sticks. The last and greatest gift the client can offer is to understand how to coach themselves in the future and so ease the dependency on others. To do this you can help them to understand reflective learning and from this learning develop a self-coaching style that frees them of any further need for a coach.

Useful Links:

• Table of Contents
• 10-Page Book Summary