Coaching Understood

A Pragmatic Inquiry into the Coaching Process

This is a good resource to help learners to excel as leaders, and for anyone who wants to learn about the length and breadth of coaching. If you want to debunk several myths on coaching, read this book. If you are passionate about coaching, read this book more than once. It will change the way you think about coaching.

This book is a treasure trove of useful information.  Cox has collated an amazing collection of ideas drawn from many sources and, unlike pirates, she has carefully acknowledged and referenced all sources of her gems.  She has also presented them in ways that offer many insights into the coaching process, plus plenty of practical suggestions for implementation.  I couldn’t hope to capture so much in a review, so the following is an account of the various chapters, with brief glimpses of the treasures therein, with the intention of persuading you to get a copy for yourself so you can explore the riches in more detail.

Coaching Understood is a comprehensive, evidence based text that portrays coaching as the professional discipline that it deserves. This text was written with both the coach and client in mind. The author, Elaine Cox, has written a text that is long overdue; it will be a valuable resource for those researching coaching in an academic environment. The text has a theoretical feel, but is a valuable resource for practitioners. It’s the kind of text you might read with a highlighter in one hand.

This is a scholarly book about coaching that is refreshing in that it omits any reference to the GROW model and it does what it says on the back cover; i.e., it "takes a fresh approach to coaching skills and techniques by examining each element of the coaching process in detail in order to verify and justify its effectiveness". It is highly recommended to all coaches and it will be inspirational for those who come from an education (especially adult learning) background.

This book is a milestone in the coaching literature. Elaine Cox provides an excellent text that is scholarly, practical and accessible. She offers clear insights into how coaching works so that coaching is truly understood!

Bridging the gap between academic research/theory and the world of the practitioner is arguably the greatest challenge facing the coaching profession. Elaine Cox accomplishes this feat in one of the most difficult topic areas in a highly readable and accessible, yet evidence-based volume.

'Now here is a solid piece of research that serves to demonstrate both how and indeed why coaching works. Elaine defines the core of our reflective working practise. She then backs up the potency of each intervention used with rigorous scientific research. I know coaching works, my clients feel it working and now I am now armed with some effective research to prove how and why this invaluable practise has such a deep and lasting impact. This is a serious piece of research that is also a very satisfying read. Thank you for taking the time to dispel the myths and evidence the coaching industry’s success.'