Chapter 12

Coaching: Helping Others Achieve Breakthroughs

One of the quickest and most effective ways for a middle manager to make an impact on his or her organization is through coaching. Coaching yields short-term and long-term payoffs. Helping others achieve breakthroughs boosts results today and builds the organization's skills for tomorrow. Unfortunately, coaching is an underutilized and poorly understood middle management tool. Many managers confuse coaching with advice and counseling. Figure 12-1 shows the similarities and differences among these three forms of influence. In the figure, the areas where the circles intersect represent shared characteristics:

  • The impetus for all three methods is to help the other person. Those who offer ...

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