Although I do not only work with other Life Coaches, I do work with a lot. As I do all my marketing online I naturally attract new Life Coaches that want to do the same thing and utilize social media and social networking to attract clients to their Life Coaching practice.
One of the questions I get asked regularly is what are the best books on Coaching and self development for new coaches to check out if they want to accelerate their learning. Today I wanted to share 4 with you and explain why they are so important and can help you whether you are a Life trainer yourself or just somebody really keen on self development.
The Life Coaches Handbook by Curly Martin
Curly Martin is one of Europe's leading and well known Coaches. Her first book, The Life Coaches Handbook is a highly accessible and easy to understand introduction to Life Coaching, with step by step guides for the basic elements of Coaching. It doesn't just focus on coaching, but also takes the reader through the process of acquiring new clients and putting basic business processes in place. Its a great starting point for anybody that is curious about becoming a coach, but hasn't fully committed just yet.
Coaching With The Brain In Mind by David Rock & Linda Page
This book is definitely for those people that take Life Coaching very seriously and want to be the very best coach they can be. It is not really aimed at people just curious about self development and is written in an academic style. However, it does drill down very deeply, not just into the roll of a coach, but also taking a look at the history of coaching (from way back), how it works and what you need to do to be successful with your clients. Possibly the most authoritative work on Life Coaching available today.
Co-Active Coaching by Whitworth, Kimsey-House and Sandahl
Probably the authoritative work on co-active coaching and used by many training organizations as a template. Co-active coaching (sometimes called solution coaching) is the process of asking the client the right questions to help shift their thinking so they can come to conclusions on ‘their own. This process is far more powerful than a Life Coach merely telling a client what to do because change that comes from inside is far more likely to stick than that which is imposed.
Your Brain At Work by David Rock
Nothing like as academic or dry as Coaching With The Brain In Mind but as brilliant nonetheless. It is useful knowing what processes will help our clients, but infinitely more useful to know why they work. if you can explain the why to a client they are much more likely to be onboard with implementing the changes needed. Your Brain At Work is also highly accessible to the layperson and a truly inspiring read to anybody that wants to get a better understanding of why their brain does some of the strange things it does, and better still what we can do to change the behavior.
