Hi ,

Which book would you recommend to a new coach to start with?

We would recommend #10 on this list.

If you're a seasoned coach, you already know all the top books on this list - or do you? We found a few surprises.

All of these books are bestsellers and frequently recommended and used by renowned coaching schools.

Maybe you became a coach a long time ago, before some of these books came out. Take a look and let us know if you think an important title is missing from this list!

Books for Coaching Skills

1. The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever

Do you know how to start a meaningful conversation with your client? In this book, Michael Bungay Stanier shows you how to use a proven “seven-question formula” to begin a conversation easily for effective coaching. The title has been recommended by many renowned authors in the industry, as it offers a solution that can’t go wrong.

2. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

How much do you think you know about motivation? What if rewards aren’t enough? In this compelling title, Daniel H. Pink shows you how to help your client find direction for a more satisfying home, work, and school life. More importantly, it reveals the discrepancies between science-proven human functioning and the way workplaces are designed, which will help you understand why so many motivation strategies don’t work.

3. A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas

Do you avoid asking the one question that can help your client make groundbreaking changes? Are you afraid to be out of line by questioning their drive and motives? Warren Berger shows you how to overcome this boundary by learning how to question in order to identify and resolve problems and help your clients seize opportunities.

4. Systemic Coaching and Constellations

Are you struggling to understand systemic coaching? John Whittington demonstrates it to you in a simple, easy to understand fashion. Get ready to learn everything you need about sustain system principles, and get to see what real-life systemic coaching looks like.

5. Creative Visualization

Is your client aspiring to greatness, but they’re held back by insecurities? Shakti Gawain teaches you how to use visualization techniques to make any dream believable!

6. Co-Active Coaching: Changing Business, Transforming Lives

This all-time classic has been a widely referred book in coaching circles and renowned coaching schools and will help you upgrade your coaching, relationship, and communication skills. This title has been used in numerous professional and academic coaching programs worldwide!

7. Coach the Person Not the Problem: A Simple Guide to Coaching for Transformation

Are you facilitating wholesome changes in your clients’ lives, or helping them solve temporary problems that are bound to come back? This title by Chad Hall gives you the knowledge you’ll need for transformational coaching that will have a true, lifelong impact.

8. Coaching Questions: A Coach’s Guide to Powerful Asking Skills

Do you know how to reach your client? Do you know what to ask to help them truly “connect the dots” between different issues that bother them? This book by Tony Stoltzfus gives you the experience of 12 different professionals when it comes to knowing how to ask the right coaching questions.

9. Time to Think: Listening to Ignite the Human Mind

Do you know how to listen? Effective listening isn’t only important for your client. It’s important to you as a coach, and Nancy Kline shows you how to be more productive with strategizing, problem-solving, and maintaining strong relationships.

10. Becoming a Professional Life Coach: Lessons from the Institute of Life Coach Training

Authored by bestselling therapists Patrick Williams and Diane Menendez, this title covers the core strategies and principles for professional coaching. The book also covers the different aspects of the industry, from neuroscience to wellness, ethics, and positive psychology. It will help you gain the fundamental skills to help your clients overcome obstacles, align their values, and truly live their life’s purpose. This has become one of the most thorough foundational books in professional life coaching.

Which one did you read? Which one's your favorite?

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Enjoy,

Coachilly Magazine 🌶