The Coaching Manual

Halfway through and I’m loving it

As someone preparing to become a personal coach, the book provides straight forward concepts for coaches to follow.

Great book for coaches because it gives all the details. Focuses - in a way that is easy to understand - on all the details that help a coach to excell and to stand out from this coach overwhelmed world. Great examples of coaching conversations and very fine descriptions of the thinking and the mentality that a coach should have besides the coaching skills.

I have been coaching clients for 7 years, and felt like I wanted to increase my knowledge and go back to being a student.Julie Starr's book was recommended, and I felt a bit sceptical. When you get paid well to do something for so long you can get stuck in a rut, but Julie's book is just fantastic.From barriers to coaching, to ego and even deep listening I learnt so much from this book and have already put alot of into practise with my clients.Thoroughly impressed at a book which could so easily have been dry and hard to read like many textbooks.

I originally came across Julie Starr via her free online coaching toolkit which provides a treasure trove of useful resources for any coach. I figured that any author who was willing to provide such good resources for free would be worth paying to read – and so it proved.Where Julie Starr’s The Coaching Manual (TCM) differs from many similar guides, including the very good Coaching Skills by Jenny Rogers, is in its relentless practicality. It really feels like a manual – a much needed practical handbook for coaches and the best on the market. It was the book I took with me on my first few coaching assignments to guide me (not in the sessions themselves!). I still refer to its two key chapters, “Coaching conversations: the coaching path” and “Coaching assignment: structure and process” whenever I’m structuring a new assignment and I can imagine using it happily for the rest of my coaching career.In just under 350 pages (including the excellent Appendix and Toolkit), the book manages to be helpfully systematic without ever being unhelpfully prescriptive. It also manages to address both the “being” and doing” aspects of coaching with equal insight and clarity. It includes exercises and case studies to help coaches build their awareness and skills as well as checklists that are gold dust for both the new and the experienced coach. It also has a series of coach – client dialogues which help illustrate points in a dynamic and incredibly helpful way. While’s there’s a good chapter on becoming a coach there’s not a huge amount on the business of coaching, although, given how quickly such information dates, that may be a wise choice.Julie Starr’s tone is never patronising or hectoring. She never pushes a particular style or school of coaching; she never mentions GROW, Gestalt, NLP or psychometrics; she is just keen that those reading the book grow in their skills and confidence and ability to serve their clients. Even though she is clearly passionate about coaching, Starr doesn’t load the book with lots of autobiographical detail which, in other books, so often ends up being prescriptive unintentionally.When I was thinking of going into coaching full time, I embarked on a pretty comprehensive review of available resources. My budget was tight so I was rigorous in my search for the best, most useful material. Along with Coaching for Performance, The Coaching Manual was one of the first books I bought and it has been one of the most worthwhile investments I’ve made in developing as a coach.Whilst I can be a bit wary of “If there were just one book…” reviews, I agree with John Whitmore’s review that TCM is “the most comprehensive book on the practice of coaching that I have ever come across.”

I am currently completing my ILM Level 7 Executive Coaching and Mentoring qualification and this book has been incredibly useful. It has explained coaching in a way that I fully understand. If you are someone just getting in to coaching or someone who leads teams or a manager this book will benefit you. It is all about helping you get the best out of other people and I would advise anyone to read.

I've read a lot of different coaching books but none have gone into the detail of the coaching process such as this. It's extremely practical and helps me as a coach understand everything from the first meeting with a client and how to set up the contract through to the completion of the sessions and how to write up session notes. The accompanying documents online are also a fantastic tool.

Julie Starr’s book is a fantastic resource for anyone starting on the path to be a coach or indeed anyone interested in the field of coaching or wishing to introduce coaching techniques into their life. The Coaching Manual covers every area of coaching, from operating principles and beliefs, the fundamental skills and attributes needed, structuring a coaching session, emotional maturity and advice on becoming a coach. The longest chapter - Fundamental Skills of Coaching, goes into rich detail on the five areas of rapport, listening, intuition, questioning, and feedback. In addition to talking about what coaches should do, the book also goes into detail about what coaches should not do, in a well thought through section on barriers to coaching. The Coaching Manual is not only a page turner, being beautifully written and presented, it is also a reference book that a coach is likely to regularly refer to. It is well laid out with question boxes, checklists, exercises, stories, hints and tips breaking up the text and making it easily digestible. There are also frequent examples of coach/coachee conversations to exemplify the points made. In addition the book references numerous tools that complement the book and are free to access and download. I can't recommend this book enough.