A Manager's Guide To Coaching: Simple and Effective Ways to Get the Best Out of Your Employees

The secret weapon every manager needs to take employees from good to exceptional.

To stay on top, companies need to do more than just tread water—they need to grow. And that means that their employees need to develop and improve their skills at the same pace. More than ever, managers are being encouraged to improve employee performance through effective coaching, but so few of them have the time—or the knowledge—it takes to do it successfully. Brian Emerson and Ann Loehr have spent years showing some of the country’s top companies how to develop their most promising employees. Now in this helpful manual they guide managers through every step of the coaching process, from problem solving to developing accountability. Readers will discover:

• the top 10 tips every manager should know before he starts to coach
• how to handle difficult conversations, conflicting priorities, and problem team members
• how to hold follow-up meetings after goals and priorities have been set
• sample questions they can adapt to various situations
• examples of common problems and how they can use coaching to address them.

Clear, practical and straightforward, this is an invaluable tool that will help all leaders coach employees, colleagues, and themselves to excellence.

About the Authors

After graduating from Cornell University’s Hotel School, Anne Loehr managed successful hotels and “green” businesses in Europe, Africa, and the United States for over 15 years. Her “green” work has been featured in Newsweek International, National Geographic Traveler, Elle Canada, Outside Magazine, CNN Money, Sunday Times (UK), Guardian (UK), and other international press. In an effort to find top-quality leadership, coaching, and team effectiveness facilitators for her 500 Kenyan employees, she started studying these skills herself and became a certified coach. Anne has since partnered with leaders at The Away Network, World Bank, Campbell’s, The Nature Conservancy, and Carlson Destination Marketing Services.

Brian Emerson, a certified coach, created Riverstone Endeavors, an organizational development firm that partners with leaders as they determine how to get the best out of their employees and organizations. His expertise includes team effectiveness, leadership development, and strategic/cultural alignment. He collaborates with organizations to develop lasting solutions to the “chronic un-solvable problems” that stand in the way of high performance. Brian has partnered with clients such as PBS, Natural Resources Defense Council, Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and MedImmune.

Both based in the Washington, DC, area, Anne and Brian have worked together for a number of years consulting to organizations, writing articles, and speaking at conferences and workshops. Their love of travel led them to create “Safaris for the Soul,” leadership-development retreats that use the world as a classroom to help senior managers discover how to be more effective in leading their organizations to success. These trips take place around the world and have been featured in The Washingtonian, Business Traveler, and Body+ Soul.