Newswise — Coaching should be seen as more than just the latest business fad -- it should be seen as a potent tool for developing leaders, according to Babson College Professors James Hunt and Joseph Weintraub, authors of a new business book, The Coaching Organization: A Strategy for Developing Leaders (Sage Publications, Inc. 2007).
However, coaching is a tool that has to be used properly to be effective, argue Hunt and Weintraub.
Their ideas create a culture of coaching within organizations, to nurture new and existing leaders and re-engage the best employees with the important work they do daily. The authors believe coaching, used strategically, is a low-cost and sometimes no-cost way to retain the best talent and to strengthen and grow organizations.
The book's early chapters detail the developmental coaching process, and guide readers in assessing whether or not their organization is ready for coaching.
The Coaching Organization also includes a variety of case studies—Whirlpool Corporation, Citizens Financial Group, Wachovia Corporation—to illustrate examples of well-constructed internal coaching programs that link with business strategies and measure the quality of results.
One such case examined the coaching program with Children's Hospital in Boston, where the authors taught leadership coaching to more than 600 registered nurses and their managers. The tight labor situation in the nursing industry made it difficult-- for even this Harvard Medical School teaching hospital—to bring in outside leadership. Coaching internally proved a more economical and feasible strategy.
The Coaching Organization is intended for a broad range of readers from academics and students to business executives, managers, entrepreneurs, and human resource professionals interested in Resource Management, Human Resource Development, Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Organizational Effectiveness, Executive Coaching, and Leadership.
About The Authors
Dr. James M. Hunt is Associate Professor of Management, Chair of the Management Division, and Charles C. Barton Term Chair at Babson College. He teaches management, strategic human resource management, leadership, and is faculty co-director of the Coaching for Leadership and Teamwork Program. James is also a faculty member of the Leadership and Influence Program at Babson's School of Executive Education. He is the co-author, with Dr. Joseph Weintraub, of The Coaching Manager: Developing Top Talent in Business (Sage Publication, 2002) and a co-author of The Handbook of Executive Coaching (The Executive Coaching Forum, 2005). Faculty web page: http://www3.babson.edu/Academics/faculty/Huntj.cfm
Dr. Joseph R. Weintraub is a Professor of Management and the Charles C. Barton Term Chair at Babson College. He is founder and faculty co-director of the Coaching for Leadership and Teamwork Program, which has trained over 6,000 coaches since the program's inception. Dr. Weintraub is a faculty director at Babson Executive Education, where he develops and conducts executive development programs in leadership and coaching for both domestic and global companies. His paper on coaching (with Dr. James Hunt) was awarded the "Best Management Development Paper" by the Academy of Management, the largest professional association of business school professors in the world. Faculty web page: http://www3.babson.edu/Academics/faculty/Weintraub.cfm
For information on Sage Publications, visit http://www.sagepub.com/
Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., is recognized internationally as a leader in entrepreneurial management education. Babson grants BS degrees through its innovative undergraduate program, and grants MBA and custom MS and MBA degrees through the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College. Babson Executive Education offers executive development programs to experienced managers worldwide. For information, visit http://www.babson.edu.
RSS