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The Complete Handbook of Coaching
This comprehensive guide to coaching explores a full variety of coaching theories, approaches, and settings, and offers strategies for the reader to identify and develop a personal style of coaching. Written by leading international authors, each chapter makes explicit links between theory and practice and generic questions will facilitate further reflection on the topic. There are also suggestions for reading and short case studies.
This is the first book to explore the differences between the theoretical perspectives of coaching and the links between these perspectives in relation to contexts, genres, and media of coaching.
464 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 26, 2025
I used this book as a resource for researching, designing, and improving coaching systems as part of my work in HR. I found the introduction to be excellent in guiding my use of the book, and appreciated the methodical approach to the topic of coaching.
I skimmed through Section I - Theoretical Approaches, focusing on the approaches I thought were most relevant to workplace culture, Cognitive Behavioral/Solution Focused/Person-Centered. I am certainly interested in reading the other sections of the book, but didn't spend much time on them this year.
In particular, Section II - Contexts and Genres (Chapters 14 - 25) were very practitioner focused and provided a balanced approach to determining which method of coaching would be helpful in different workplace scenarios. I pulled several ideas from here, and used the section on Peer Coaching as a resource for a LinkedIn article I authored. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-ex...
As of this review, I have not read Section III.
I recommend this book as an overview of the different methods of coaching, and see it adding value for other HR practitioners, counselors, career/executive coaches, I-O Psychologists, and a good reference book to have on your shelf.
I skimmed through Section I - Theoretical Approaches, focusing on the approaches I thought were most relevant to workplace culture, Cognitive Behavioral/Solution Focused/Person-Centered. I am certainly interested in reading the other sections of the book, but didn't spend much time on them this year.
In particular, Section II - Contexts and Genres (Chapters 14 - 25) were very practitioner focused and provided a balanced approach to determining which method of coaching would be helpful in different workplace scenarios. I pulled several ideas from here, and used the section on Peer Coaching as a resource for a LinkedIn article I authored. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-ex...
As of this review, I have not read Section III.
I recommend this book as an overview of the different methods of coaching, and see it adding value for other HR practitioners, counselors, career/executive coaches, I-O Psychologists, and a good reference book to have on your shelf.
August 9, 2019
Very comprehensive
Thorough consideration of multiple schools of coaching thought, practical exploration of practice considerations, and good introduction to ethics, broader context, and ongoing directions.
Thorough consideration of multiple schools of coaching thought, practical exploration of practice considerations, and good introduction to ethics, broader context, and ongoing directions.
February 20, 2025
Great and very comprehensive textbook on the coaching practice. It coves various styles, theory backgrounds, applications, case studies, and much more.
March 30, 2017
Excellent and very readable text about the relationship between various schools of psychology and how they apply to coaching
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews