Coaching with NLP - Joseph O'Conner, Andrea Lages

Softback 212 pages

4/5

In Coaching With NLP, Joseph O'Conner and Andrea Lages have set out a clean and well laid out introduction to the application of NLP to coaching.

Structured in four parts, for me most of the meat was in part 2 - The Art of Coaching. This section lays out fundamental ideas and applications, and sets out a good structure for delivering ongoing coaching. The ideas and tools presented in this section are all highly usable, with the absence of 'fluff' making for a sense of space and clarity in reading. In contrast I found part 1 - What is Coaching? - to be a little directionless and possibly even a little redundant. I am basing this on the assumption that this book is for NLP'ers who want to know about using NLP in coaching, because they already know what coaching is and want to do some. For such an audience, a brief overview of the aims of coaching from the authors' perspective would be sufficient. Which is not to say that the part 1 is substantial, just that it is not what is needed for the target audience. Part 1 of this book nearly put me off reading it, which would have been a shame.

Part 3 - Coaching in Practice - is a short but worthwhile 2 chapters: A case study and a section on self-coaching (with a useful bit on 'traps for coaches'). Part 4 contains additional resources such as worksheets, quick reference segments, and some bits and pieces on ethics and standards. All resources are referenced back to the relevant chapters covering the appropriate area.

A nice NLP touch is use of teaching by metaphor: Serialised throughout the book (at the beginning of each part and at the overall end) is the retelling of a relevant 'dream' had by the authors.

Overall I enjoyed this book and found within it a lot of useful ideas and tools, which I could have missed out on had I allowed myself to be put off by part 1. I also found it (part 1 aside) considerably more readable than some of O'Conner's other books.