Well-managed companies pay close attention to the development of their human resources. They handle development as part of a larger system of performance management that includes performance ap-praisal, formal training, and rewards. But these formal programs are just the most obvious means of making the most of human assets. Less obvious but equally important are the day-to-day manager-employee (and executive-manager) interactions that fortify skills, expand knowl-edge, and inculcate desirable workplace values.This book focuses on two of those interactions: coaching and mentoring...

The Harvard Business Essentials series is designed to provide com-prehensive advice, personal coaching, background information, and guidance on the most relevant topics in business. Drawing on rich content from Harvard Business School Publishing and other sources,these concise guides are carefully crafted to provide a highly practi-cal resource for readers with all levels of experience, and will prove especially valuable for the new manager. To assure quality and accu-racy, each volume is closely reviewed by a specialized content adviser from a world-class business school.Whether you are a new manager seeking to expand your skills or a seasoned professional looking to broaden your knowledge base, these solution-oriented books put re-liable answers at your fingertips.

Introduction

What Coaching Is All About

Its Place in Management

  Benefits

  Identifying Coaching Opportunities

  A Four-Step Process

  Summing Up

2 Preparing to Coach

Keep Your Eyes, Ears, and Mind Open

  Begin with Observation

  Create and Test Your Hypothesis

  Listen Carefully

  Estimate the Probability of Improvement

  Ask the Employee to Prepare

  Summing Up

5 Discussion

Where Minds Meet

  DiscussYour Observations

  Be an Active Listener

  Listen for the Emotions Behind theWords

  Move Discussion to Causes

  Summing Up

4 Active Coaching and Follow-Up

Getting Down to Business

   Obtain Agreement on Goals

   Create an Action Plan

   Begin Coaching

   Give and Receive Feedback

   Adopt an Appropriate Approach

  Always Follow Up

   Summing Up

5 Becoming a Better Coach

Beyond the Basics

   Conserve Time and Energy

   Create the Right Climate

  Avoid These Common Mistakes

  Understand the Challenge of Team Coaching

  Practice Makes Perfect

  Summing Up

Executive Coaching

When Bosses Need Help

  Why Executive Coaching?

  Two Approaches to Executive Coaching

  What to Look for in an Executive Coach

  Summing Up

7 Mentoring and Management

Developing Human Assets

  MentoringVersus Coaching

  The Benefits and Costs of Mentoring

  Who Should Have a Mentor?

  Summing Up

8 The Right Match

Advice for Matchmakers

  What Constitutes a Good Match?

   Bosses as Mentors: Pros and Cons

   The Matchmakers

   Recognizing a Good Match

   One Company's Matchmaking Experiment

   Summing Up

9 Being an Effective Mentor

 And a Receptive Protege

   Characteristics of Effective Mentors

   How to MentorWell

   For Proteges: How to Make the Most of Mentoring

   Summing Up

10 Women and Minorities

 Special Mentoring Challenges

   Challenges for Female Employees

   A Different Fast Track for Minority Americans

   Summing Up

11 Beyond Traditional Mentoring

 Peers and Networks

   Mentoring Peer-to-Peer

   Network Mentoring

   Summing Up

 Appendix A

 Appendix B

 Notes

 Glossary

 For Further Reading

 Index

 About the Subject Adviser

 About the Writer