Challenging coaching

Drawing on years of work with leadership teams at international companies, the authors argue that coaches have avoided taking a more demanding approach, even though such an approach can drive higher performance and bring out untapped ability in executives and their teams. Their remedy is a model called FACTS, built around Feedback, Accountability, Courageous Goals, Tension and Systems Thinking. The book explains each element conceptually and then shows it at work through case studies, sample conversations and hands-on exercises.

The authors also question several long-standing coaching principles, including remaining non-directive, establishing rapport and staying with the client's own agenda. They ask whether these principles still fit modern organisations, where the wider business needs may have to come before the concerns of any one executive.

The book is written for coaches, business leaders and leadership development specialists, anyone responsible for other people's performance. It presents its argument as an original and provocative case for facing the FACTS and taking up a more challenging style of coaching.