NLP for Managers
Harry Alder
Piatkus  0-7499-1643-5
Harry Alder strikes me - and I emphasise that, as in all of my reviews, this is just my opinion - as a man desperately trying to write THE basic book on NLP, and never knowing why he's missed the mark.

NLP for Managers is, I regret to say, just like the other books by this author.  There's the same old emphasis on 'left and right brain thinking'.  In fact there's even a chapter called Thinking with Both Sides of Your Brain.  And this despite the fact that neuroscience has long since established that the left/right brain function model is a gross, and misleading oversimplification.
There;s the usual description of what Dr alder insists on calling "neurological levels" when he really means "logical levels".
And there's the same invention of something found nowhere else in NLP that I know of, which is presented as being 100% NLP  And to top it all, there's the same pedestrian, confused presentation.

The "new" NLP, in this case, is something called the "Life Content" meta model.  Unfortunately Dr Alder seems to have missed the point that NLP already has a Primary Interest meta program, although the Life Content model does differ in one respect.
The Life Content parameters are:

• Doing
• Having
• Knowing
• Relating and
• Being

The Primary Interests filter, described by James and Woodsmall in their 1988 book Time Line Therapy and the Basis of Personality (also reviewed on this site), has as its parameters:

• Activity
• Things
• Information
• People and
• Place

If the Primary Interest meta program is indeed the basis for Alder's Life Content model it is not at all clear why he decided to change Place into Being.  Alternatively, if Alder thought he was creating a new meta program, it's equally hard to understand how he overlooked an existing program that was so (80%) similar.
It is also puzzling that, having spent so much time on meta programs in this book, Alder refers to them in his later book NLP in 21 Days (also included in these reviews) as "so-call meta programs", and then says almost nothing more about them.

Bottom line - though I'd like to say this is the exception to the rule, I found it to be just like all of Dr Alder's books I've come across so far:
Definitely not recommended.

The Psychology of Executive Coaching: Theory and Application
Bruce Peltier with Alan Hedman and Ana Maria Irueste-Montes
Brunner-Routledge ISBN 1-58391-072-7
Although I have a few reservations about this book, I believe that it is one of the most important coaching-related books currently available.  Indeed, it strikes me as being so well-focused on its chosen market that no one should be allowed to practise as an executive coach, or as any kind of business coach, unless they can demonstrate a thorough working knowledge of almost everything in this book.

The author himself comments: "... this book alone is insufficient preparation for successful coaching".  In a purely objective sense he is right.  But this is such an immature field of activity that an outfit like the ICF (International Coaching Federation) is widely, and in my opinion quite wrongly, regarded as an authoritative source; one widely revered "expert" acknowledges the need for a solid psychological foundation to coaching - yet apparently cannot differentiate between genuine psychology and mysticism (The Kabbalah) posing as psychology; and other "experts" didn't realise that 'Behaviourism' and 'Cognitive Behavioural Therapy' (both are covered in this book) are two separate, and very different, entities.
Against a backdrop like that Peltier's book easily stands out like the proverbial light on a dark night.

After an Introduction which clarifies a number of important aspects of coaching, the opening chapter deals with the use psychological assessment "instruments", but in the form of a general discussion rather than evaluating individual products.

The heart of the book, to my mind, is made up of chapters 2-9 in which Peltier explains some of the main schools of psychotherapy and shows how they can be adapted for use in the coaching context, along with tips on how to avoid potential pitfalls.
The chapters cover:

• The Psychodynamic [Freudian] View
• Behavioural Concepts [Pavlov, Watson, Skinner]
• The Person-Centered Approach [Carl Rogers]
  This chapter was written by psychotherapist and management consultant, Alan Hedman.
• Cognitive Psychology and Cognitive Therapy [Beck, Burns, and co.]
• Family Therapy and Systems Thinking [Satir, Blevins, and others]
  Neither Virginia nor her books are actually mentioned in this chapter, but the author assures me this was a simple oversight which will be rectified in future editions.
• Hypnotic Communication [Milton Erickson, etc.]
• Social Psychology [Festinger, Goleman et al]
• The Existential Stance [Sartre, Camus and others]

These chapters are literally packed out with useful information relevant to coaching.  If there was nothing else in the book this material alone would still more than justify the purchase price.

Chapter 10, which reviews various writers on coaching in sports is interesting, and perhaps more useful than I had anticipated.  Based around eight "themes" and eight "nuggets" the material varies from the previous chapters, I thought, in providing food for thought rather than straight "how to" text.

Chaper 11, Coaching Women in Business was the one chapter that really didn't work for me - or my wife (a software product manager).
Although co-written by Peltier and Ana Maria Irueste-Montes, Ph.D, a psychologist and coach, this chapter seemed to wander off into a discussion of how women should be treated in the workplace instead of how coaching can best serve the interests of working women.

Of the last three chapters, Ethics in Coaching made a number of useful points but was, like the final chapter Making the Transition, very specifically aimed at therapists, counsellors, etc. who are moving into coaching.

The one other chapter, Workers, Manager and Leaders, tackles the perennial question of what differentiates a manager from a leader.  It makes some commonsense points, but I found that it added little or nothing to the total value of the book.

Overall, then, a bit of a mixed package.  Nevertheless, the core section of the book is so good and so useful I have no hesitation in making it a Highly Recommended selection   *   *   *   *  *   *
(If this review was of interest, the next review, The Skilled Helper, may also be relevant.)

The Skilled Helper (7th edition)
Gerard Egan
Brooks/Cole ISBN 0-534-36731-3   (Hb)
What joy - two top class books in a row!

The core of Egan's book is a "helping" model that is relevant to almost any context - therapy, counselling, business, you name it.  Moreover it compliments the NLP problem solving model/technique.

For anyone not familiar with the NLP model it looks something like this:

• What do you want?
• What will be different when you've gained your required result?
• What relevant resources do you already have?
• What other resources can you draw upon?
• What is the next step?

The model is generally presented as being fairly linear, but in practice it may sometimes be useful to move back and forth between the stages.
Egan's rather more detailed "skilled-helper" model looks something like this:

Even a superficial comparison should indicate that even if we ignore the exact structure of each, the two models are by no means an exact match, which is why I would recommend this as an addition to the NLPer's toolbox, and definitely not as a replacement.

What makes Egan's book so useful is that it covers the subject of "helping" in such detail, though the book's length - 368 pages plus references, index, etc. - is a little misleading.  Egan's approach to explaining the "skilled-helper" model and its application is cumulative, by which I mean that he revisits the same basic material several times over, gradually bringing in more details, more related issues, and so on.  This is mainly a chunking down process, but never at the cost of getting lost amongst the nitty-gritty details.

Personally I found the fact that the book was not written from a pure NLP perspective (if there is such a thing) added to its value.  The author is Professor Emeritus at Loyola University, Chicago, and as such he uses mainstream psychological terms and labels rather than NLP jargon.  Thus he talks about "empathy" rather than "rapport", and about "norms" rather than "presuppositions".
But "empathy" isn't an exact match for "rapport", and "norm" isn't an exact match for "presupposition", and I found it useful to look at the differences in each case to get a better understanding of each at both a theoretical and practical level.

By the way, although this is the 7th edition of a book that has been around about as long as NLP itself, this does not mean that the contents are seriously aged.  On the contrary, the references section includes items from as far back as the 1950s and '60s (Festinger, Mehrabian, etc.) but also a very significant number from the recent past right up to 2000.  This is reflected in the text by appropriate inclusion of social issues and influences that are a "helper" will face in his or her work today.

If I have one criticism of the book it is that the style of writing may be a bit off putting to some readers who would otherwise find it a very useful book.  Although I personally found it relatively easy to read, the densely packed text, the slightly academic tone, and the huge number of references, may seem a little daunting.  Here's an example of how references are provided for even the simplest point:

"It is not surprising, then, that helping as a social-influence process has received a fair amount of attention in the helping literature (see Dorn, 1986; Heppner & Claiborn, 1989; Heppner & Frazier, 1992; Houser, Feldman, Williams & Fierstein, 1998; ..."

"Hoyt, 1996; McCarthy & Frieze, 1999; McNeill & Stolenberg, 1989; Strong, 1968, 1991; Tracey, 1991).

This habit of listing ALL of your sources is a necessity in academic circles, both to give recognition where it is due, and to avoid charges of plagiarism.  Given that the book that has so much to offer the non-academic reader it would be nice if some sort of "layman's edition" could be produced.
Speaking of which, there is also a companion volume - Exercises in Helping Skills (7th edition) which is described as being designed to allow the reader to "practice communication skills and each of the steps in the model in private before using them in actual face-to-face helping interactions with others."  I have not, however, had an opportunity to see this second book yet.

So, a little bit weighty, but so packed with useful ideas and information that it is well worth a little extra effort. Another Highly Recommended selection   *   *   *   *  *   *
(If this review was of interest, the previous review, The Psychology of Executive Coaching, may also be relevant.)

Coaching Made Easy
Mike Leibling & Robin Prior
Kogan Page ISBN 0-7494-3953-X
This is, without doubt, the last book the coaching profession needed to see at this moment in time.  Not because it actually demonstrates an easy but effective style of coaching, but because it totally fails to deliver the goods.

For example,we never do get a clear definition of the term "coaching".  We are told that "coaching all aspects of someone's life" is life coaching, and that "Coaching of senior people is referred to as 'executive coaching'."  We are told that "The coach is a guiding-hand facilitator in the process [of coaching]."  And we even get a list of what coaching is not - it isn't:

• Counselling
• Mentoring
• Punishing
• Teaching
• Telling
• Therapy, or
• Training

And yet for all that, somehow or other we are never told what "coaching" is.  This, in turn, makes it impossible to know what underlying purpose there is to what is called the "ABC Technique" approach to coaching.
This so-called "technique" is actually nothing more than a set of questions ( 15 questions in the short version - 27 questions in the long version), which appear in one form or another no less than 5 times in the course of the book (how's THAT for space filling!), and which are readily summarised by the three headings:

• What's the situation?
• What would be better?
• What could you do differently to make things better?

Despite the back cover claim that the ABC Technique has been "developed over a number of years within a variety of organisational settings", this is, of course, no more and no less than a cut down version of the regular NLP problem-solving model (see review of The Skilled Helper, above).  Perhaps we are expected to obey that asinine but oh so popular business dictum of the moment: "Do more with less", though I hope not because, as businesses are already beginning to discover, the only thing you can really do with "less" is "less".

The trouble is that Joe Public will only find out that they've wasted their time, and money by buying this quite appalling mish mash of half-baked ideas and pure nonsense "after the fact", as they say in legal circles.  Moreover the totally misleading message will have gone out: "Skill, training and aptitude are for wimps.  Just scan through this book and anyone can be a coach!"

"Mish mash", "half-baked ideas" and "pure nonsense", Andrew?  Isn't that a bit strong?
Is it?  Then how about this little gem in the section on Nature/Nurture:

"The genetic side to how we are is hard-wired and carried in the blood"

Our genes are carried in our blood?  I don't think so.
Anyway, this piece of antiquated physiology is quickly followed by a story that digs yet another hole in the book's credibility:

"A client's boss tended to shout orders at people. ... What [the client] had not realized was that the boss had a two part strategy. Part one was to shout.  Part two was to apologise in private to the person they had shouted at, and then discuss matters quietly over a drink or a meal.
Everyone except our client knew about part two ... But no one had had told our client who, having a new baby, had declined the part two invitations"

Uh, 'scuse me?  If the boss FIRST apologised and THEN issued the invitation, the client MUST know that the boss (a) apologises, and then (b) issues an invitation to go for a drink or a meal.  The question of whether or not the client has declined all such invitations is neither here nor there.  The client may not know the boss' favourite drink or dish, but they can hardly be unaware of the nature of the boss' strategy, even in the unlikely event that the boss' behaviour has never been the object of office gossip (surely an all-time first?).
Another example of this daftness can be found in the section headed Motivation Direction:

"Some people have very strong likes and dislikes (strong 'away from' and strong 'towards').  You know where you are with them. even though they might change their mind dramatically from moment to moment."

'Run that by me again, Cedric' (as the saying goes).  I'm dealing with someone who "might change their mind dramatically from moment to moment" BUT that's okay, because at least I know where I am with them?
Excuse me if this seems a mite pedantic, but HOW, exactly, do I know where I am with this person, "from moment to moment"?

The one thing this book has in common with most other books on coaching is the way it simply ignores the question of whether a manager is in a good position to function as a coach at all.  Instead of offering any discussion or insights we get this facile and totally unrealistic instruction:

"Of course you may want [the employee] to 'work harder' as your managerial outcome, but the coaching process is firmly based on their outcomes for themselves.  You have to take off your manager's hat, and leave it outside the coaching space."
(Italics as in the original)

"Manager's hat"?  "Coaching space"?  Didn't anyone spot the fact that these are metaphors?  They don't actually exist, and the proposition that a manager will simply forget/totally ignore outside a coaching conversation everything they heard inside that coaching conversation is arrant nonsense.
To be blunt, I suspect that there are very few companies where employees are likely to "open up" to the person who controls their job and salary prospects.  Just imagine how a real life conversation might go:
Employee: "Hey, coach, I don't much like my job, and my manager is a self-opinionated tyrant who is always breathing down my neck - but I need a regular income!"
Boss: "As your coach, thank you for sharing that with me.  And as your self-opinionated, tyrannical, heavy-breathing manager - clear your desk, you're fired!"
Hmmm.

Not surprisingly the book also fails the "neurological levels" test.
As soon as I get a new book on NLP, I check the Table of Contents, and the Index (if there is one), for any entries under Logical Levels or Neurological Levels - and if I find either, or both, I check out that part of the book first.