The Art and Science of Working Together: Practising Group Analysis in Teams and Organizations
Christine Thornton
Routledge
978 03671 8258 8
4.5/5
This book offers new perspectives, applications and insights into working with the complexity of organisational systems. Thornton makes the case for the value of using Group Analysis within the interventions that coaches make with teams, groups and organisations. She and her fellow contributors present their thinking, experiences and case studies through a Group Analysis lens.
In essence, the core principles of Group Analysis are expounded as attention to the individual, the nuances of interpersonal communication, the importance of multiple perspectives, the incorporation of difference, awareness of the context (system) and flexibility in managing anxiety and leadership projections.
The book is rich in content, blending the application, reflection and review of Group Analysis principles with a strong exposition of theory, with over 300 books and papers cited.
Readers well-versed in Group Analysis will surely value this resource. So should those team coaches, facilitators and group supervisors who, like me, are newcomers to the approach. There is much to be considered and embraced.
Lynne Cooper is director of Change Perspectives and author of publications including The Five-Minute Coach
The Art of Listening in Coaching and Mentoring
Stephen Burt
Routledge
978 11386 0903 7
5/5
Why do we need a book on listening?
At the start of his book, Stephen Burt shares that his children would know how he was feeling by the way he put his keys and bag down when he arrived home. As coaches, we often take for granted that we know what listening is and how to do it. We know that it is the foundation of all that makes good coaching so powerful, and yet there is much that gets in the way of this innate ability.
In this book, Burt skilfully blends art and science, drawing on academic sources and his own experience, to help the reader understand the power of good listening and what we as coaches can do to improve our capacity to listen. He introduces a simple and clear model of four listening modes – attention, inquiry, observation and resonance – and shows us how to develop each one to bring them together in our work. Listening is as much about being as doing, and the book emphasises the need for ongoing inner work to help coaches become better listeners.
This is an important guide to both the skills involved in listening and the art of being a good listener, and full of wisdom and reflections for both new and seasoned coaches.
Aboodi Shabi is lecturer in Coaching and Behavioural Change at Henley Business School