Strength-Based Leadership Coaching in Organizations - by Doug MacKie (Paperback)

About the Book

Adopt positive organizational psychology approaches that focus on the best skills of your people to get results.

Book Synopsis

Positive organizational psychology, with its focus on the identification and development of strengths, is a natural ally to executive development and leadership coaching. However, this approach is only just beginning to come to the attention of organizations and consequently, the research base for strength-based coaching is in its early stages of development. Strength-Based Leadership Coaching in Organizations reviews strength-based approaches to positive leadership development and evaluates the evidence for their effectiveness, critically assesses their apparent distinctiveness and considers how strengths can be reliably assessed and developed in their organizational context.

Strength-Based Leadership Coaching in Organizations reviews key areas of leader and team development and describes a model of strengths development in organizations. It discusses the application of strength-based leadership coaching from the managerial and external perspective within the context of career stage, seniority, role challenges and organizational need in order to facilitate meaningful change. Finally, it covers the limitations of the strength-based approach to leadership development together with the challenges of integrating positive leadership development. It shows exactly what a strengths focus is and that there is increasing evidence that this approach does get results. Where other books focus on one model of identifying strengths, this book offers a balanced and critical examination, showing how to apply a positive strength-based approach.

Review Quotes

"Strength-Based Leadership Coaching in Organisations takes on some of the key frustrations in contemporary leadership development theory and practice... and offers a new approach. This surely must lead to more authentic and courageous leadership....The book will become an important guide and manual for any serious professional working to develop better leadership at the individual, team and organisational level."-- "Rolf Moses, Director People & Development, Norton Rose Fulbright Australia"

"Strengths-based Leadership Coaching in Organizations provides a rare and timely combination of scholarly critique and pragmatic application on the topic of positive leadership development....The book represents a valuable resource for both researchers and practitioners."-- "Dr Sandy Gordon, Associate Professor, Sport & Exercise Psychology, The University of Western Australia"

"My frustration over the years with buying and participating in leadership development programs is not knowing which bits really work. Doug combines his skill of being a first-rate coach with a research-rich approach to cut through to what really matters. This book is equally applicable to practitioners as it is to leaders who want to practically understand what they can do to improve organisational performance."-- "Guy Templeton, President & CEO, Asia Pacific, WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff"

"This ground-breaking book provides a comprehensive and insightful discourse on strength-based leadership coaching in organisations. Dr Doug MacKie has written a tour de force on this important and contemporary subject."-- "Professor Stephen Palmer, President, International Society for Coaching Psychology"

"This is a book that needed to be written. It not only nails down the lid on the coffin of deficit-based leadership development, but provides a pragmatic and practical agenda for moving to a strengths-based approach at both individual and corporate level. A must read for anyone serious about building the capacity of existing and future leaders to manage in a complex and dynamic environment!"-- "Professor David Clutterbuck, David Clutterbuck Partnership"

About the Author

Dr. Doug MacKie is a business psychologist and executive coach specialising in the assessment and development of executive capability within top 100 companies both in UK and Australia. He is a past participant on the Australian Psychological Society's strategic leaders programme and was a member of the Standards Australia Committee for the guidelines for Coaching in Organizations. He has completed the largest controlled trial to date on the effects of strength-based coaching on transformational leadership behaviour. His research was shortlisted for the BPS Practitioner of the Year Award in 2013.