Overview

The process of STARTED is now complete. The reader who has followed the structure and is now willing to try out coaching tools in their conversations with staff is no different from their own staff in their likely response to acquiring new behaviours. They may have started reading this book from the position of, I know managers are expected to coach staff (pre-contemplation). They may have recognized their own resistance to the process: I know coaching is seen as a good thing these days, but it just encourages staff to moan instead of getting on with things (contemplation). They may have come to the book at a point where they have thought about trying out some new things in discussions with staff, but have not followed it through (preparation). Success means being motivated to take action, but the evidence tells us that the Action stage is likely to be one of partial success and occasional failure. Sustaining yourself through this stage to the point where the behaviours are selfmaintaining requires support. This comes from there being valued rewards for moving beyond the familiar and comfortable. The most powerful of rewards is a sense that there is some personal benefit in doing things differently.

So far the focus has been on the role of coaching in capturing the motivation...