Organizations Books

Until recently, there were no books on how to implement a coaching style of leadership throughout an organization. Now we have The Coaching Organization. This book provides leaders with a thoughtful strategy for introducing developmental coaching throughout an organization.

The Coaching Organization is straightforward, mixing helpful instruction with actual case studies. The authors also wrote Coaching Manager: Developing Top Talent in Business and have obvious expertise in this area.

After reviewing what developmental coaching is, the authors provide an organization assessment of readiness to implement a coaching culture. The assessment has four sections: 1) the cultural context; 2) the business context; 3) the human resource management context; and 4) organizational experiences with coaching. The last assessment section leads into one of the more innovative (and therefore worth reading) chapters, that of A Strategic Approach to Coaching.

Here the authors go beyond the obvious of "linking coaching to business outcomes" and go deeper to the systemic level. The goal is to create a coaching initiative that promotes a sustainable coaching capacity. Here's where the book pays off: the authors show how some "common sense" initiatives to introduce coaching actually work against the long-term sustainability of coaching. For example, if a coach is assigned to a poorly performing manager, what is communicated is that coaching is for those not doing well, thus, managers resist the coaching initiative so they won't be labeled a "poor performer."

Two other especially useful chapters are about how to build and lead a coaching capacity, and how to raise up qualified Internal coaches. These two processes are at the heart of creating a coaching organization. In my view, it will still take partnership with a coaching provider or trainer to do it, but the chapters serve as a guide for the overall process.

The Coaching Organization is one of only a few books on organization-wide implementation of coaching.

I liked their first book, The Coaching Manager, which discussed the importance and strategy of actually coaching--this new paperback book goes to the next level, taking a more strategic view of coaching. This is helpful because there's little out there that talks about HOW to create a coaching culture. The Coaching Organization admirably fills that gap. They get you to think about taking a strategic approach to development through coaching. Including what it takes to be successful.

The number of examples of real companies showing how they are using the development coaching model is really helpful. I especially liked the Whirlpool case, illustrating how a large, successful company uses coaching as an adjunct to its leadership development efforts and the importance of a senior leadership team dedicated to executive development. The cases used make a very compelling statement supporting the "business case" as to why it makes sense to create a coaching organization.

The authors are well-known academics in addition to being firmly grounded in the real world of business and consulting. They avoid excessive hype and selling their point of view, while making clear the value of their approach to organizations committed to genuine development efforts.

I really enjoyed reading "Collaborate to Compete." The book is written in an understandable and beautiful language - it reads like a good novel. The narrative just flows. Yet, it is down-to-earth and without unnecessary frills.
Since the current English of business borrows heavily from the "military language" and is full of war metaphors, I was afraid that it would be impossible to explain properly the idea of "collaborate to compete" and evoke a right Gestalt in the mind of the reader. However, the authors managed to overcome this obstacle by a very careful choice of expressions and metaphors, even create new ones. In my opinion that what is needed, if a paradigm shift from a "winner takes all" competition to "collaborate to compete" is to happen. Once we start talking and writing about business in a collaborative spirit and use "collaborative" metaphors, we will soon be "doing business by them."
I also like ractical models that enable creation of collaborative organizations. The book is an excellent guide for people with a collaborative mind and soul, who want to be successful in business and change the business culture accordingly.
Have a Happy and Collaborative New Year 2004,
Marek Swinder

I really enjoyed reading "Collaborate to Compete." The book is written in an understandable and beautiful language - it reads like a good novel. The narrative just flows. Yet, it is down-to-earth and without unnecessary frills.
Since the current English of business borrows heavily from the "military language" and is full of war metaphors, I was afraid that it would be impossible to explain properly the idea of "collaborate to compete" and evoke a right Gestalt in the mind of the reader. However, the authors managed to overcome this obstacle by a very careful choice of expressions and metaphors, even create new ones. In my opinion that what is needed, if a paradigm shift from a "winner takes all" competition to "collaborate to compete" is to happen. Once we start talking and writing about business in a collaborative spirit and use "collaborative" metaphors, we will soon be "doing business by them."
I also like practical models that enable creation of collaborative organizations. The book is an excellent guide for people with a collaborative mind and soul who want to be successful in business and change the business culture accordingly.

Have a Happy and Collaborative New Year 2004,

Marek Swinder

The collaborative Work System Fieldbook is one of the best reference books about teams, leadership, coaching, and a wide variety of collaboration topics that I have found. Working in the consulting industry for over 12 years you see a lot of books about similar topics but they are not well researched or well written - this book is both!

Over the years the Center for the Study of Work Teams has published a number of books describing the theory and practice of team dynamics. The latest edition of the Collaborative Work Systems Fieldbook simply sets the standard at a higher level. This book provides readers with a wealth of practical, team-oriented perspectives and applications for improving individual, team and organizational performance. If you are on a team, thinking about starting a team, leading a team or interested in creating a high performance culture, this book is for you.

Martin R. Dudley's The Collect in Anglican Liturgy: Texts and Sources 1549 - 1989 is an absolute gem. In fact, it is a multi-faceted gem, for not only does it collect (no pun intended) every single Anglican collect written between 1549 and 1989, but it takes a historical look at each one by noting the development of the collect through three distinct periods: 1549 - 1929, 1930 - 1972, and 1973 - 1989. Within each section, he notes the development and different versions of particular collects, which is quite helpful. He notes how some collects were discarded, and how others were sometimes substantially rewritten. Further, Dudley also includes the Latin collects from the Sarum Missal (one of the major liturgical sources for the Book of Common Prayer) and traces the history of each individual collect to its source. I thought it was quite interesting how many collects come straight out of older Latin liturgies, including but not limited to the Sarum Missal.

But what, exactly, is a "collect"? Dudley, in a substantial 43-page introduction, notes that we don't quite know the origin of the prayer style itself, but that "collect" most likely "means the celebrant's conclusion or summary of the prayers of the faithful" (5). It was one of three types of prayers that appears to have unique to the Western/Latin/Roman liturgical tradition - the other two being litany prayers and Eucharistic prayers - that, although they were compiled in the sixth century, are sometimes hundreds of years older. Thus, when Cranmer compiled and wrote the first Book of Common Prayer in 1549, he was working - in part - out of a much older and thoroughly Western/Latin/Roman liturgical tradition. Dudley seems to favor the earlier collects - or, he is at least more willing to criticize more contemporary collects, noting that a collect should be addressed to the Father, through the Son and that although it should be theologically substantive, it should not be rhetorically cumbersome. He thinks that some of the contemporary collects fall short on some of these issues.

Dudley does not restrict himself to the collects that have been historically used in England, but takes a global perspective, noting the development of the American collects, as well as those in Wales, Ireland, Scotland, India, South Africa, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Thus, this book is really quite up to date, for the only major liturgical development that I know of since 1989 elsewhere in the Anglican Communion is that of the Kenya - but I do not know if there were any new collects commissioned for the Our Modern Services (Kenyan BCP) in 2002. All of this, however, leaves quite a few questions unanswered, for there are a number of Anglican provinces that aren't mentioned here that are found in Central and South America, as well as throughout Asia and other parts of Africa. Perhaps these different parts of the Anglican Communion have not commissioned new collects but have only translated those from the past. However, Dudley doesn't actually say so. Rather, he hints that the book has been put together in part for those parts of the Anglican Communion - Africa, specifically - that are now putting together specific liturgies so that those particular liturgical commissions might have a solid resource for developing their own prayers in their own language, while also remaining rooted in traditional Anglican soil (41).

This book, as noted above, is a real gem. I highly recommend it for all who are interested in Anglican liturgy - on a global basis, whether more ancient or more contemporary - as well as for those who would like to read and pray a different type of prayer. Collects are formal, and in many ways quite majestic - they are for a community, and are therefore not merely homespun. There is real theological depth in these prayers, and Dudley's work of collecting them is a great service to all.

About two years ago, when I began working with the Synodical Commission for Worship on a revision of our Church Year and Liturgy, one of the questions we asked was how we would be able to make the best use of the historic collects (opening prayers) of the Church Year in our new scheme.

This book made it simple.

Collected together for reference and comparison, Dudley's volume made it simple to research the history of the Collect in the usage of the Anglican Liturgy, from the Latin collects of the Sarum usage to the 1979 revisions and even into the late 1980's, this book covers the entire spectrum of opening prayers from throughout the Anglican Communion.

At the price this book is offered at, it is almost a sin not to have it on your bookshelf. It is a truly indespensible resource for the Anglican cleric, or any cleric of the Western Rites with an interest in liturgical prayer.

These gentle, generous-spirited writers have contributed a great deal to the field. Their book is full of stories, true tales of work in classrooms. Each leads you further into the depths of insight needed to be of use as an educator of Native American students.

Possibly the most useful book available for anyone working in or considering working in elementary and secondary American Indian education. As a tribal school employee, I felt the authors may have used our school as a case study! Thought provoking and inspirational - highly recommended.

It's a short and enjoyable read. The book should stay on the near shelf, available for review.

This book is an excellent compilation of (all?)the research on what actually works in community building. It is an absolute "must-read" for anyone or any organization who/which is interested in community building. Their organized listing of key elements which must be considered is very helpful and good checklists to the practitioner to determine if all bases are covered.

Every so often we are reminded of the poor. This book puts a face on not only the poor but on the destitute. The destitute will become real people which leads us to the next step --- action! What can we do and what must we do as a moral person.

Of the 12 chapters in this slim book of 200 pages the one that affected me the most is entitled, "To Have or Not To Have; Economically Just Lifestyles".

WARNING: This book is written by an activist with the intention of convicting the reader into becomming an activist also. I dare say he will probably be successful!

I was loaned this book and was challenged and changed by it's content. Now I am buying a copy for myself, that I can loan out to others. The author writes honestly about the many issues involved in working with the poor. He doesn't pretent to know all the answers, and this is very refreshing. Anyone with any compassion for people in poverty will love this book. You will not be the same again.

Traditional industrial organization literature sees competition as occurring primarily within individual industries between essentially undifferentiated firms. By contrast the dual economy approach suggests that in an analysis of competition all firms can be usefully grouped into two broad categories, core and periphery, on the basis of size and joint market share. The generalized competitive process is correspondingly bifurcated, producing two distinct rates of profits and two distinct risk-return relationships. Joseph Bowing places the dual economy in a historical context and analyzes the evolution of core and periphery competition. He also refines the dual economy hypothesis and provides strong new empirical support for it.

The usual industrial organization analysis points to a homogeneous competitive rate of return among firms without significant market power and a heterogeneous set of oligopoly profit rates determined by conditions in particular industries rather than by generalized competitive forces. Dr. Bowring's analysis and empirical results suggest, instead, that it is large, dominant firms, core firms, that engage in the most active interindustry competition. The result is that they earn profit rates that are higher, less risky, and more homogeneous than those earned by periphery firms.
--- from book's dustjacket

This was a superb, excellent, magnificent, glorious, terrific, marvelous, and otherwise GOOD BOOK.

Following the advice of Gwen & Sue helped me turn an idea into something much more. Their advice is practicle, applicable and realistic. The book breaks it all down for you, so you can easily locate the parts most relevant to your individual situation. I recommend this book to anyone who is either thinking of starting a business, or already has a business that needs a new/improved plan. I actually read this book to help me launch a new business, but a lot of the knowledge has translated very well into my existing business.

I'm not great at following rules, guidelines or how to's, but this book is packed with concise and easy to understand information. I highly recommend it for anyone just starting out in business and also for seasoned entrepreneurs. A must have for any small business owner!

Last December, we took our project non-profit, really easily, by affiliating with a fiscal sponsor (explained in the book.)

I found the book in February. Three weeks later, I wrote my first grant, depending a great deal upon the advice, tips and forms and charts in the book. Two months later the check came in. The grant was approved.

I can't say enough good things about the book. I've always thought this genre of books was for total novices... which I was, when I started reading this book, but after talking with people who have applied for grants, I discovered this book had really educated me to the point I knew more than some of them.

Since then, I've been working with a part timer grant writer, helping me to apply for more grants. The book has helped me support my ideas-- even straightening out the consultant I'm working with, when it came to my rationale for funding overhead costs for one project.

I know at least three or four other colleagues have bought the book at my advice. I think anyone doing NGO non-profit work would benefit from reading the book and using the approaches it suggests to better understand the process of fund raising, how foundations operate and think, and how to create proposals that will persuade foundations to make contributions to support your work.

Last but not least, there's a coupon in it that gets you a month's free subscription to a foundation database. That alone is worth more than the price of the book. You can't lose. Now, go out, buy the book, get some funding and heal the world. Good luck.

As someone who writes grants on a regular basis, I found Waddy Thompson's book to be both a great refresher of the basics, as well as a deep resource for the more detailed information that a professional grantswriter uses regularly. The CD-ROM also has some great templates and research guides for the first-time grantswriter starting from scratch. The layout of the book allows for easy "flipping through" to glean as much or as little info as you need, and for easy review. Clean, light writing that gets to the point; overall, a terrific resource for anyone writing for themselves or an organization who is entering the sometimes tricky world of grants.