The Transformational Coach: Free Your Thinking and Break Through to Coaching Mastery

I chose this book for the first reading challenge for coaches - approved for continuing education credit - through the Center for Health and Wellness Coaches. In this book, Clare captures mindsets and shifts in mindsets that can’t come from a research paper or a textbook – they can only come from human experience. Readers reap the benefits of all Norman’s years of coaching and incorporate the concepts of these mindsets into their own coaching and learning. This book made me aware of mindsets I needed to unlearn - especially from coach training - that I wasn't otherwise aware of. The coaches in the reading challenge also found this book highly informative & enjoyed reading! Highly recommend this book to anyone who's looking to refine and grow their coaching skills.

This book created sustainable change for me in my coaching mindset. I am on my second reading and know I will refer to The Transformational Coach often. It is easy to read AND impactful. The mindset shifts are simple AND profound. This book has inspired me to pause and think about where my coaching mindsets came from and what I need to do to shift my thinking to become a more masterful coach.

Absolutely wonderful book for coaches and non coaches alike. Clare takes the reader through every major lesson we learn as children thru adulthood and offers us a new way of thinking or a shift in another way to embrace the concept that is more useful as we gain more insight and awareness into expanding our kinds and reactions. Highly recommend! As a coach it has changed my approach and practice for the better!

I've been reflecting a lot on my coaching over the past few months. This book gave me a way to check in on how I was showing up and what might be holding back the impact I can make with my clients. It's easy to read with short lessons but with opportunities to reflect and practice. I highly recommend this for anyone who want to check in on themselves as a coach and what baggage we might be bringing with us.

I'd recommend this for any executive coach. It uses a 'myth-buster' format - where it presents what we might think is the common sense approach to coaching - and why there is a better approach instead. If you are a newer coach, you'll need to read other books to give theories and coaching conversation examples. I would also say that this book is most useful once you've done some coaching sessions since the best practices make more sense once you've been in coaching conversations. Rather than read this book end-to-end, I would read one vignette per day and reflect on it a bit.

After completing my coaching program, I was hesitant to read coaching books because I was already overwhelmed by everything I had recently learned. However, this book reduced my level of overwhelm by clarifying the most important concepts and aspects to focus on. It simplified it all. Further, it validated me in many of the things I was struggling with and put me at ease about them (e.g. feeling like I needed to have the answers for the client, the value of silence, and that the client is “the thinker,” not me). It’s written in a clear and digestible manner, which prevents a feeling of information overload, and it can be easily picked up and put down and referred back to. It’s one of my coaching “bibles” that I will always keep close by and refer back to.

As a relatively new coach, I enjoyed leading a book group with this book. There are many topics to discuss and skills to be introduced to or reminded about. It's a bit repetitive at times but there is a lot to explore in depth and it's easy to skip around.

Very helpful in shaping how to view myself in relation to my clients. We can forget our role as coaches isn't to know everything or have the right and perfect question at the ready, but to show up as a vessel to receive what our clients pour forth. And that work is why I enjoyed this book; it asked, nay, gently demanded that I clear out mental clutter and beliefs regarding what I needed to feel worthy during sessions that could be getting in the way of the actual coaching.

A book based on sheer practical experiences. Author Clare Norman has been very candid in her sharing and through 83 shifts mentioned in the book she has presented a very comprehensive scenarios in Coaching.

Excellent book. GOES right to the heart of the issues, with plenty of examples, questions and advise.

"The Transformational Coach" was by my side throughout my two-year journey to MCC...and it still is. It helped tremendously in shifting my thinking to learn how to "be" with my thinkers. I highly recommend it to any ICF coach and especially those in pursuit of their Master Certified Coaching (MCC) credential. I love the way the book is broken into 83 easily-digestible segments called :shifts."

As a relatively new coach, I’ve found Clare Norman’s book genuinely transformational. It’s helped me to focus and refine my coaching style, and it’s challenged some unhelpful beliefs I hadn’t even realised I was holding. I bought it at a time when my confidence had dipped a few months after training, and it was exactly what I needed. There’s plenty of practical guidance, but it also reminded me why I chose coaching in the first place and the potential it offers people. Reading it helped me climb out of a bit of a hole and develop a healthier mindset about what I believe and how I trust in the process. I’d recommend this book to any new or developing coach, especially if you’re working towards accreditation like the ICF. It’s clear, supportive, and encourages you to be the coach you want to be while honing those competencies. It’s definitely left me feeling more grounded and confident in my work.

“The Transformational Coach” by Clare Norman is must-read for every coach. It brings forth new awareness and the transformation to your coaching. It is easy to read, very practical and at the same time cuts deep into adoptive mindsets that prevent coaches to move from good to great coaching. It’s liberating and refreshing as it constantly brings forth wisdom, resourcefulness and knowledge of your partners/clients.