Neuropsychology for Coaches: Understanding the Basics

Book excerpt: Neuroscience is revolutionising coaching: it helps us understand the biological basis of our behaviour. This includes the behaviour of the coach and the client. This practical and much needed book explains basic brain functioning and offers a guide to using this knowledge to advance our coaching and make our practice more effective. It builds extensively on the fact that we do now know that feelings underly all decision-making and focuses coaching on helping clients establish intelligent emotions as the basis of their own decision systems. Using a systemic model of emotions, energy and change, Paul Brown and Virginia Brown show coaches how to integrate the client's life experience into coaching and create change. This is a must read for all practising coaches. "This book is scattered with insightful, thought-provoking and occasionally beautiful analogies and metaphors, which any reader would be hard-pressed not to be challenged by. The (unrelated) Browns absolutely illustrate the importance for coaches of having an understanding of how the brain works." Coaching at Work, March 2013 "The OU coaching series always provides a reliable read for the coach and this is no exception ... The authors have kept the neuroscience refreshingly simple, choosing to focus on key evidence based principles of relevance to coaching." The International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching, Volume X Issue 2, December 2012 "This book is a delicious feast of neuroscience. Bravo!" Nancy Kline, President, Time To Think, UK “It’s rare to find an accessible, engaging book that combines current neuropsychological theory with working examples for executive coaching. At last here is one that brings the two together seamlessly." Linda Aspey, Managing Director, Coaching for Leaders “At last, a book that embeds the practice of coaching into what we know of how the brain works - rather than one that tells you about the brain, then leaves the coach to work it out; or one that tells you about techniques, then adds in the brain information as something of a 'P.S'." Ann James, Executive Coach / Director, Thinking Space "At long last, a rigorous book on neuropsychology that is both palatable and practically applicable for executive coaches." Dr Tara Swart, Neuroscientist, medical doctor and executive coach, Executive Performance Ltd. “Introducing the basic functioning of the brain, this book shows that humanity and high performance are indeed fraternal twins. A most useful guide!” Anette Prehn, MA in social science, brain-based executive coach (PCC), author of Play Your Brain "In a world of psuedo-theory and airport quick reads, Professor Paul Brown and Virginia Brown offer something most refreshing: hard science married with the intimate relationship between coach and executive." Dr. Christina L. Lafferty, National Defense University, Washington D.C, USA “Paul and Virginia Brown have done a great job in reviewing a lot of the burgeoning research and literature on Neuropsychology and making it accessible and useable by executive coaches in their work.” Peter Hawkins, Professor of Leadership at Henley Business School, founder and Chairman Emeritus of Bath Consultancy Group & co-founder of Centre for Supervision and Team Development, UK