The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier is a tiny little gem of a book. I read it in about 4 hours (including taking notes). I wish every supervisor I've ever had would read it, and I hope you will to.
In The Coaching Habit, the author describes seven coaching questions for non-coaches to use in every day life. He is particularly targeting supervisors, but any team leader or project leader who finds themself at the center of the action would benefit from this book. Let me tell you: these questions are 💎💎💎. They are so good that as a coach, I now incorporate at least one of these questions into every session I have with a client.
The thesis of the book is simple: Many leaders are overworked, oversubscribed, out of time, and have staff looking up to them. Turning even minor supervisory conversations into mini-coaching sessions benefits leaders by taking the onus off them to solve the problem, and benefits staff by enabling and empowering them to solve their own problems, now and into the future.
Bungay Stanier offers real-world solutions for reducing how much advice leaders give, and provides alternatives in the form of these seven questions. Over the course of your short conversation, these questions will allow you to take your direct report over the whole terrain: first, see everything on the landscape, then narrow down to the crux of the problem, let your employee explain how the issues affect them personally, find out how you can be most useful to them, seek discernment and commitment on solutions they identify, and finally, circle back on learning to ensure they are empowered and personally responsible for the solutions they came up with.
"What's the real challenge here for you?"
I won't provide all seven questions here, but I'll share my favorite: "What's the real challenge here for you?" As the author describes, the construction of this question is no accident. You're asking your team member to narrow their focus ("here") to something at the heart of their topic (the "real challenge"), and not only that, but something that's personal to them ("for you") , something they can actually do something about. Bungay Stanier says, "it breaks the cycle of gossip or complaining" that many people find themselves in when storytelling. It pulls focus from problem identification to engaging workable solutions.
I really hope you'll pick up a copy of this readable, engaging guide. I think you'll find you can do less and be more helpful; do less and provide more support; do less and find yourself with a stronger, more effective team.
Will you let me know how it goes? I'd love to hear how you're able to implement the questions in this book.
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