Cydcor Reviews The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever

About The Coaching Habit: say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier

Coaching is an important skill for leaders, but often, managers are too busy or overworked to coach their direct reports well. However, author Michael Bungay Stanier argues that coaching can be done in increments of 10 minutes or fewer.

Drawing on years of experience on training managers through his consulting company, Box of Crayons, Bungay Stanier argues that coaching can be a regular, informal part of every day by asking seven essential questions:

• The Kickstart Question: get straight to the point in any conversation by discovering what’s on a mentee’s mind.
• The AWE Question: stay on track by allowing people to generate more options to deal with the issue at hand.
• The Lazy Question: save hours of time by asking a simple question: “How can I help?”
• The Strategic Question: reach the balance between saying yes and saying no.
• The Focus Question: focus on the core problem, not the first problem.
• The Foundation Question: get to the root of what a mentee really wants.
• The Learning Question: ask what was most useful to the mentee during the coaching exchange in order to become a better coach.

Why Cydcor Recommends This Book

In 242 easy-to-read pages packed with anecdotes and explanations of the seven essential questions, Bungay Steiner offers a fresh and innovative take on the classic how-to manual. He combines insider information with research based in behavior and neuroscience to provide a new way to coach mentees. The book contains question-and-answer sections that will help readers identify old habits and start new behaviors.

The seven essential questions are also a great tool for sales professionals. They’ll help them get past the five basic objections to a product: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust. By using the seven questions to uncover what is actually important to a customer, it’s much easier to get to a “yes.”

Our Favorite Part

Each of the seven essential questions has its own chapter. The graphic design, including bulleted lists, pullout quotations, and other visual aids, helps readers to understand the highlights of each question. The book even has spaces and lines for readers to write about their thoughts and the actions they can take to develop the habits Bungay Stanier recommends. At the end of each of the seven chapters is a “Masterclass” section that helps to solidify the points the author made, allowing readers to strengthen their new habits.

Check out this book and tell us what you think. Share with us on Twitter and follow us @Cydcor.

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