THE COACHING HABIT-Michael Bungay Stanier

• Effective coaching is about empowering a team and improving its long-term performance

- Aim to coach your employees for 10 minutes every day in an informal setting, rather than scheduling rigid weekly coaching sessions => Always in a coaching mode

- Focus on the development, not performance. Look for areas in which an employee can grow. 

• Use 3 basic questions to initiate and maintain a constructive conversation with an employee.

- Kickstart question: "What's on your mind?"

- AWE question: "And what else?"

- Focus question: "What's the real challenge here for you?"

As a coach, remember that you have to listen more than speak or offer advice. Your goal is to empower your employees, letting them come to their own conclusions.

• Identifying an employees' needs and wants will help you become a more effective manager

- Foundation question: What do you want?

- Lazy question: How can I help you?

- Scientists say that people are driven by 9 major wants and needs: affection, creation, recreation, freedom, identity, understanding, participation, protection and subsistence.

• Balance your schedule and make space for learning by posing the strategic and learning questions

- It is unwise to say "YES" to every single opportunity that comes your way.

- Strategic question: "If you are saying "YES" to this, what are you saying "no" to?

Whenever you say "yes" or "no" to a project, make sure you understand the reason why? TIPS: never respond to a request right away. Get as much information as you can before you make a commitment.

Ask yourself: What will this new opportunity demand of you? What's the deadline? How much time will it take? What's the reason for this? What else needs to be accomplished before it can be finished?

- Reflection/Learning question: "What was most useful for you?" Reflection is what makes a lesson "click"

=> So put an employee at ease by asking one question at a time. Skip the small talk and cut to your first question; it saves both of you time.

=> Ask "WHAT" question, not "WHY" question.

=> Don't be afraid of silence. Silence tends to make people uncomfortable, but it is an asset in coaching sessions.

• There are 5 events that need to occur for a habit to form: cause, trigger, mini-habit, training and an action plan.

- A cause is the reason you want to change current behavior => Identify your trigger-the moments that encourage you to offer advice=> Your mini-habits (use 7 questions) => Your training (Practice them often)=> Outline an action plan.