Last month I picked up the book The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier and I’ve enjoyed the author’s ideas. Generally, the pitch is that coaching should be simple and question-oriented: spend more time listening and less time talking (I’m a fan of that!). There’s a reason we have two ears and one mouth ‒ we need to listen twice as much as we talk.
Here are the seven questions to ask during each coaching session:
- What’s on your mind?
- And what else?
- What’s the real challenge here for you?
- What do you want?
- How can I help?
- If you’re saying yes to this, what are you saying no to?
- What was most useful for you?
Combine The Coaching Habit philosophy with a 1:1 agile performance management system like WideAngle and you’ll be in the top quartile of leaders.
David Cummings on Startups 
Micheal is a great guy and this is one of the best and straightforward references in delivering mentor/coaching especially in a high-growth and/or dynamic environment.
These are great questions and very timely as I enter a season of transition. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks David for writing down questions! I just saved it as a note on my phone, that way I don’t need to listen or read the whole book again. 😅