The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever - Michael Bungay Stanier

CoLab Book Club - March 2025

#CoLabBookClub continued our 2025 reading list with The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier. It sparked a lot of nodding heads and “ooh, I’m going to try that” moments. It’s a deceptively simple book that packs a powerful punch and reminds us how small shifts in conversation can make a big difference.

Overview

This book is a quick, practical read designed to help us all build better coaching habits by staying curious a little longer and resisting the urge to jump in with advice.

The backbone of the book is seven deceptively simple questions that can transform the way we lead conversations:
❓ The Kickstart Question - “What’s on your mind?”
❓ The AWE Question - “And what else?”
❓ The Focus Question - “What’s the real challenge here for you?”
❓ The Foundation Question - “What do you want?”
❓ The Lazy Question - “How can I help?”
❓ The Strategic Question - “If you’re saying yes to this, what are you saying no to?”
❓ The Learning Question - “What was most useful for you?”

The book is super easy to read (or listen to) and uses a combination of light humour, memorable tips and plenty of practical guidance for turning these questions into habits that stick.

Our Key Takeaways

✔️ Curiosity is underrated - staying curious for a little longer can open up more meaningful, productive conversations.
✔️ You don’t need all the answers - coaching isn’t about fixing things, it’s about helping others find their own path forward.
✔️ Practice, practice, practice - tiny tweaks in our daily conversations can build up to big culture changes over time. We just need to practice to create the habit.
✔️ It’s not just for managers - anyone who works with people (i.e., all of us!) can benefit from asking better questions.

Who is it For?

If you lead people, work in teams or find yourself constantly giving advice (guilty!), The Coaching Habit is well worth a read. It’s especially great for those who want to sharpen their listening and questioning skills or even turn the questions on themselves to help work through a tricky situation.

Thank you!

Huge thanks to Michael Bungay Stanier for reminding us to listen more and stay curious. Our colleagues, friends and family are definitely going to get the benefit from us reading your book!

Shoutout to our this months book clubbers - Allan Atkinson (host), Alfred Enslin, Kyla McDonald, Peter Bink, and Toni Wilson. Thank you for the rich conversation full of “aha” moments, coaching stories and a few laughs.

#TheCoachingHabit #Leadership #AgileCoaching #BookReview #BetterConversations