Coaching is an essential skill for any leader. As said by John Whitmore in their study, “Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.”

Considering a coach as an expert is a common misconception. Instead, a coach is a facilitator of learning who helps you improve your performance rather than teaching you from the core. Even though coaching, teaching, and counseling share similar skills, they are pretty different conceptually. A coach focuses on the person and their way of working, helping them unlock their potential.

In its full essence, coachingis all about asking the right questions to help a person work through their struggles.

Inspired by Michael Bungay Stanier’s book – The Coaching Habit, we’ll discuss and unfold some essential aspects, followed by the coaching habit summary in this blog.

What are the Ways and Benefits of Building the Coaching Habit?

Whether you’re a manager or a leader, developing coaching skills is vital for one-on-one engagement and bottom-line results. Unfortunately, numerous research studies show that despite having the best intentions, many leaders fail to portray their coaching skills and follow conventional leadership style. This clearly indicates that leaders need to put their efforts into building coaching habits in their roles to bring out more significant results.

Following are some ways that can help you build a coaching habit and bring a change in your organization:

• Build trust
• Be a good listener
• Be the guide
• Be a problem-solver
• Practice authenticity

Building a coaching habit will not only enhance your leadership skills but can also be a source to bring about positive changes within your organization. By eliminating overdependence within your workplace, you can help your team to become more focused and self-sufficient.

In addition, building a coaching habit will help you to be on the same page with your team and work towards the same goal. By being a problem-solving leader and a coach, you can direct your energy and time on the things that make real impacts.

Seven Essential Coaching Habit Questions by Michael

Michael, in their book, states that three vicious circles have consumed our workplaces, which are:

1. Overdependence
2. Overwhelmingness
3. Disconnection

However, by asking these coaching habit questions to your struggling team members, you can bring a change in your workplace and break the prevailing norm. These questions include:

1. Kick Start Question
2. And What Else (AWE) Question
3. Focus Question
4. Foundation Question
5. Lazy Question
6. Strategic Question
7. Learning Question

• Kickstart Questions (what’s on your mind?): These questionsare known to be the conversation initiator. However, you can focus on the issue by avoiding small talk and engaging in insightful conversation. By being a good listener, you can motivate them to speak up about their problems at work.

• AWE Question is for understanding and addressing your employee’s struggles. By focusing on their concerns genuinely, you can learn about their shortcomings and would be able to help and advise them in a better way.

• Focus Questions such as what’s the real challenge are meant to analyze the root cause of the problem. This is where your experience can be of help. By assessing their issues from all aspects, you’ll be able to reach the root cause of their struggles.

• Foundation Questions (what would you like to see happening?) These are the kind of questions where you give them the power to propose a solution. Considering their situation and perspective, this is the starting point of your coaching. You can be an effective leader by guiding and advising them with their shortcomings.

• Lazy Question (how can I help?) These questionsare for you to pull in your problem-solving skills and come up with a solution. This is where you build trust with your employee and show them that you want to see them succeed.

• Strategic Questions such as what we are going to do and what needs not to be done are the type of questions where you execute the resolving plan considering their situation. At this point, you show them that you’re committed to resolving their problem instead of subsiding it.
• Learning Question is for building a one-on-one bond with them by working together to resolve the concern.

The Coaching Habit Summary

In a nutshell, the book is about a change in behavior and leadership style. You can see a visible workplace difference by asking more questions and being less commanding. Practicing this habit of asking these seven questions in your daily leadership role can significantly change your pattern. Eventually, you’ll start seeing more fruitful results, creating a win-win situation.