I have read several leadership books recently and they all have had great tips, but there is one book that stuck out. I subscribe to Amazon Books Unlimited and after finishing a recent book, I decided to pilfer through the books offered. I came across The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier. The book lists seven questions that you can ask as an effective manager during coaching opportunities. These are the seven questions.
- What’s on your mind?
- And What Else?
- What is the real challenge for you?
- What do you want?
- How can I help you?
- If you are saying yes to this, what are you saying no to?
The AWE question or And What Else? was easy to implement and it has worked very effectively from the time I used it. I have a few employees that are hard to crack and get the conversation moving. When I start with What’s on your mind, I get a little bit of chatter but not too much. Then I drop the question.
Every time the AWE question was asked it blew open the flow of dialogue. I have spent an hour in a 1:1 and that is the only question that I was able to ask in addition to the first question. There were no awkward moments at all, it was all smooth and free flowing.
I have had 1:1s that were awkward where I could not get the engineer to pipe up and later paid the price when their true feelings came bubbling out. Everyone wants to be heard so the easy part is just listening, but getting a dialogue going can be a real challenge.
If you are in leadership and you have 1:1s or other coaching opportunities, I recommend reading The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier. I loved it and I think you will too.
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