Back this month to books, and I’ve just finished Michael Bungay Stanier’s excellent and entertaining book, The Coaching Habit. It’s a short and fast paced introduction to providing highly valuable coaching sessions in the busy day-to-day work environment.
The book’s premise is simple, and on the front cover! Say less, ask more.
However, rather than a high minded or academic approach, Michael runs through a set of seven short but effective questions you can use to take practical steps to improve your habits.
The start of the book explains how to build a habit, why it may be difficult and why you should persevere. It then splits between explanations of the seven questions, and masterclasses that give useful techniques and insights.
Where some books may stretch their content with repetition, The Coaching Habit eschews this approach, going for fast pacing, large text and bold quotes. It’s an easy afternoon read, but one that you’ll want to come back to many times as you start putting its lessons into practice.
James Osborn 
2 replies on “The Coaching Habit”
[…] The Coaching Habit – This is a great short form book, which is really useful in a management coaching context. It gives you a simple structure to follow and some thoughts on how to flex the style. The seven core questions are easy to commit to memory, and it’s something you can use as another tool in your coaching toolbox. […]
[…] another short and punchy book, very much in the mould of The Coaching Habit. It’s not quite a sequel, but it certainly builds on the ideas of the previous book and you […]