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

Michael Bungay Stanier’s 3P model (projects, people, and patterns) is designed to “create focus, make the conversation more robust, and (when appropriate) shift the focus to the more powerful level that’s coaching for development” (40). Project conversations involve content, people conversations involve roles within a relationship, and patterns involve changing behavior.

Bungay Stanier defines developmental coaching as “turning the focus from the issue to the person dealing with the issue, the person who’s managing the fire” (40). This coaching fosters long-term growth for employees. Much of what Bungay Stanier proposes in The Coaching Habit falls under developmental coaching. For example, asking questions rather than providing answers forces reflection and turns employees into active participants in their own growth.

The psychological concept of double loop learning comprises “creating new neural pathways […] a chance to recall and reflect” (187). Bungay Stanier’s strategies, including the seven key questions, facilitate this act of recall and reflection to cement often forgotten lessons.