THE ONE THING

1. One Leadership Question You Can Use Today (& Six Others to Focus On)

I recently re-read “The Coaching Habit” by Michael Bungay Stanier.

The book covers seven essential questions that leaders can use during their coaching conversations:

1. The Kickstart Question: What’s on your mind?

2. The AWE Question: And what else?

3. The Focus Question: What’s the real challenge here for you?

4. The Foundation Question: What do you want?

5. The Lazy Question: How can I help?

6. The Strategic Question: If you’re saying Yes to this, what are you saying No to?

7. The Learning Question: What was most useful for you?

Each question is discussed in a separate chapter, and Stanier gives a set of best practices and tactics that leaders can use.

All seven questions are important, but question 2 (The AWE Question: “And What Else?“) is a crown jewel among them.

According to Stanier, this question is considered “the best coaching question in the world” because it invites employees to share more options, which leads to better decisions.

The takeaway

Sprinkle “And What Else?” in different conversations with your team members.

You can also use it as a follow-up for any of the other questions.

For example, “And what else is on your mind?” or “And what else is a real challenge for you?”

WORDS I LIKE

2. Warren Buffet on Contracts & Trust

"I like to deal with people where I feel a one-page contract will do the job. If I have to have 50 pages in there to protect me against the guy I'm dealing with, I'll always wonder whether I needed 51." - Warren Buffett

Click play below to listen to him talk about this

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THE 80/20

5. An 80/20 Tip You Can Apply Today

Here’s a low-effort, high-impact tip you can use with your team today:

• What: Write emails that are five sentences or fewer

• Why: TLDR stands for “Too Long, Didn’t Read,” so you’ll be doing everyone a favor by being concise. Plus shorter emails are read more often and are responded to more frequently. So shorter emails are a win-win.

• Example: If you need to write a longer email, break it down into two sections: Quick Summary & Details. And keep the summary section at 5 sentences or fewer.