If you’re reading this, you’ve likely noticed a shift in the room. As we close out 2025, the energy in our coaching sessions has changed. The frantic "hustle" of the early 2020s has burned itself out, replaced by a deep, almost desperate craving for clarity and human connection.
For years, we treated the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) as a dusty relic of the HR interview process, a script for candidates to prove their worth. But in the last 12 months, I’ve seen the most effective coaches in our industry repurpose this simple tool into something far more profound.
We aren't using STAR to help leaders get the job anymore. We are using it to help them survive the job.
In an era defined by cognitive overload and hybrid complexity, STAR has re-emerged as a psychological anchor. It is the tool that turns "I'm overwhelmed" into "Here is what happened, and here is what I learned." Let’s explore how to wield this classic instrument with a 2025 edge.
The Landscape: Bridging the "Knowing-Doing" Gap
The primary challenge facing our clients right now isn't a lack of knowledge; it's a lack of application. The 2025 trends in executive education highlight a critical "knowing-doing gap." Leaders consume vast amounts of content on empathy and strategy, yet they struggle to implement it under pressure.
When a client enters a session in a state of high anxiety, venting about a "toxic culture" or "impossible targets", their brain is often hijacked by the amygdala (the emotional center). They are swimming in the Situation but drowning in the details.
This is where STAR becomes a cognitive rescue tool. By asking a client to frame their week through STAR, you aren't just organising their report; you are physically shifting their brain activity to the prefrontal cortex. You are moving them from reacting to reflecting.
In 2025, we don't use STAR to judge performance. We use it to contain chaos.
The Innovation: The "STAR/AR" Pivot
The most exciting development I’ve seen this year is the evolution of the model itself. The top coaches are no longer stopping at "Result." They have introduced a second phase: AR (Alternative Action / Alternative Result).
According to recent behavioral insights, this addition transforms STAR from a retrospective report into a prospective learning engine.
Here is how to run the STAR/AR in your next session:
- The Classic STAR: Have the client map out a recent failure.
- Situation: The team missed a deadline.
- Action: I took over the project myself to fix it.
- Result: We hit the deadline, but the team felt untrusted.
- The AR Pivot (The Coaching Moment):
- Alternative Action: "If you could replay that Tuesday morning, what is the one thing you would do differently?" (e.g., I would have held a stand-up meeting instead of taking over).
- Alternative Result: "What would that have cost you in time, but gained you in trust?"
This simple pivot moves the client from shame ("I messed up") to neuroplasticity ("I have a new neural pathway for next time"). It turns a mistake into a tactical asset.
The Future: "Power-With" Leadership
Looking ahead to 2026 and beyond, the "soft skills" of coaching are hardening into the only skills that matter. The trend toward "Human-Centered Co-Design" suggests that the future belongs to leaders who practice "Power-With" rather than "Power-Over."
STAR is perfectly positioned to support this shift. We are predicting a rise in Team STAR Sessions, where leaders openly share their own STAR stories, specifically their failures, to model vulnerability.
- Emerging Application: Imagine a leader opening a town hall not with a generic speech, but with a STAR story about a mistake they made last quarter.
- The Prediction: By 2027, "Narrative Competence", the ability to structure and share one's own behavioral data, will be a key metric in executive promotion. Leaders who cannot articulate their growth journey clearly will be seen as high-risk.
Your Call to Action
Colleagues, we have a responsibility to simplify. Our clients are drowning in data and starving for wisdom. Structure does not kill empathy; it protects it.
Here is my challenge to you this week:
When a client comes to you with a vague sense of frustration ("My team just isn't listening"), don't just empathise. Hand them the frame.
Ask them: **
"I hear the frustration. Let's slow it down. Can you give me the specific Situation, the exact Action you took in the moment, and the immediate Result on the room's energy?"
Watch the fog lift. Watch them take a breath. That is the moment they stop spinning and start leading.
Let’s be the clarity they need.
"I used Gemini for creating the Graphics and Infographic"