In his book, The Coaching Habit, Michael Bungay Stanier offers seven great questions that help create an effective coaching dialogue. No need to memorise them as a script, just use whichever questions are most useful in your situation.
The Kick Start Question: What’s on your mind?
You may already suspect what your staff member is struggling with, but that assumption may be well off base. By asking this question, you’ll know for sure what the real focus of your conversation should be.
The A.W.E. Question: And what else?
This helps the other person to think more deeply about the issue. Often their first response isn’t the only answer or even the best answer. This small prompt can often open up a whole new level of dialogue.
The Focus Question: What’s the real challenge here for you?
This question helps pinpoint the actual problem. And those two small words at the end ‘for you’ help steer towards more personalised self-awareness and self-development.
The Foundation Question: “What do you want?”
Sometimes a difficult question to answer, but asking this is a great way to get clarity about desired outcomes. It helps direct the conversation towards a solution focused approach.
The Lazy Question: How can I help?
Instead of assuming you know what the other person needs from you, just ask. This way you get a clear request for what you can do to support them without taking away their ownership or responsibility.
The Strategic Question: If you say yes to this, what must you say no to?
Strategy is often about saying no to things that you really want to say yes to. It’s about making decisions by looking at what has to be sacrificed for the choice you ultimately make. It’s important when making these choices to know exactly what the decision involves.
The Learning Question: What was most useful or most valuable here for you?
To pause and review is a vital step in any learning process. We don’t learn from experience; we learn by reflecting on our experience. This question also provides feedback for you as a coach on how well you did coaching this person and what you might work on to improve.
Bonus Question
Sometimes people may respond to a question with the statement, ‘I don’t know’.
Often, a response like this is because they feel unsure or uncomfortable about their answer. That what they say may be perceived as ‘silly’ or ‘wrong’. To encourage them to feel more comfortable about expressing their ideas, simply ask: What would it be if you did know?
For more on this topic from Michael Bungay Stanier CLICK HERE or visit his website Box of Crayons
For more great coaching questions from other professional coaches, CLICK HERE
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