How do you use powerful questions to elicit insights and awareness in coaching?

Asking better quality questions (powerful questions) is perhaps the single most valuable behavioral change that leaders, especially in tech and engineering organisations, can undertake to improve outcomes. Letting go of 'fixing' and 'solving' is difficult after decades of programming to 'fix the problem'. Asking better quality questions shifts the focus away from the task, and moves the focus on to the human being in front of you. Asking better quality questions is a triple win. It expands your leadership range. It expands the individual you lead. It brings better quality outcomes and long term success for the organisation.

Meaningful interactions are guided by powerful questions. These are well-planned inquiries that lead to deep discoveries and views. These questions have the potential to spark introspection, catalyze transformative thinking, and pave the way for clarity.

Powerful questions help to go below the surface. It allows for deeper examination on feelings, fears, self sabotaging actions. It allows for opportunity to attain clarity or investigation around values and beliefs. This is also an area for coaches to bring in observation and intuition.

Powerful questions (better quality questions) are important because they promote creativity and expand possibility. This happens when you, as a manager, a leader, put your focus on the human being and their experiences and ideas and thoughts. Successful powerful questions make the conversation always and only about the other person, and never about yourself.

The mistake I've often made before was to jump into problem solving mode. What I've learned is to pause and check in on what the person or client really needs at this point. Asking questions can be a stronger line of inquiry when it encourages the person to reflect or introduces a new perspective. It's even better when the question triggers fresh thinking on the matter at hand. ?By taking the time to ask meaningful questions, I've found that I can better understand the underlying issues and help the person or client uncover their own solutions. This approach not only empowers them to take ownership of their growth but also fosters a deeper level of trust and connection in our communication.

Effective questions are typically short, to the point, and simple to comprehend. They are also intentionally provocative in order to get a group to reflect, think, and challenge any preconceived notions, beliefs, or conventional thinking.

When there is a high degree of trust in the relationship there is more space for provocation and challenge. Provocative questions that are powerful can be useful in disrupting patterns of thinking. Provocative powerful questions can help people identify or name uncomfortable truths and move past them.

Hang out for a week with "And what else?" (The AWE quesiton - And What Else). Here's the thing - the first topic or challenge someone brings up in conversation is rarely ever the most important or meaningful thing. Peel back the layers, mine the rounds of brainstorming and ideation with "and what else". Notice how uncomfortable it feels for you to keep going with this. Then ask how it was for the receiver - see if they even noticed it :-)

There is nothing wrong in taking a moment (silence) to formulate your question. Sometimes I tell my client, "based on what you just said, I want to take a moment to formulate my next question." Asking with intentionality. Also, when credentialing coaches, the International Coaching Federation looks at "stacking questions" where the coach tries to ask the same question in multiple ways trying to find the "best way" to ask. Keep it simple and trust yourself. Ask one good question and follow the client lead with their response.

I've trained a lot of coaches, clients and leaders in asking powerful questions. The most common pitfall I see when people are first experimenting with them is to make the questions too long. Too many words. The most powerful questions are short - five to seven words max. The shorter the better. Fewer words require less deciphering and maintain the biggest solution space for meaning-making.

Make an experiment of practicing the use of short, open-ended powerful questions. Get curious about the other person's lived experience of the topic. Be transparent about your experiment. Solicit feedback. Ask how powerful your questions were. Notice the impact asking PQ's has for you. Notice the impact asking PQs has on the people you ask them to. I've had multiple clients really lean into this challenge and the results have been game-changing in the performance of their teams.

If you're data oriented, then run an experiment for a week. Notice... - how much you 'tell' vs. how much you 'ask' - when you ask, how many closed vs. open questions - of your open questions, how many begin with 'why' vs 'how/what'