30+ Coaching Questions to Amplify Team Communication and Dynamics

If you are trying to weave coaching questions into your style of enhancing your team performance, I would like to share some questions I have used with team leaders and managers over the last year or so.

Coaching scenario:

Team members are not transparent with sharing information in meetings. Team members also are not inclusive, as there are some who speak a lot, not giving others the chance to speak, making it harder or impossible for quiet ones to share their insights.

In advance of the coaching conversation with the manager, there would have been performance reviews completed, which highlighted the strengths and challenges of the team members. The manager managing the team is being coached on how to enhance the performance of the team with reference to sharing information and including voices of all on the team.

These questions are tailored to a coaching conversation with the manager and/or team lead. Such questions can be tailored to individual team members/individual contributors.

Questions to set the stage/understand the current situation:

1.????When thinking about (sharing information or being inclusive – select ONE) what specific behaviors are we looking for?

2.????Who on the team already showcases these skills? What are some specific scenarios where they are already demonstrating these skills?

3.????Is there any way that the skills you are noticing in other areas of team interaction be transferred to the status update meeting?

4.????How can you (as a manager or team lead) support or encourage the team to learn from each other?

5.????What is the smallest thing you could notice to move the needle in the desired direction?

6.????What are the behaviors you are currently seeing that you’d like to see continue? How can these behaviors be amplified or encouraged?

7.????How would your communication be different in the meeting as the team members adapt and implement these communication strategies?

8.????What do you think you could notice about changes with team communication outside meetings when these strategies start emerging?

9.????What is the best way for you and/or the team to recognize and amplify these changes in the right direction?

10.?Once team members start exhibiting desired behaviors, how would that evolve the overall team dynamics?

Questions to dig deeper into the current situation:

11.?When (name of team member, if discussed) starts to exhibit xyz skill or behavior, how would you notice and what would be different in the flow and/or outcome of the meeting?

12.?What other team interactions outside of meetings may need to be relooked at to enhance the interaction and communication during meetings?

13.?Suppose you reexamined XYZ process and general team communication outside of meetings – what do you think would emerge?

14.?How do you think the internal team/stakeholders involved in meetings would respond or interact with you and the team differently when these changes start taking place?

15.?What are the ways you feel your relationships with your clients/stakeholders would change as these communication strategies are implemented in the meetings?

16. How could preparation or meeting debriefs evolve with these new insights?

17.?Suppose the team starts communicating in the desired way, how would you notice? How would the team/clients notice or respond differently?

18.?How would you know when the team members have made progress?

19.?How can this learning and planning be implemented within the team?

Scaling or Tracking Progress Questions:

20.?What are some ways we can measure success?.... How do you rate the team/individuals presently? …Where would you like to see the needle move? …How often should we check in? How can we find accountability within the team?

21.?What’s a word or phrase you’d use to define the team’s communication in meetings now?

22.?Let’s imagine all of what we talked about takes hold in your meetings (call out things the client said by name), what word would you use to describe the ideal meeting?

23.?How do you typically feel before or during a meeting now?

24.?How do you typically show up in typical meetings now?

25.?How would you like to feel in the ideal meeting situation?

26.?How would you show up in ideal meeting scenerios?

27.?What are some other things you may notice when the meeting is (use the word listed from above) and you start feeling (insert feeling word, if asked)? (Coach would notice coachee’s body language and overall energy/energy shifts for further exploration.)

28.?Suppose you felt that feeling (feeling in an ideal meeting), who may notice and how would they notice your (feeling)?

29.?How may all this change the trajectory of your role in the team?

30.?How may this change the trajectory of the team now?

31.?How may this impact your management/collaboration style with the team?

Have you used any of these questions? What outcomes have you noticed?

Maybe these questions sparked others you have used/want to use. Feel free to share your insights below.