Crafting Better Questions Part 9

I am a firm believer that a good coach is a busy coach. And anything that you want to be good at takes an investment of time and energy, learning the nuances, and in the case of coaching, plenty of professional development. And it all starts with learning to ask, not just good, but even better questions. That’s why I’m spending so much time on this series. Coaches that understand how to structure really great questions will immediately put themselves ahead of the pack. The results will be more confidence for you as a coach and more success with your clients. So let’s continue with another better question strategy:

The first thing that many coaches may do unwittingly is they will ask about the action step before getting the client to make the shift. In other words, they ask what the client can “do” before the client has had a shift in his or her “being”..

As an example, say the coach starts the session with the question, “What do you want to work on?”?The client responds, “I want to work on my time management.”

Coach – “Okay, so what do you want to take away from this session??

Client – “Oh, I'd really love to take away some steps to manage my time better.

Coach – “Great, it sounds like a good takeaway would be to define some steps and strategies to manage your time better. Is that right??“

Client –?“Yes.”

So far so good, right? But then things go awry…

Coach – “So what do you think you could do to manage your time better?”

Not great. If the client knew what he was going to do, he wouldn't have brought this as an agenda. That’s why this is not the best place to start.

Now that might seem like an exaggeration, but I've seen it many times – the coach does little to no exploring and then 10 minutes into the session, no shift has happened whatsoever and the coach says, “What do you think you can do??“

Too soon. The time to ask for an action is only?after?the shift has occurred.

Why?

The singular goal you should have with your client in any session is to help the client have a shift in perspective or an increase in awareness. The goal is not to cram in the action before the session ends just because you want to check all the boxes. You might actually spend every last second of that session helping the client see something differently - recognize a fear, understand themselves better, identify obstacles, break through a limiting belief - whatever it is, that is your main goal. After that (and not until you get there) you can ask what your client wants to do with that new awareness. Then you can ask what is the next best step now that he has this new awareness or has identified the obstacle.

Question for a coach:??Jen, what if the client doesn't have a shift during your session time? Do you end the session even without an action, even if it was part of their agenda?

Answer:?Yes, because your job is to first help the client build awareness. So if you run out of time and the client still has not had a shift, you might wrap up a session with,?“What would you like to do to further explore this?”?The client might respond, I want to journal or I want to meditate on it or I want to think about it or I just have to let this sit…

Coach – “That sounds great. What value are you taking away from today’s session?” (My favorite question to end every session with.)

No rush. No forcing. No problem. Just great coaching.

About the Author ?

Jennifer Powers is an ICF Master Certified Coach and founder of Powerhouse Coaching. Powerhouse Coaching specializes in leading 10-hour Group Mentor Coaching Classes for coaches wanting to attain or renew their ACC, PCC or MCC ? credentialing from the International Coaching Federation . Powerhouse Coaching also offers 75-hour ICF Level 3 Master Certified Coach courses to coaches wanting to move from PCC to MCC. Professional coaches can also join the Powerhouse Coaching Club which features skill building and business building for an international community of coaches.?Learn more at www.phcoach.com.