TOOLBOX II :Question Skills in Coaching
The Question About Questions

COACHING QUESTIONS

It has been frequently said that professional coaches work with clients by carefully avoiding espousing client problems, proposing answers, offering options and solutions.  Probably just as often, it has been more specifically said that coaches help clients develop their own solutions by asking questions. If these affirmations are relatively true, the second one calls for precise clarifications both as to the form and the content of the questions a coach may ask clients. 

COACHING QUESTION FOCUS

The coaching process rests on a very specific frame of reference. All coach behavior and interactions, including coaching questions, should reflect that frame of reference. According to a coaching frame of reference, all clients are to be considered a priori intelligent and well informed people.  Coaches believe that clients know all there is to know on the technical dimensions of their issues, either to solve their own problem or to achieve more performing results than those they have met in the past. 

Consequently during a coaching process and without any exceptions, each and every client can and must be considered as an “expert” in his or her field.  As a matter of fact, in coaching relationships, each client is perceived as the sole person capable of finding appropriate answers to achieve his or her personal or professional objectives.

Given the client’s expertise, it is futile to think that in the course of any coaching process, coaches will find answers or options that their clients have not already considered and brushed aside.  It is almost unimaginable that a coach could find solutions in any specific client’s field of expertise, unless of course, the client is a fool (in which case, be assured that he or she would not seek a coach). 

Consequently, it is not a coach’s job to ask questions aimed at finding solutions nor original ideas in a mental or emotional environment that the client has already processed backward and forward, to no avail.  For a coach, it is a priori necessary to consider that all the ideas and options one could possibly imagine have already been considered by the client, and rejected.  Humility is requested in any coaching process, given that clients, by definition, are not fools.

So what on earth does a coach do?

CLIENT FRAME OF REFERENCE

To be a good coach, it is necessary to know that if clients are the first and best expert capable of solving their own problems and achieving their own ambitions, that is precisely the main reason why clients are motivated to call on a coach.  When clients bring important issues to a coach, they already made a complete inventory of their personal or professional issue and of all possible options.  Client have already tried working out their issues alone, and have not succeeded. 

Coaching clients generally consult coaches after having tried to solve inventory their problems, meet their ambitions or deal with their issues. In spite of this, these clients feel stuck in a rut or up a dead end.  Clients have generally well thought out their problems or ambitions, and they perceive no solutions to their issues as they have defined them, no practical way to achieve their goals as they have established them.

This is exactly where the key to most client difficulties lies, and what defines the foundation of the art of coaching.  As they have been defined, client problems have no apparent solution.  As they have been formulated, client objectives are not attainable.   The coach must therefore focus with coaching listening skills and other specific communication competencies on the client definitions and formulations.

Consequently, the professional coach does not focus on problems as they are defined by clients, but rather on the clients’ way of defining their problems. The coach does not focus on an ambition as it is considered by a specific client but rather on the client’s way of considering goals and ambitions.

This original approach proposed by coaching rests on this principle : a well defined problem or issue very easily finds its solution, and conversely, a problem that finds no solution has most probably been defined in a manner that is too restrictive, constrictive, or somehow limiting. 

POWERFUL QUESTIONS

Consequently, when a client does not find answers to issues or solutions to problems, it is useless to search in the same way, place or direction as the client.  It is useful however, to help the client “reconfigure” his or her way of defining the issue, of considering the problem, or of visioning an ambition.  A coaching approach is to question the client’s frame of reference.   As a result, questions that are considered to be powerful in coaching are precisely those that propose that clients reconsider the way they define a problem an issue or an ambition.

To reformulate the specificity of the art of coaching :
Coach questions are not presented to elicit more information from the client but rather to provoke the client to think, feel or react differently about the issue at hand.   

Consequently, a coach does not focus on the technical details of a client’s specific problem at the risk of also becoming a prisoner to the same limiting frame of reference. Instead, the coach explores the general framework that underlies the way the client considers an issue and the way the client searches for options.

In fact, this reconfiguration of client frames of reference or the change of perspective on client goals and issues will permit them to suddenly discover totally new approaches to define and solve problems, to achieve ambitions.. 

This coaching frame of reference is sometimes relatively difficult to implement.  Numerous clients feel the imperative need to give coaches a complete inventory of the long painful path that has lead to their quagmire.  Clients seek to detail their perception of their problems and environments to explain why they are stuck.  They do not realize their perception is the key limiting factor at the origin of their search for a coach.  These clients often paradoxically feel or think that their coach must very logically know all the informational details which define their constraining frame of reference.

Note also that  coaches who do not know how to ask the right question also tend to elicit more and more information from the client with content-oriented questions. 

In this paradoxical relationship with the client, the more the coach attentively listens to situation details and the more the coach becomes “in tune” with client emotions, the more that coach will risk getting stuck with the client in the same exit-less client situation

Consequently, a correct coaching “posture” or attitude consists in accompanying the client without ever totally adhering to the underlying frame of reference, without ever completely immersing into client context and mind set.  A coach is to help clients question their frames of reference, and perceive their environments from new original angles, their issues under different lights.  Questions that transform frames of reference will let the client act differently and grow taller.

Simple / Complicated Questions

When coaching, it is useful to leave a maximum amount of space for clients to have ample room to deploy their own dialogue, define their own new frames of reference, and create their own growth potentials.  Consequently, a coach’s role is to be present in a relatively light and transparent manner, except for a few occasional, short, precise and respecting intrusions into the “coaching conversation”.  This “minimalist” attitude also concerns all coaching questions.

When there are too many, too long and too complicated questions, (of which many are invariably problem-focused) some coaches reveal that they are indirectly or unconsciously trying to propose solutions, obtain recognition, justify their presence, accelerate client processing, etc.  Even if these numerous, lengthy and inappropriate questions are motivated by a positive desire to help, they only get in the way of client autonomy. When coaching, fewer, shorter and simple questions are considered most useful and effective. 

Neutral / Directed Questions

Another distinction between questions concerns their object. Habitually, a question’s purpose is to obtain new information or generate new ideas.  To really do either well, it is critical that the formulation of the question does not reveal an attempt to influence or direct the content of the answer.  

Thus, coaching questions that offer a totally open field for client response are « neutral questions » and are considered useful.  Examples of useful neutral questions as compared to closed questions are:

Directed (or leading): « Are you angry ? » proposes a specific emotion amongst a host of others and can focus client attention on that specific content.

When asked that question, clients can focus on that emotion and become aware that indeed, they are feeling anger. But client concentration on any emotion can give that emotion accrued importance at the expense of another.  Sadness, fear, etc. may also be just as present, but not mentioned by the coach.. 

Neutral:  « What do you feel ? » presents an open field for client to define emotions without limitations.

The form of the question « Are you angry?  » does have the merit of being simple rather than complicated.  Some leading or directed questions carry so much information that they display the judgments, beliefs and frames of reference of the questioner.  These seem to propose that the listener should merely accept and agree with the whole package.  If directed and complicated questions formally pretend to be searching for information,  a quick analysis of their content will reveal a contrary effect :

• « Don’t you feel mad or at least a form of anger when you are facing that kind of passive environment which in effect is obliging you to take on more than your share of responsibility ?  »
• «  Don’t you believe that when you are in a hierarchical context and in a company culture like yours, rather traditional if not military, that you’d better think twice before reacting to…? »

Both questions immediately limit the thinking playground of both the coach and client by the boundaries within the specificity of language.  Beware also of all negatively formulated questions that start with “Don’t you…”.  When coaches wish to offer their clients a really free and open space to let them express and grow without hindrance, simple neutral questions are particularly recommended.  Consequently « What do you think? » or « What do you feel? », etc. are considered  much more neutral questions.

Negative Interrogation

Notice also that both above examples are negative interrogations.  Negative interrogations such as "why don't you..." or "what keeps you from..." focus clients on their blocks and hindrances.   Other more positively-oriented question formulations are advised to help clients move foward towards finding and designing their solutions. 

Open / Closed Questions

Among questions categories, there are also « open questions », which give the client a very large area for expression, and  « closed questions », which propose a choice between specific options, or within an alternative. Open questions increase the scope of client personal « dialogue », and closed questions direct clients towards the necessity to choose a position or decide on a specific action. Consider the following open questions:

• What do you want to do in the following situation?
• What are your options ?
• What could be your next step?
• What deadline you would set for this action ?
• What do you feel when facing this type of situation ?

When these “opening” questions are asked by a coach, clients can develop whatever they want, think or feel.  Nothing in the question formulation suggests that the coach has a specific goal or expectation.  This type of question elicits a client personal response that could be either short or long, original or unexpected, assertive or hesitant, etc.

Towards the end of coaching sequences or sessions, it is useful for the coach to accompany the client dialogue towards a more centered, concentrated focus or conclusion.  At times, it is indeed useful for a coach to help clients limit the scope of their personal dialogue.  The coach would then offer “either / or” closed questions which aim for client decision and action :

• Do you want to decide on some actions right away, or is this still a little early for you?
• Do you prefer option A, option B, or option C?
• Are you going to react right away or do you want to let the situation mature for awhile?
• Are you bothered by this occurrence, or on the contrary, do you feel stimulated by it?

All these questions propose an alternative or a choice.  The client is put in a position to choose between two or more options proposed by the coach.  Note that the options should be originating from prior client dialogue.  In the above examples, if the clients have not yet decided to make a choice, the form of the coaching “closed” questions are suggesting it is time to do so. 

This type of question is therefore useful to confirm that the client has already made an unconscious choice or to confirm that the client is ready to make a choice.  Notice that the form of “closed” questions can direct the client towards a conclusion, without influencing the content of the client’s choice in any way.  Indeed, closed questions must not be directed to satisfy coach agendas.

Professional coaches are careful with closed questions.  If the choice is proposed too early,  clients may not be ready to decide. “I don’t know” is the invariably powerless answer which indicates that the question is prematurely offered by the coach.  Consequently, it is useful to know when to offer a closed question.

• A timely closed question can provoke or confirm a decision or a conclusion.
• A premature closed question can reveal coach impatience, or again lack of client readiness to decide. 

The coach must be attentive to both situations by managing their own impatience.

After answering a closed question, clients often expect the coach to keep the coaching initiative and ask another structuring question.  Consequently, closed questions tend to create a pause in client responsibility.  A judicious linguistic prod or open coaching question will help clients dig deeper into the direction defined by their choice, or will direct them to another coaching sequence or issue. 

Active / Analytic Questions

Another distinction between types of questions differentiates those centered on eliciting an analytical response from those centered on eliciting action. Analytical questions generally elicit responses that describe client past, an acquired client frame of reference or necessary issues that must resolved for informed decision making or activity to occur.

By asking an analytical question, coaches help clients center on understanding motivations, context, environmental support and limits, etc.  Clients will then explain historical and contextual problem or ambition details.  When asked by a coach, these questions elicit information, explanation and sometimes justification.  Consequently, analytical questions are not necessarily favored by those coaches who yearn to help clients focus on future action and solutions. 

Indeed, if coaching is an accompanying process centered on action and results, useful questions are intently focused on active, future-oriented change and on implementing solutions that drive client solutions and success.

Single / Multiple Questions

An excellent indicator that coaches may be getting too involved in an analycal approach is when they serve a battery of questions, one after the other, hardly providing silences nor letting the client time to think or search for their answer.  Good coaching questions usually stand alone and elicit ample enough thoughtful client dialogue.

Why?

The first practical consequence of a future and solution-oriented coaching strategy is to avoid to ask « why », at all costs.  Almost every time this question is asked, the answer that follows is a detailed elaboration of the old frame of reference which limits client mental agility or emotional mobility. 

To follow up on this logic, all questions centered on understanding client problems, client history, client difficulties, client unsuccessful past options, client context, etc. could be considered as relatively useless.  “Why” questions rests on the popular belief that « to succeed, one should understand how one has failed ».  In effect, they only let clients meander within the same limited frame of reference.  A coaching process needs to gently lead the client out “of the box”.

There are of course some exceptions to this affirmation.  A coach may ask “why?” to better listen to how a client is limiting the development of personal potentials.  If that coach avoids listening to the obvious information and tries instead to catch the client’s world view, basic assumptions, behavior patterns, etc., then the client answer to “why” can be very rich to enhance future coaching work.

Consequently if ever a coach asks a client the « why ? » question, it is less to hear the content of the answer in its specific relevance to a given situation, and more to listen to the general form of the client’s way of thinking and emoting.  The answer then gives numerous indications of the inherent limits of client frame of reference.

How ?

Questions centered on action have the merit of urging clients to envision creating future possibilities.  These questions start with « how could you… ? », or « how can you… ? » Generally, questions which begin with « how are you going to… ? » are considered better coaching questions.  Depending on the work previously achieved by clients, this form of open question can be either neutral or subtly directed.

« How are you going to…» are asked to clients who are perceived to be ready to move into action.  These questions suggest it is now time to reflect on strategy, tactic, or behavior.  This assumption can have been confirmed by work preceding the question, in which case the question is considered “neutral”.  If however, a client has not given any indication of  readiness to start moving into action, this question directs the client towards defining specific action. Consequently, if it is prematurely asked, the question « how to..?” can be considered directed, and, can therefore be inappropriate. 
For example, consider the two following questions :

« Are you going to explain your point of view to your boss ? ».

The question is simple, analytical and neutral.  « Are you going to.. ? » suggests the client consider the opportunity to implement action, or not.    It may elicit client dialogue on the advantages and inconveniencies of an action, which in effect temporarily postpones the decision to act.  That could be opportune, if the client is not ready to envision action, or unfortunate if the client is comforted in postponing decisions. 

« How are you going to explain your point of view to your boss ? »

This question is considered simple, active and subtly directed.  Starting with “how”, the question presumes there is going to be an explanation.  The question is focused on how the client will explain.  The question suggests the client should prepare to implement action.  In effect, the decision to act is already made.  If the client is not ready for the explanation however, the coach may be prematurely “pushy”.  If however, the client is ready to move, then the opportune question suggests it is time to move on to define effective strategies and behavior.

In general coaching questions that focus the client on elaborating future action plans and implementing solutions are considered much more powerful than those that center the client on analysis and understanding present or past occurrences. 

QUESTION FORMULATION

Beyond being attentive to choosing the right kind of question, coaches also pay particular attention to how questions are  formulated.  This attention concerns the linguistic content of coaching questions.  Consider, for example, the first question a coach can ask clients at the start of a coaching session, to suggest client focus on the work at hand :

• « How can I help you? », or
• « Well ?...(followed by a long silence) », or
• « On what issues do you want to work today ? », or
• « What brings you here today ? » or
• « What do you want to achieve by the end of this session ? », or
• « What do you expect from me today? », or
• « Where do you stand with your issues now ? » or
• « What shall we talk about today ? »
• etc.

The first question at the beginning of a coaching session or sequence is considered to “set the stage”.  The above examples illustrate how that essential question is often asked in a very routinely way.  In some ways, these examples may all look alike. Indeed, most are relatively open and focused on the future. All these questions also suggest that clients take responsibility and actively lead the beginning coaching process.

Closer examination of the linguistic formulation of each question, however, reveals that they are all relatively different.  Each subtly suggests a distinct coach frame of reference.  If some of the questions propose that the client be active and responsible, two of them suggest the client formulate demands to the coach. If one of the questions offers a totally open and non directive field, another suggests that the client evaluate present situation, and another yet immediately focuses on defining client objectives. 

All these ways of introducing a coaching session or sequence are fundamentally different and can provoke radically different client responses and results.  This illustrates that all coach questions merit reflexion as to their objective.  All questions need careful wording to convey coaching intention. Throughout the length of a coaching session, there is no such thing as an innocently worded question. 
While keeping in mind this « linguistic imperative » relative to all professional coaching skills, we can now list a number of other categories of questions, and cover their function as powerful tools in the “art of coaching”. 

To « Empower » the Client

Careful questions formulation can help coaches regularly remind clients they are responsible to pilot their work.  The more a coach remembers to put clients at the center of the coaching process, the more clients will develop autonomy and focus on personal goals and ambitions.  Coaches do this by regularly formulating questions which suggest clients be active and make decisions as to the content and the process of their work.

Consider the different question formulations below :

• « What results do you wish to accomplish today ?».
• « How do you want to begin this work ? » .
• « Where do you stand now ?  »  .
• « What could be your next step ?»
• « How would you like to conclude this session ? »
• « What do you plan to implement, back on your job, before your next coaching session ? »

Calling on clients directly with « you » is a much more active and empowering approach than attempts to “protect” clients with more indirect or impersonal formulations.  Professional coaches avoid such wording as « we » or « one », or formulations centered on the coach using “I” since they direct attention from the client to the coach.

To Respect the Client

Useful coaching questions ask the client for permissions.  Considering that clients can only answer these with “yes”, they can be consider pure formalities.  Beyond this first social level, “permission” questions help coaches regularly remember and remind clients that the coaching space belongs to the latter.  Before intruding in “private” client space, coaches manifest respect and ask clients for permission to “enter”:

• « May I interrupt you here ? »
• « May I ask you a question ?»
• « Do you mind if I try to reformulate what I think I understood ?  »
• « May I share a feeling with you ?»

Obviously, some of these questions are completely paradoxical.  To ask if one can interrupt is already an interruption, and to ask if one can ask a question is already a question.  However those questions express coach respect of client “coaching space”.  They also are a subtle way to get client complete attention prior to a coach intervention.  When clients give coaches the permission to intervene within their personal dialogue, there is a much higher chance they will intently listen to whatever the coach will offer.

There are other more « strategic » or powerful categories of questions which propose that clients switch to an original or unexpected, more creative type of personal research. These “strategic” questions suggest clients think differently, take some « critical » distance from issues, problems or goals, try other « indirect » approaches, etc.  Strategic questions aim to surprise clients or put “off balance” and provoke the emergence of new perspectives on problems, objectives and issues. 

When asking strategic questions, coaches take initiatives, “play with” and help open client dialogue and exploratory processes.  With these types of questions, coaches formulate work proposals which help client « redirect » their focus, at minimum by provoking a surprising angle or point of view.   Obviously, for best coaching results, it is necessary that clients be ready and willing to “play the game” and work into those unexpected avenues.  

Consequently, the strategy for asking the following “powerful” types of questions rests on a solid coach-client relationship.  The prerequisite for asking “strategic” questions is that a strong coaching alliance already exists between coach and client.  Strategic questions can fall into several categories.

One word of caution before we present a short list of powerful types of questions.  an unknowing or beginning coach may take the following examples as a form of methodology and feel that memorizing them and serving them to clients will bring results, only to find out that is not the case.  A powerful question most often emerges in a coaching relationship spontaneously, almost surprising the coach who has formulated it.  For this magic to happen, a strong client-coach relationship must already be established, resting on coaching silence and presence, deep listening,  and an intuitive perception of the client frame of reference.  With that in mind, the following types of powerful questions may emerge into the coach's awareness.

Ideal Solution

To help « think out of the box », simple questions can suggest the client « dare » to formulate ultimately positive outcomes to issues, problems and goals. The coach can very directly suggest clients need to aim “strong”, “high” and “beautiful”.

• « What is your ideal outcome ? »
• « What is your best possible scenario ? »
• « If you really dared to formulate your deepest hopes, what would you say? » 
• « What is your ultimate possible goal ? »
• « In the best of all possible worlds, what would be your ultimate wish ? » 
• « If the situation was perfect, what would it look like? »
• « What is the highest possible goal for you? The one you don’t even dare share with me. »
• Etc.

Magical Questions

A similar approach involves using magical, mythical, hero, super powers :

• « What would you do with a magic wand ? »
• « If you had a « genie » that could grant you three wishes, how would you go about solving this issue to perfection? »
• « What would your favorite hero (role-model, guru, etc.) do in this situation ? »
• « What would you do to make things right, if you had unlimited super powers ? »
• « If you consulted the old wizard (good witch) in yourself, what would he (she) say ? »
• « What would your best childhood friend suggest you could do ?”
• “What does your guardian angel (Jiminy Cricket, etc.) say about this ?”

Future Projection Questions:

Another creative approach consists in asking clients to project themselves into the future and imagine having finished a perfect process to solve their issue or achieve their goal. By this projection, coaches first ask clients to describe the ideally solved situation or ambition achieved beyond reasonable hopes, or totally successful outcome, or happily developed, relationship etc.  Once clients have finished this description, then the coach asks how they got there.

• « Project yourself several years forward.  The problem is totally solved.  Describe it.  (THEN) What have you done to reach that satisfactory outcome ? »
• « Imagine yourself in five years when everything is exactly as you wish.  How have you changed from what you are today? (or) Can you describe your environment? (or) can you make an inventory of your successes ?, (THEN)  How have you achieved this?»
• « Pretend that you have solved your issue in the most satisfactory possible way, what is the final result ?(or) Can you describe how you feel ? (THEN.)  What did you do to get there? »

Questions on Past Strategies

Obviously, for more reserved or down to earth clients reluctant to let loose on “free wheeling” imagination, other equivalent but more classical questions aim to make an inventory of strengths or strategies that were successfully implemented in client past.  Much in the same way as with the above questions, coaches will suggest clients search within personal experience to dig up ressources that were not yet considered useful to solve the issue at hand.

• “Have you already faced similar situations (problems, types of people, apparently unattainable goals, etc.) in your past ? (THEN) How did you go about implementing a successful outcome ?”

Geographic Mobility

With almost all of the above types of questions, coaches can also suggest that clients get up and/or physically move to consider issues from a different angle or point of view.  It is possible to ask clients to get up, take some distance and then look at “themselves” in their empty seat from afar.  The coach can then ask :

• « What is your perception of « her » problem ? »
• « What original advice would you give” yourself” ? »
• « What resource do you think « he » could use? »
• « What obvious potential outcome is « she » not even considering ? »
• « If you were “his” personal counselor, what would you say to help “him” out ?»
• Etc.

One obvious potential inherent in this type of geographical move is to get the client into action to find new perspectives.  This can be particularly useful for clients who appear to be "stuck" or paralyzed in a situation from which they feel there are no "exit". Following this geographic « maneuver », coaches can also ask clients to resume to their original position on the empty seat and offer conclusions to whatever perceptions or options were proposed, and then close in on suitable action plans and deadlines. 

This “outside projection” can also be done with original, creative or humorous slants using personal or ad hoc objects in the environment :

• “What is your favorite book?  Where is it? Now, what does that book think you should do?”
• “Your dog really pays good attention to you.  From his “dog” position and if he could talk, what would he say you haven’t even considered?”

Think Small

With some clients who perceive their goals or issues to be insurmountable or much too « huge » to face, reassuring strategic questions suggest the client cut the « problem pie » into much smaller chunks.  When fear limits capacity to act, these can be much easier to consider and digest.  This coaching strategy amounts to suggesting a very progressive approach, “one very little step at a time”, made up of much smaller, easier and manageable sequences.

• «What could be your first smallest step in the right direction? »
• « What would be a first easy act that would get you started down the right path ? »
• « Now if you cut up your challenge up into ten equal pieces, what first obvious chunk would you could consider facing right away ?»
• « What is the first smallest possible immediate change for you ?»

Worst Scenario Questions

A relatively paradoxical and somewhat surprising questioning strategy consists in asking clients to proceed with an approach opposite to one that would normally be considered “common sense”.  With this type of work, clients sometimes come to the awareness that their worst possible scenario is already at hand and that things can only get better.  Sometimes, also, by considering really “negative” options, new positive or constructive strategies suddenly come to mind.

• « What is your most catastrophic option ? »
• « If the situation became as dramatic as possible, what would it be like ?»
• « If you wanted to fail every inch of the way, how would you go about it ?»
• « If it was your goal, how would you go about provoking your whole team to turn against you?”

Reverse Affirmations

This strategy suggests that:

• All apparent « problems » are great opportunities. 
• All apparent « crisis » situations introduce healthy necessary change.  
• All apparent « problem partners » in one’s life also offer a righ growth or learning challenge.
• All which creates disorder and disruption in a well planned life is the result of a « life force » that one has not yet recognized.  
• Etc.

Consider the following coaching questions:

• « What would you do if this apparently difficult problem was really an opportunity to start considering important changes ?».
•  « How could you react to this apparently « negative situation » if it was really a solution to a lot of your problems ?
• « What must you start changing in yourself to welcome this apparently disruptive event in the positive way it really deserves ? »
• « If this problem was actually an opportunity to grow for you, what would you start changing in yourself ? ”
• « How if this « problem person » is offering you an opportunity to learn something about yourself ?”

Change Subjects

Resting on the principle that a train can always conceal another one, or that in coaching, a problem mainly serves the purpose of hiding another issue, a coach can serve questions to refocus client attention or energy to hypothetically “real” issues :

• « If this apparent problem didn’t use up all your time and energy, what do you really want to do with yourself?»
• « And if you knew that this situation was only there to divert your vital attention, towards what really motivating goal would you direct all your beautiful energy ? »
• « If you didn’t spend so much time banging your head on the wall in front of you, where could the door to your future be ?»
• « Can you tell me, in one short sentence, what the really fundamental subject is, beyond all this information? »

Play With Paradoxes:

Some strategic questions can be thrown out just simply to create confusion.  Consequently they serve to temporarily « destructure » client mental patterns :

• « What is the obvious common denominator to all your apparently different options ? »
• « What is the opposite of your apparently contrary options ?»
• « How are all your different alternatives really similar in essence ?»

Note that when coaches ask those questions, they may not have any precise idea as to the client response that may follow.  By serving those questions, the coach is just attempting to interrupt too linear or too logical a client process.  These questions serve to provoke mental disruption and send the client spinning in a different stranger orbit, away from obvious certitudes.

Consequently, if following one of these questions, a client suddenly changes expressions, the coach can simply stay in silence until a new perspective takes shape and is offered as an option for exploration.

Use Energy-Focused Poetry

Depending on the client's fields of interest and capacity to visualize, some coaching questions can appeal to other senses to create a break in client frame of reference and strategy. Consider the following examples:

• "It feels as if you are stubbornly struggling uphill hardly making any progress.  How can you change your process to make it a smooth and enjoyable downhill slide?"
• "I have the impression you are wading waist-deep in a muddy marsh.  What would you do if you were dancing in the clouds?"
• "Your reactive strategy sounds as subtle as that of an impatient rhinoceros.  How would you go about this if you were as light as a feather?"

Systemic Questions

These are sometimes called "circular" questions in reference to the principle of circularity in systems or also "reflexive" questions for their indirect effect on the present environment. These are successfully asked when coaching within structured systems such as in families, in teams or within more formal networks. 

The powerful nature of circular questions rests on their capacity both to provoke an awareness of complex collective interactions and to stimulate the transformation of formal systems.  To be effective, these questions 

• are often put to one precise person in the presence of all the other members of a system, and
• concern information or behaviors the one person perceives among the rest of the team or family members .   

Examples:

• "What would be the indirect objectives of this team coaching process if they were formulated by your leader here?"
• "When your team leader manifests impatience during your team meetings, who is the first team member to acknowledge and offer support?"
• "When your assistant expresses personal stress due work overload within the team, who is the first team member to express understanding and help look for solutions?"
• "When it is time for the team to get focused on a new project, who are the usual three most motivated volunteers?"
• "Who are the two team members most likely to disagree with each other during meetings, no matter the issue or the subject at hand?"
• "Who  benefits most from this collective focus on George as the designated team scapegoat?"

This type of systemic  question can also be put to an individual client during a one-on-one coaching sequence.  In this case, the question would have less of a "circular" effect on the surrounding system.  It could still be asked to help individual clients better perceive their environment's influence when focusing on problem resolution or when achieving objectives.

• "In your family environment, who is the person who will support you most actively and unconditionally during this coming personal transition?" 
• "When your Operational VP focuses on obtaining better results, what exactly does your financial VP do to support that effort?"
• "On whom can you count most for support in the external environment of your team, when you are experiencing difficulties?"

Numerous sub-categories of such circular or systemic questions take into account some of the criteria exposed earlier in this article.   They can be centered on problems or on solutions, on the past or on the future, on behaviors or on values, be neutral or directed, etc.   Their powerful nature resides principally in their capacity to center the individual or collective client on developing the potential of interfaces between all the actor within a precise system or in the larger general environment.   

Face the Coach/Client Relationship

Note that if clients often serve their coaches with problems or issues originating from their personal or professional lives, the coach-client relationship offers numerous indicators on the quality of relationships and processes that these client implement in those other environments.  To be more precise, in the relationship with their coaches, clients unknowingly or unconsciously “transfer” relational reflexes and behaviors habitually implemented in their “other” environments.  

To offer some common examples,

• Clients who wish to work out « time management » issues will often play out the same behavior with their coaches, coming or calling late to coaching meetings, or rescheduling numerous meetings for invariably « urgent » reasons.  
• Clients who have little respect for the needs of others in their work or home environments often consider that their coaches should be available ‘round the clock, or at a needle’s drop.
• Clients who spend time catering to others, fearing negative judgment or rejection may implement similar relational processes with their coaches, for the same reasons.

Some questions suggest that clients make parallels between their work issue and real occurrences that have taken place within the coach-client relationship.  These questions may accelerate work on a central issues by helping both coach and client focus on the “real” relationship in which they are both participating.

• « Are you conscious that this has also occurred between us? »
• « How can your description of your boss also apply to me ? »
• « How could our relationship be somewhat similar to the one you have with this partner ? »

A brief caution, if the coach-client relationship does not rest on a solid alliance or a high level of complicity, this direct or somewhat “confronting” approach may jolt the client and provoke defensive reactions.  It is consequently useful to formulate these questions in a way to underline that the responsibility for the occurrences are totally shared both by coach and client.

Conclusions

Questioning skills deserve much more attention than they usually get. 

Through questions, the coaching objective is nothing less than helping clients come to their own extraordinary personal and professional solutions.

• In proper professional hands, powerful questions are both simple, and can be as precise as surgical tools. 
• With very few powerful questions, a coach can help a client deploy unexpected potential by providing an almost magical change of perspective
• Appropriate powerful question can open unlimited horizons for client development and growth.
• Practice listening to let emerge and precisely serve simple, strategic and powerful questions can make the difference between professional coaching and mastery.

This introductory and partial inventory only begins to open the rich and creative field of question structures and contents coaches can deliver their clients.  We hope the presentation illustrates how appropriate and well formulated questions can provoke original work or exploration outside a given client frame of reference and help them better solve their own problems to achieve greater ambitions.

Copyright 2008.  www.metasysteme.eu  Alain Cardon