At Live on Purpose | Life Coaching – life coaching San Antonio and essentially any effective coaching practice, you will find coaches are skilled at asking questions. But not just any questions. Experienced and knowledgeable coaches will ask what is called empowering questions or sometimes refer to as powerful questions. These are simply open-ended, clarity seeking, solution, oriented, future, directed, sometimes challenging, and thought-provoking questions. It is also important keep these questions simple, anchored on a purpose, and hold a sense of influence without being leading or controlling. At Live on Purpose | Life Coaching – life coaching San Antonio the questions you will likely be asked will not include a yes or no question or questions where one or two words will suffice. A closed question would be for example in the face of addressing a challenge where you felt hurt by someone might be something like, “Did this make you angry?“ This simply prompts a person to answer yes or no versus asking an open ended or powerful question such as, “What did you learn from that?” Or What is your next step?” Bringing questions to the table, such as these where they illicit more thought, help clients focus on answers and solutions to move forward. At Live on Purpose | Life Coaching – life coaching San Antonio it is understood that open-ended questions work in the coaching process because they are built on the concept that eliciting, visual pictures and thoughtful exponential answers are more likely to motivate a client to change. Additionally, they help a client to see areas where they might need some changes, help to draw out a client’s potential, as well as trigger potential creative resources in the mind of their client – the art of the possible.
A a little bit more about powerful questions and how these will be leveraged at Live on Purpose | Life Coaching – life coaching San Antonio. To help understand this concept a bit better some examples might be helpful. Typically powerful questions begin with words like what, why or how. As noted, instead of a yes, or no answer. It is a more effective way to probe and challenge and consistently look forward using these words versus a closed ended question that simply can be answered with an affirmative or negative. The brilliant physicist Albert Einstein was a big proponent of questioning and likely why his work and findings were so incredibly famous. One of his memorable quotes highlights, both his humility and brilliance. He said: “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.“ In the coaching process at
Live on Purpose | Life Coaching – life coaching San Antonio these types of quest truly help clients visualize the future, the possibilities, and are meant to help inspire. Consider as another example the difference between asking the following—“Do you have a life purpose?” Versus “What do you believe your life purpose is?” The latter would likely result in a much more engaging conversation.
Of course a core skill of all coaches is critical to success. At Live on Purpose | Life Coaching – life coaching San Antonio this is true. Questions can fall into several different categories and are typically intended for different purposes. A large portion of questions are general probing questions which are leveraged in regular coaching sessions. These are intended to impact momentum and progress in a positive way in a more tactical way. Questions such as “What can you do about that?,” “What is your next step?,” “What is stopping you?,”How do you think it will work out?,” and “Where will that lead?” Of course there is an almost unlimited list of these only limited to the coach’s imagination.
There are also very specific questions which require a client to dig a bit deeper and might take significant thought to answer authentically and thoroughly. These questions are tailored the specific situations, often related to helping a client uncover important priorities and helping with life direction. A couple of the well-known deeper questions or a couple with the requirement for visualization. The first one is often referred to as “the ideal life” question. In this scenario, a coach might ask a client to create a picture in their mind of an ideal situation and then request the client thoroughly describe in detail what they are seeing. The goal in this scenario is to consider this picture of what or where they hope to be and consider where they are currently. The coaching process would facilitate a journey across the gap, determining how do you navigate that path. This would be the essence of the coaching journey. Another more thought-provoking question is referred to as the miracle question. In this scenario a client is asked what they might notice if overnight a miracle occurred and a change they had desired miraculously happened. There are different versions and variations of this question but the intent is to have the client clear out any barriers and simply describe what that new and desirable future would look like. It encourages clients to think of options, not previously considered, and potentially outside of what they might even think as possible. It certainly leverages a great deal of a client, Creative power and imagination and allows them to be focused on going forward and solutions. As discussed, there are all kinds of questions, use for different purposes. A coach must have each set in their toolbox to address different scenarios. A fun reminder for asking excellent questions comes from the author, Roger Kipling. He had a rhyme which helped him remember how to ask open ended questions. The rhyme was as follows: “I have six honest serving men, they serve me well and true, their names are What and How and Why and Which and When and Who.” Good, empowering questions are the lifeblood of a healthy client – coach relationship. As Sir John Whitmore, the father of modern coaching states, “it is questions rather than instructions or advice that best generate awareness and responsibility.” This environment allows a successful, coaching journey. At Live on Purpose | Life Coaching – life coaching San Antonio you will have the opportunity to experience this environment and pursue your potential.