The BIG List of Coaching Questions & Facilitation Questions
HOW TO BE A GREAT TEAM COACH BY ASKING MORE COACHING QUESTIONS
Here is my own story of discovering and using coaching questions to engage my staff and get much better results.
Back in the late 1980’s, when I first started hiring people and being a manager, I would tell all my staff what to do. I would tell them and tell them and TELL them. They would follow just me around all the time, asking me what to do next. I had trained an entire group of followers. Worse than that – they would just say “Yep, Yep, Yep” and then do whatever they felt like. When I wasn’t there, they didn’t know what to do and just didn’t do much. I felt like I was leading a group of idiot zombies – and the biggest idiot was me.
One day I heard a talk by famous entrepreneur Dick Smith and he said – “stop telling the staff what to do”. He said to ASK more questions instead, listen to their responses and let them solve their own problems. I went back to work, stopped telling them what to do and solving all their problems for them.
Every time they had a problem, they would come and see me and I would ask:
- “What do you think we should do? I WOULD LISTEN THEN ASK
- “What else can we do?” AND Great, What else?” (and after each answer – multiple times – Great, what else??)
- “How about…” – I would add in a HINT, if you needed to suggest one.
- “Which do you think is best?” – Great, go do that!
Now – most times their first answer isn’t very good. Staff are used to you telling them what to do – it’s easy and they prefer it. The only downside is you need to be there all the time and solve every problem.
After a while, they realised I was going to ask them the set of questions – and they would just bring me the solution, not the problem. Just start asking questions and seeking input. Sure, it’s slow to start – it’s short-term pain for long-term gain. Develop the habit of asking great questions and empowering your team.
You can also start by calling out the problem and inviting feedback with these questions
- “We seem to have a problem with … what can we do about it”
- “There appears to be a problem with …… what can we do?”
- “I’ve noticed …… What do you suggest we do”
If they are really stuck for a solution – ask them what other resources they have tried??
- Ask AI or Chatgpt, Google it, Check on Youtube, Ask someone else, Phone an expert and finally, last of all seek input from the boss. Don’t tell them the answer – just make a suggestion “Have you thought about…” – let them connect the dots in their head and own their solution.
If you get your team to create enough systems, checklists and processes you can stop telling people what to do. You can set your overall vision and broad expectations and let your team come up with ideas of how to get it done.
They will have more “Buy-in” because they want to prove that their ideas work. As the founder of FedEx said “Systemise the routine and humanise the exception”.
Learn to be an Asker not a Teller (Tellers belong in a bank). Empower your staff and train more leaders and less followers. This is the secret to having time off and growing multiple locations/stores.
BEST COACHING QUESTIONS FOR MANAGERS (TEAM COACHES)
DEBRIEF QUESTIONS – AFTER AN EXERCISE OR PROJECT
- How did you go? – What went well?
- What happened? What result did you get?
- So what does that mean?
- Now what? What could have been improved?
- What would you do differently next time?
- How could we have improved that?
- Is there anything you would have done differently?
RE- ENGAGEMENT – Shifting Grumpy to Great Attitudes
- What’s WORKING for you? – not “how’s things?”
- What are you looking FORWARD to? – not “what’s happened”
- What IDEAS have you tried? – Not “what’s the problem?”
- What CAN we do? – given we can’t do X and Y
- What’s really STOPPING you from …?
- What’s the NEXT STEP?
COUNSELLING QUESTIONS
- We seem to have a problem with X – What can we do about it?
- What’s really stopping you from X ?? What else?
- Could I just ask – Why are you doing it that way?
A Series of Coaching Questions – “POEEBPC”
SEEK PERMISSION – gaining their permission first
- May I ask you about ….?
- Can we talk about ….?
- Today we are going to discuss —– Is that OK?
ESTABLISH OUTCOMES OR OBJECTIVES – Know their specific outcome or result
- What are you here for today?
- What’s your outcome?
- What outcome are you looking for?
- What is the result you want?
- What is the ideal outcome you’d like to experience?
- What results would you like to accomplish today?
- Please set some outcomes you’d like to achieve ( Be Directive)
- What better products/services are you seeking?
EVIDENCE – What is their evidence procedure?
- How will you feel?
- How will that make you feel?
- How will you know you have achieved that outcome?
- How will you know we’ve accomplished that?
- How would you measure this?
BENEFIT – How will it benefit their life?
- What will it mean to you?
- How will it benefit your life?
- What benefits will you get from that?
- What would that mean for your organization / business / practice?
- How do you think this these results would impact the bottom line?
- How would you, personally, be better off or better supported?
- Would this/that be useful for your practice
- (REVERSE BENEFIT) How will it affect their life if they don’t?
- What would it mean if you don’t?
- How will you feel if you don’t?
OVERCOMING THE BLOCK – What could stop them from implementing this? (DIG DEEP HERE)
- Is there anything stopping you from implementing this?
- What is the biggest problem with …….?
- What is the biggest issue with …….?
- What could stop you?
- Is there anything else that could stop you?
- Is there anything we haven’t discussed which could get in the way?
- What would satisfy you? (Make them answer the objection.)
- What can we do to overcome that? (Demonstrate joint accountability.)
- Is this unique? (Is there precedent for overcoming it?)
- What’s the consequence? (Is it really serious or merely an annoyance?)
- Isn’t that low probability? (Worry about likelihoods, not the remote.)
PLAN – What is the plan to get what they want?
- What are the actions you could take?
- What could you do?
- What else could you do?
- Which one of those is best?
- What are you prepared to do about it?
COMMITMENT – Must commit to when and what
- What will you commit to doing?
- When will you commit to it?
ADDITIONAL COACHING QUESTIONS
ESTABLISH MORE MEANING OR EMOTIONAL CONNECTION
- How is that working for you?
- How do you feel about that?
- What does that mean for you?
- What could you do with this?
- What’s the best thing that has happened?
DRAW MORE OUT
- Does anyone want to add anything to that?
- What’s that a part of?
- What do you need to get more out of this?
- So what else is coming up for you?
- Is there anything else?
WHEN THEY DON’T KNOW THE ANSWER
- If you knew the answer to that, what would it be?
- If you did know what would it be?
- If you had more time, what would the answer be?
- If you knew the answer, what would it look like?
CHECKING BACK
- Is that OK? Is everyone OK?
- Are you happy with that?
- Can we proceed? In your experience, is that correct?
CLARIFYING QUESTIONS
- I’m having some trouble understanding that – could you explain that
- Why do you feel that way? (Get at the true cause.)
- If we resolve this, can we then proceed? (Is this the sole objection?)
EXPLORING HOW TO GET THINGS DONE
Which resources have you tried?
- Online Solutions – ChatGPT/AI tools – Google – What to do? Or Youtube – How to do it?
- Observe or Ask others – Request Assistance – Don’t just DIY
- Learn from Others and Improve – Ripoff & Duplicate?
- Try things and Experiment – Research & develop a new way (fail faster)
- Any Feedback and Focus improves performance (speed)
- Develop a better System & Process – checklists!
- Teamwork – Allocate Roles & Responsibilities
- Outsource – Get someone else to do it!
MANAGER MANTRAS – To repeat to yourself
- “Be Friendly—But NOT Friends.”
- “Always ASK Questions Before TELLING!”
- “You don’t have to DIY – just get it done well.”
- “What gets rewarded get repeated!”
- “What gets celebrated gets achieved!”
Further Information about Coaching Questions
For more information google Ken Blanchard’s situational leadership – on when to tell, when to sell (influence), when to participate and when to delegate to staff.
The book Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Dan Martell’s book Buy Back Your Time ( the 1 3 – 1 idea are also great on this topic.
