People often assume that life coaches dole out advice, a resource to turn out when you’re looking for a ‘solution’ to your ‘problem’ – and can be surprised to find that the power of coaching comes not from advice but from asking great questions.
There’s an art to doing this of course – you need to have good rapport with your client first, to listen closely to what they say, to use clean language that uses their words and phrases rather than your own, and to trust yourself to find the right question or questions that will provide the key that opens the door…
This approach is based on the presupposition that clients already have the resources and answers inside of them. Your job as coach is to help them tap into those resources – be it knowledge, skills, ideas, confidence, passion, dreams – and then watch the new avenues and opportunities open up before them.
I found a great example of powerful questions at Liz Strauss’ Successful Blog. It’s simple but totally to the point:
"What do you do well that other people come to you for help with?"
Her question has generated some really thoughtful reflections and comments – you might enjoy checking them out. If you do delve into the comments I wonder if you’ll be as impressed as I was with the way Liz coaches the people who are taking part in the conversation: providing positive feedback, picking out the key words in what they’ve said, offering encouragement and further ideas and questions to chew on. For me this is a great example of powerful, supportive coaching in action.
Do you have a favourite coaching question that helps you unlock the door? Either to your own treasure chests of resources or – for you coaches out there – those of your clients?