Coaching questions to pull in the moment
This is for you mid-session, when you feel the pull to give advice. Or the client says "I don't know," and you reach to fill the quiet. You want the right question ready, not a scramble for one.
The client's own answer is the one that sticks. Supply it yourself and it rarely lasts the week, so the move is a better question, not a better answer. This bank is that structure ready, so you are not building one in a tired session.
Lead with What and How, not Why. Both keep the client looking at what is in front of them. "Why" asks them to defend it, and the shutters come down. "What made that land?" opens what "Why did you do that?" shuts.
Level your questions to where the client is: one opens what is there, one goes under it, one turns insight into a move. Do not climb faster than they are ready.
When you hear "I don't know," do not rescue it. Hold the quiet a beat past comfortable. Most of the time it is a client still finding their way, and it loosens once you give them room.
Keep their report open as your map. Pull the question that fits, leave the rest. Print it, keep it beside you, and stay with the insight.
Coaching questions
This is a bank, not a script. Pull the question that fits your client, then follow their answer, not your list.
When they are getting oriented (the Overview)
- What jumps out first when you take in the whole page?
- How much of this already feels like you, and how much is new?
When they are in their strengths (Discovering Your Strengths)
The report asks them to pick three that ring true.
- Which three feel most like you on your best day?
- How did one of them show up in a real moment last week?
When they are reading their work types (The Five Types of Work)
The fit and energy lens.
- Which of these two types do you come alive in, and which wears you out?
- How closely does your real week match your top type?
When they hit a blind spot (Uncovering Your Blind Spots)
Each blind spot is the flip side of a strength they own.
- What has this pattern cost you that you can see now?
- How is it the shadow of something you are good at?
When they are working with other people (Understanding Styles)
The team lens: their style, and how it meets the other three.
- What happens between you and the person who works least like you?
- How might your style land on someone wired the other way?
When they are weighing where to go next (Aligned Work Areas)
- What is it about these areas that pulls at you?
- How could you find out if one of these fits, without leaping?
Moving toward one small change
- What is one thing you could do differently before we next meet?
- How will you know it has started to work?
- What would make that first step almost too small to skip?
When "I don't know" will not budge
Wait it out first. If it stays, do not answer for them; ask it again in fresh words.
- If you did know, what might it be?
- What would you tell a friend sitting in your exact spot?
- What is the smallest true thing you can say about it right now?
