Are you asking the right coaching questions?

How can you help someone get to the heart of the matter? They may need your support to really drill down.

As a manager, these are the sorts of question you might want to use:

• Go / NoGo – Do we need to talk about this?
• Clarification – What do you mean?
• Assumptions – What are we assuming?
• Basic Critical Question – How do we know this is true?
• Causes – What’s causing this?
• Effects – What will be the effects?
• Action – What should be done?

But it’s not just the question – it’s how you ask it. So:

• If the person is having trouble processing questions, are you speaking too fast? Are you too concise?
• If they’re getting vague, is that because you are being too conversational?
• If they’re tightening up or becoming defensive, are you being aggressive or attacking?
• If that’s the perception, change your tone – add some preambles and frames

Coaching is an essential skill for any line manager.

It takes practice.

Some people even get some training in it!

If you’re interested in the above, it’s a key element of our Coaching skills for line managers session. Or give us a call on 01582 463461 – we’re here to help!