Coaching is fundamentally based on the skill of asking questions. The power of coaching lies in being able to ask the right kind of question at the right time. This can clarify, trigger, challenge or reveal; but results in a fundamental shift in mindset or position for the client.
Curiosity, exploration, reflection and enquiry creates insight and discovery.
The question itself can be quite simple, but its power lies in pertinence.
Someone asking us a question prompts us to question our self and to hear our answer out loud, which we may already know at a deeper level, but may not have wanted to acknowledge; so the answer may create a new resonance as it is heard.
The revealing question enables us to recognise our (often simple) ‘truth’, and see essence more clearly.
The intuitive questions picks up on and unthreads the feeling of something else, nuances of connection.
The empathetic question reveals the emotional truth, resonance and deep recognition
The challenging question spotlights that what was previously thought, isn’t actually true which creates a recognition of what needs to be let go of.
The trigger question can reveal the thing that we need to address, the thing they we know we are avoiding, and can make us open up because we react.
The clarifying question strengthens our position, our response and can make us confident.
To move forward we need firstly the awareness and then the acknowledgement and acceptance of our truth.