Today we had a good conversation about the value of questions in the coaching exchange. The following is a compilation of what came out of that conversation. Our hope is that you continue the conversation by sharing this post and commenting with YOUR beliefs about questions.

1. Authentic curiosity is stimulated by asking WHAT questions, not by When or How questions which tend to go towards solutions.
2. Why questions are rare in coaching because they ask you to defend or explain your position instead of exploring it.
3. You could do a whole coaching session using nothing but what questions that would accomplish everything you would need to do in a coaching exchange.
4. The large majority of our questions are open ended questions (one you can’t answer in one word, or by yes or no).
5. Powerful questions should make the person dig for an answer.
6. Silence in and of itself can be a form of a question.
7. The purpose of questions in coaching is for the person being coached to develop more self awareness.
8. Leading questions could lead them to the awareness the coach thinks they should have and that is why we avoid them.
9. There is no perfect question. The next question is the best one.
10. Coachees already possess the answers. Our role as coaches is to give them the questions to dig for them.