Great Executive Coaching Questions
Finding great coaching questions is more elusive than one might think. A great question has to be intriguing; it has to encourage deeper thinking; it has to serve as an effective springboard into creative problem solving; it has to engender optimism and realism. There are many hundreds of great coaching questions, but those questions tend to be hidden. You usually need the help of a coach to bring them out at the appropriate time and in the appropriate way. And you need a coach to help you take the time to consider the questions so that you arrive at useful answers.
Example Coaching Questions
Below are just a few examples that we hope will illustrate what we mean when refer to
“great coaching questions.”
Example questions about Increasing you or your organization’s ability to expand market share:
o When have you experienced a period of significant growth in marketshare?
o What do you think contributed most to this period of growth?
Example questions about learning to use your time more effectively:
o What would you do with ten extra hours of time per week?
o What are some examples of things that occur frequently that interrupt your focus and
productivity?
Example questions that help you implement changes to improve your organizational culture:
o What are the most defining characteristics of your organization’s culture?
o What are the positive and negative impacts of each of those characteristics?
Example questions that help you improve your leadership:
When have you made missteps in the past that could be traced to lack of time to reflect, assess, think, create and plan?
o What are the specific performance improvements you would like to see in each of your direct reports?
Example questions that help you in strategic planning:
o What do we want to be true in our business in five years that is not true now?
o What does your customer think is the itch that you scratch?
o What is the most successful way in which you acquire new customers?
Example questions that help you in solving specific problems:
o What are you specifically trying to accomplish and how will you measure success?
o What data do you have that says something about the problem?
Example questions that help you think creatively:
o How would approach the situation if you had an unlimited budget?
o How would you approach the situation if you had no budget?
Example questions that help you improve your interviews:
o What is the best interview question you were ever asked?
o What is the best interview question Elon Musk asks?
Example questions that help you open new opportunities for you and your business:
o What specific opportunity do you want to open up for you and why?
o What would have to change if that opportunity opened up for you?
Example questions that help you develop personally:
o What are your biggest fears?
o What is your personal definition of success?
Example of questions that help you develop options:
o Who do you feel you could ask to help you? How could they help?
o What do you believe would occur if you pursued that pathway?
Example of accountability questions:
o How much time will you give yourself to take these steps?
o When will you make the first move, where, and with whom?
o How can you enhance your commitment to this path, and how will you keep up your motivation?