Coaching Questions

Ask the question that moves them forward.

A pack of open questions for coaching and mentoring conversations, for managers, mentors, peer coaches or anyone coaching themselves. Each card holds one question rather than a method, sorted by the moment it helps: agreeing the focus, finding the goal, looking at what is really happening, widening options, getting unstuck, deciding, committing to a first step and reflecting afterwards.

96 questions · 8 suits · 5 recipes · 2 missions

What's inside

Opening12Are you just starting a coaching conversation?
Goal12Is the person describing a problem, not an outcome?
Reality12Does the picture of what's happening feel fuzzy?
Options12Is only one option on the table?
Stuck12Is the conversation going round in circles?
Deciding12Is it time to choose between options?
Commitment12Has a choice been made but no step agreed?
Reflecting12Is the session ending, or a new one starting?

Sample questions

Opening

Of everything you're carrying right now, which one deserves this hour?

Goal

What needs to change for you?

Reality

What's actually happening, as far as you can tell?

Stuck

What kind of stuck is this: no ideas, no energy or no permission?

Deciding

Which option are you leaning towards, and what's pulling you there?

Commitment

What exactly will you do, and by when?

Recipes

Choice Clinic: Help someone choose between options and commit to the one they pick.
First Coaching Session: Run a first full coaching conversation, from agreeing the help wanted to a first step and a reflection.
Follow-Up Session: Open a later coaching session by learning from what happened since the last one.
Getting Unstuck: Help someone who keeps circling the same problem find what's holding them and a way to move.
Ten-Minute Corridor Coach: Coach in a few minutes when someone stops you with a problem.

Missions

Coach Without Advising: from a colleague circling a problem to a first step they chose themselves, reached with questions from this pack and no suggestion from you.
Write Your Own Twelve: from this pack to a one-page set of twelve questions in your own words, each tried in at least one real conversation and kept or rewritten.

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