Annette Schalk
The greatest temptation for a coach is the urge to say something. To give coaches an answer or provide them with a solution. How can a coach resist this temptation?
The classic example of this is where the coachee describes his problem or request and the coach immediately comes up with a ready-made solution. It may be that he has encountered a similar coaching situation in the past, where the solution worked well for that person. Or it may seem to him “perfectly obvious” what is to be done “in a situation like this”. But is it really all that obvious?
Every coachee has a different personality and a different way of doing things. All situations - even if they appear to be similar – are set in different contexts and influenced by different people. The first principle, therefore, is: Each coaching situation has its own particular solution - it’s just a matter of finding out what it is.
The second principle is: The coachee is the expert, not the coach. The coach’s task is simply to help the coachee find his own tailor-made solution for his situation and character. But how is the coach supposed to help the expert – i.e. the coachee – to work out his personal solution?
Certainly not by producing the answer … but by asking questions! In fact the perfect scenario is where the coach has as little prior knowledge as possible and asks as many “silly” questions as are needed in order to get an idea of the situation. It is often the supposedly silly questions which are most effective in prompting the coachee to discover new aspects of his situation or see apparently self-evident things from a new angle. A good coach doesn’t just ask the first question that pops into his head. He knows that there are two kinds of questions which are the most helpful: scaling questions and circular questions.
Scaling questions
The aim of scaling questions is to assess the current state of affairs. When faced with problems, coachees often tend to see things in categories of black and white and find it hard to change their point of view. It often helps just to ask the simple question: “How would you estimate your present situation on a scale of zero to ten, where ten describes the desired position and zero the exact opposite?” (The situation should be defined as clearly as possible). As they attempt to answer these questions, most coachees begin to realize that their situation is not completely “black” after all: The average answer to this question is “three”.
The next question is: “So you’ve already got to three (or two and a half, or four) on the scale. What kind of things are already working well?” This question helps to shed light on what has functioned well in the past, while at the same time highlighting the coachee’s resources and competencies. This is followed up with the question: “How did you manage to get to three on the scale? You might have been lower down.” This helps the coachee to realize that he does in fact have abilities and potential which he has managed to apply successfully in the past. Having arrived at this point, he can start looking to the future with greater assurance.
During the scaling questions, the goal which was originally formulated by the coachee tends to shift somewhat as he looks at things in a more differentiated light. This is the time to take a fresh look at the goal and formulate it more specifically: “What would make you realize you had reached your goal of eight (or seven, or nine, or three and a half) on the scale?” This is also the opportunity to get him to think about the next few steps by asking the question: “What do you think might cause you to move up one point on the scale?”
Scaling questions can be used in this way for each step in the process of moving towards the final goal. They confirm resources and competencies which are available and at the same time pinpoint the areas which are worth investing in and which are most likely to bring the coachee nearer to his goal. Scaling questions are an excellent way of assessing a coachee’s motivation, satisfaction and confidence. They are also useful for evaluating the quality or efficacy of work processes and analyzing how successfully people work together as a team. In all cases they are a valuable tool in helping a person assess their actual position on a scale of zero to ten and take a closer look at the area between zero and the status quo.
Circular questions
Circular questions are intended to move away from the conventional linear-causal way of looking at things towards a circular-interactive one. This works best when the perceptions of other members in a system are also taken into account.
Examples of circular questions are: “If you were to make this change, who else would also have to change along with it? Who else would be affected by it?” “If you were to behave in a different way now, who would be happiest about it? How would that person react?” “Which people would notice a change in your behavior?”
These questions are about discovering which effects different kinds of behavior have on all the various people concerned. What would these people think? How would they react? What would the interrelationship of these reactions look like? Who would react to whom? Extending a coachee’s range of vision to include the way other people perceive things often succeeds in liberating them from their rigid thought patterns. They suddenly realize that a change might have completely different effects than they had first assumed. They also come to realize that the side effects they had feared will not necessarily happen after all – and that a change can also be accompanied by positive developments which they had never previously imagined.
Give your coachee the credit for his ability to make the best contributions to finding his own solution. Ask him a few questions which may appear naive but are in fact precisely calculated and cleverly timed. Surprise your coachee by showing him his own ability to find solutions. Finally, another good question to use: “What would you recommend yourself if you were the coach?”
