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    26 views22 pages

    Questioning HandOuts10.2013 PDF

    Uploaded by

    uwrel

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Instructional Coaching: An aha moment about the power of questions ‘Mary Mitchell August 29th, 2013, | recently joined a 5K training group. There are people in the group who volunteer to serve as coaches to individuals who seek to move themselves from a sedentary lifestyle toward a more active one. In my role as a math coach, this was a great experience for me. It really got me thinking about how to be an effective instructional coach. This week I decided to challenge myself and increase my running intervals. Because | was, newcomer to the small group, the coach ran by my side to provide encouragement. During the first two intervals, the coach gave me tips on form and breathing. By the third interval, everyone could hear me gasping for breath. It was a litle embarrassing! As the coach told me things | should and shouldn't be doing, | started to feel my efforts were not good enough. My doubts about my ability increased and | got frustrated. | thought, “Why am | getting so emotional right now?” | successfully finished the run, but the emotional toll had a negative impact on my confidence and my following training runs that week Rewind Rewind a couple of weeks: A different coach on another day during the run asked me, "Do you have any previous experience doing a 5k?" I rattled off the various 5K’s that | participated in the past. When we were running a hill, she asked, "What have you noticed about your form as you run hills?” | really appreciated that the coach was asking questions and listening to what | had to say. As | responded to her questions, the coach provided tips and ideas about running form and technique based on my responses. | had a very powerful run that day Even though both of the coaches were well-intentioned and were working toward a common goal, one coach gave advice while the other coach asked a question and used my responses to help me eam. My accidental “aha moment”! Itwas truly a humbling experience to be on the other side of the coaching relationship and the situation provided me with an “aha moment” about the feelings and attitudes of being the coachee. | realized that my reactions and my desire to improve were greatly affected by the actions of the coach in each situation. Although | already knew that asking good questions was an important tool for an instructional coach, | was amazed at its direct impact on my success. Iivhis article “It's About the Questions" published in Educational Leadership (subscription only), Ronald Bearwald states, “Effective coaching thrives not on quick fixes and ready answers, but on questioning and listening.” Here is his list of guidelines for effective questions (for a detailed description of each you will have to read the article) ‘Ask questions about essential issues and behavior. ‘Ask precise and incisive questions. ‘Ask questions that generate specific and relevant information Avoid asking questions that can be answered with yes and no or similar one-word responses, ‘Ask questions that connect the past, present, and future. ‘Ask questions that explore values. Occasionally, ask for permission. Avoid asking why. If you are a coach in a school setting, how do you think about the questions you ask? COACHING QUESTIONS and POWERFUL QUESTIONS Powerful Coaching Questions and other types of questions in Coaching Pca consliaese textocn expo COACHING QUESTIONS kas been frequently suid that professional coaches work with clients by careflly avoiding to get involved in hei problems, to propose answers o¢ to offer options and solutions. Probably just as often ithas ben moc specially said that coaches help clients find their own solutions by asking coaching questions, these affimations ae relatively tre, the second oe calls for precise clarifications bath sto the form an the conteat ofthe coaching questions a coach may ask cients. Taded, journalism ean also be consideed an art of asking questions, end so can the intereogation process during the inguixton and othe dismal ttitaran places and era of ou history. So how isthe coaching art of asking questions different from aher everday questioning processes and fom the role of questions in other professions? COACHING QUESTION FOCUS “The coaching process rests ona very specific fame of reference, an all coach behavior and interactions, including coaching question, should reflect tht frame of reference. According to a coaching frame of reference, al cients are to be considered a prior intelligent and well informed people. Coaches believe that clients know alter isto know onthe technical dimensions of thir ues, either to solve thei own problem o achieve moce performing ress than those they have met in the past. Consequently during coaching process and without any exception, each and every clint can and must be considered ss an “expert in his o hee field. Asa mater of fcr, coaching relationships, each clients perceived as the soe person capable of finding original and appropriste answers to schieve his or he personal or professional objectives, Given this client expertise, itis filet think that inthe course of any coaching process, coaches will ind answers or options thatthe clints have notalready considered and brushed aside. Its almost unimaginable hat coach could find Solon in any specific clients eld of expense, unless of couse the client is a fool, in which eas, be assured that he or se would not seek a coach ‘Consequently itis nota cosch’s job to ask numerous questions sme at indng solutions original ideas within mental or emotional envionment that the client has already processed backward and forward, to no avail. Fra coach, itis a priv necessary to consider that al the ideas nd options ‘one ould possibly imagine have already been considered bythe client, and have been ejected. Consequently, humilis requested in ny coaching proces, given thaclients, by definition, are not fools Furiermoce, itis nota coach's job to have a pocket of powerol or very tick quests that wil okt cients with suprise and gaping with awe at their coach's intelligence, So how does a coach proceed to serve which single pertinent or appropite question, to whst client, abd when? (CLIENT FRAME OF REFERENCE ‘Tobe a coach, it is necessary to know that flint ae the fis and best expet capable of solving their own problems and achieving their own ambition, that is precisely the main reason why cients are motivated to cll on «coach, When clients bring important isses to a coach, they aleady made a complete inventory of ter personal or professional issue and of all posible options. Clients have ateady tied working ut teit fseues alone, an have not succeeded, Coaching clients generally consult coaches afte having tee to solve ther problems meet thei ambition or eal with thee issues. In pte of his, ‘hese clients feel stuck ina rut or up a dead end. Clients have consequently generally well thought out their problems or ambitions, and they peteive no solutions o their issues as they have defined them, no practical way to achieve their goals a they have established them, ‘Tiss exactly wher the key to most client dficules es, and what defines the foundation of the art of coaching. As hey have een defined, lent problems have no apparent soluon. As they have been Tormulated, client objectives are not atsinable. The coach must therefoee focus with coaching listening kills and othe specifi communication competences on the client definition and formulations. Page 1/13 - Copyright Metasysteme hp: /huww.metasysteme-coaching frenglish/coaching-questions-and -powerful-questions/ Consequently, the professional coach does ot focus on problems as they are defined by cients, but mtheron the clients’ way of defining thet problems. The couch does no focus onan ambition as itis considered by a specific client but rather on the client's way of considering goals and smbions, ‘This eriginal approach proposed by coaching rests on this one principle: a well defined problem or issue very easily finds its solution, and ‘conversely, problem ta finds no solution has most probably been defied in a manner that is to restrictive, constictive, or somehow limiting. POWERFUL QUESTIONS. Consequently, when a client dos nt easily or naturally find answers to issues or slutios to problems, its useless to search inthe same way, place ‘or dietion asthe lent ha already done. Is usefl however, to help the client "reconfigure ar reboot his or her way of defining the issue, of considering the problem, oof vsioning n ambition, Consequently, a coaching epproach so question the cients frame of reference, Asa resi coaching questions that are considered tobe power ae precisely those tht ot cents into reconsidering the way they define a problem, perceive sn ssue or envision an ambition, ‘To reformulate the specificity ofthe at of coaching: Coaching questions are not presented wo elicit more information from the client but rather to provoke the client o think, el or reac difeceatly abou he issue at hand. Consequently, a coch does not focus onthe technical details of a client's specific problem atthe risk of also becoming a prisoner to the same limiting frame of reference. lstead, the coach explores the general ramewock that underlies the way the client considers an ssve andthe way the lien searches fr options, In fat, this reconfgurtion of cient frames of reference or this change of perspective on cient gols and isues will emit them to suddenly discover tty new approaches to define and rolve problems, oschiove ambitions, ‘This cosching frame of reference is sometimes relatively dificult to implement. Nomerous clint fe the imperative need to give coaches a ‘complete inventory ofthe log painful path that as lead ther (other quagmire. Clients often sek to over detail their perception oftheir problems ‘nd envionment in order a explain why they ae tuck. They donot elie that their pecepion isthe main Kiting factor a the eign of thee search fora coach. These elicas often paradoxically feel o think that thee coach must very logiealy know all the informational details that define their constrinng tame of reference. Paradoxically, the more clints define their issue toa coach or anyone ese, the more they reinforce their limiting frame of reference. Note also that ‘coaches who do mit know how to ask the right coaching question also tend to ect more and more information from liens with content-oriented ‘questions, They thereby help clint reinforce their retaining perspective. {In his paradoxical relationship with the eles, the more the coach atenively listens to situation details snd the moe the easch becomes “in une” ‘with elientemetions, the more that eoach wil risk getting stuck wth the client in the same exiles let situation Consequently, coect coaching “postue" or atte consists in accompanying the clint without ever tally adhering tothe underlying ame of, ‘reference, without ever completely immersing int clint context and mindset. A coach isto help clcas question their flames af reference, and ‘perceive their environments from new original angle, thee isses under different lights. Coaching questions tat transform frames of reference will Tetthe lient act differen and grow alle. ‘Tosead_an extensive atte on atentvepusence in maseful coaching COACHING QUESTIONS AND QUESTIONS TO AVOID. Rhetorical Questions Rhetorical questions are Figures of speech that just seak to ei poblic aproval so the speaker can go on with a predictable demonstration Rhetorical questions are not seal questions, 3s they re ot relly designed to elicit orginal answers. Needless to say that they are not to be ‘considered very seal coaching questions. Inerestingly many coaches teat other types of questions as if they were shetorical questions. They donot ell iste othe lent answer and do not react ifthe client provides a response that has nothing todo withthe question. In other wards, many coaches do not seem to pay enovgh eatin o giv stficient importance to many of their questions not the specific answers these should elt Ifa coach eno going to follow up ‘on answers toa given question, when a cleat ignores or avoids it then the question was not worth sking a the it pace ‘Coaching questions ee not retrial questions inthe sense that when they are precisely asked, they should be precisely answered. Aay avoidance strategy or ny answer that doesnot relly pertin to the object ofthe question could wel be challenged and refocused by a strategic coach, But then, the question shouldbe well chosen and formulated and timely pt. Coasidr the fllowing habitual types of questions. ‘Simple / Complicated Questions ‘When coscing, itis useful to leave a maximum emount of space for clients to have ample room to ploy their own dialogue, define their own new Page 2/13 - Copyright Metasysteme __http:/hvwwzmetasysteme-coaching frlenglish/coaching-questions-and-powerful-questions/ frames of reference, and develop tei own growth potentials. Consequently, a coach's role i to be present in a relatively light and transparent ‘manne, excep far few occasional, shat, precise and respecting intrusion into the coaching conversation, This minimalist atitude aso concerns all coaching questions that should be shor simple and to the poi. + Caution: The opposite ofa simple questions nota complex question, but a complicated question. Complex questions rest ona sytemie frame of reference and could be paradoxical, recursive or stategically designed to create confusion. We wll cover complex father below. ‘When thee are 1 many 00 Tong and 10 complicated questions, (of which many ae invariably problemfocused) some caches reveal tht they are indirectly or unconsciously tying 1 proces te ssve a order to propose slutons, obtain recognition juny their presence, accelerate client problem solving tc. Even if these numerous, lengthy and inappropriate questions are mated by a positive desire to help, they onl ge inthe ‘way of client autonomy. When coaching, fewer, shorter and simple questions ate considered most wsefl en effective, Sous we shall sce, coaching questions are often minimalist questions (One linguistic key isha al coaching questions shouldbe stand-alone iterupions. Coaches that ask questions that begin with “and.” “so. may be indicating that these are linked to the preceding conversation. They do not interrupt the flow to open new doors or avenues, These introductions should ale thatthe coach is geting to involved inthe client content [Neutral Leading Questions Another standard distinction between questions concems their object. Habitually a question's purpose i o obtain new information o generate new das. To realy do either well, its eritcal that ce formulation ofthe question doesnot reveal an attempt to influence, lead o direct the content of ‘the answer in any intentional direction. Thus, coaching questions that fer a totally open field fo clint response ae neutel questions. They re considered much more useful 0 open client perspectives. Examples of useful neutral coaching questions as compared to leading questions ae: + Leading Questions ste you angry proposes specific emotion amongst a host of oers and can focus client tention on that specific content ‘When asked that question, clients can focus on that emotion and become swat that indeed, they ae feeling anger. But client concentration on any emotion can give that emetion accrued impostance at the expense of another. Sadness, er, et: may also be just ax presen, bat not meationed by the cach ++ Neutral Questions: What do you fee?» presents a more open field for clieat to define emotions without limitations. Even more open would be "what is your ‘ercepion?” This would lt the client choose between felng, thinking, inating, or whatever. ‘The form ofthe question « Are you angry? » does have the mect of being simple rather than complicated. Some leading or diected questions cary so much information that they display the judgments, belies and fames of reference ofthe questioner. These seem wo propos tit the listener should merely accept and agree withthe whole package. If directed and complicated questions formally pretend to be searching for information, but ‘aguick analysis of their content will eval a contay effact Don't you fest mad or at least form of anger when you ar facing that kindof passive envroament which in effec i bling you to take an more ‘han your share of responsibility» ‘Don't you believe that when you arin hierarchical context and in a company culture ike yous, rather radtional if mot military that you'd beter thin twice before reacting to..% Both questions immediately limit the thinking playground ofboth the coach and len by the boundaries within the specificity af language. Beware also of all negatively formulated questions that tur with "Doa't you... When coaches wish o offer thee clint a ell fre and open space Ie. them express and grow without hindrance, simple neutral questions are particulary recommended. Consequently « what do you think? » or « what

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