47 questions for coaching
The purpose of these questions is to bring forth answers from your (or your friend's, if you are coaching a friend) own store of values, experiences and abilities. They will also help you to turn your situation on its head and give you a new perspective.
Basic questions
- How are you doing right now … on a scale of 1 to 10?
- Describe what a ten-point-level would look like.
- If you were to go up by two points on the scale – how would things be different?
- Which obstacles keep you from getting there today?
- If you were to wake up one morning and those obstacles were no longer there, what would you think and do?
- What is it that keeps your situation from being worse?
Identifying goals
- If you had already achieved what you wanted, what would it be like?
- When do you want that to happen?
- Is this really your own goal or is it someone else's?
Motivational questions
- What is it you will gain if you reach your goal?
- What will you gain by not reaching your goal?
- How would it feel to succeed?
- How would it feel if you were not to reach your goal? Would it even be worth trying?
Experience questions
- Earlier in your life, have you been in a situation similar to the one you are in now? How did you solve it that time?
- If somebody else with your experience had been in your shoes, what would you have told him or her?
Identifying obstacles
- If some person is involved – who is the most negative? For what reason?
- What other circumstances effect you with regard to this matter? If necessary, would you be willing to have a look at these circumstances?
- How determined are you to try to reach your goal?
Transformation
- What would be a step in the right direction?
- What other possibilities do you have?
- What further options are open to you?
- What sort of things are there that could be done if you did not have to do them?
- What more can be done?
- What can you do to get yourself beyond these obstacles?
- What do you first need to do/find out in order to move forward?
- Who or what can help you to get what you want?
Perspective questions
- If you had an unlimited amount of time and money, what would you do?
- If somebody else had the same problems or issues that you have, what kind of advice would you give him/her?
- If your best friend were in your situation, what kind of advice would you give him/her?
- If your child found himself in the same situation, then what would you advise?
- If someone were sitting up on the moon and looking down on your situation, what do you think he or she would say you should do?
- What would a total novice in the field do in the same situation?
- What would someone with a strong sense of self do?
- What would a man or woman of enormous wisdom think?
Problem-solving questions
- What is it that really works? Can you somehow reinforce that?
- What has worked before? Can you try it again?
Intuition questions
- What does your gut-feeling tell you? What does your intuition tell you?
- Answer within five seconds – what would you do if you knew how you should behave?
Confronting your fears
- What are you most afraid of?
- What are you least afraid of?
- What is the best thing that can happen if you make a move, even if you are scared?
- What is the worst that can happen?
- If you were completely without fear, what would you do?
- When others are frightened, what do you tell them?
- Has it ever happened that you worried about something, even after it turned out be alright in the end? Can you draw any parallels to your current situation?
- What do you expect if you do nothing – how will you look at that decision when you are eighty years old?
- If you let your fears control you, does it help?