Asking questions is one of the key disciplines for a coach. Posing questions instead of dispensing answers is a tangible way of honoring a person’s capacity to run their own life. It’s saying, “God gave you the gift of your life, and I believe you can steward it well.” Coaches ask because they expect you to be able to arrive at a great answer—probably a better answer than the coach could give. Asking questions is an unmistakable way of saying, “I believe in your capacity and your ability!”
By contrast, when I “tell” instead of ask, the message I am sending is, “You aren’t an adult. You aren’t capable of living your life without my help.” As it goes in the classic song, “You need someone older and wiser telling you what to do.” Often in our eagerness to help we end up actually sapping people’s confidence by sending the message that they aren’t capable of doing the job. When we treat people as less than what God made them to be, they tend to live down to our low expectations.
The more I ask the more convinced I am of the power of asking. When I discipline myself to ask, I embolden my clients and honor their abilities. As their confidence grows, their ability and their performance grows with it. At a recent speaking engagement, one of the leaders in the congregation I was addressing shared his own coaching experience with his church. He stated, “I have grown more in the last year and a half than in my previous 14 years combined, I believe in large part due to my involvement in [coaching].” He felt that what was most transformational for him was reflecting on the questions he was asked.
I’ve never gotten those kinds of results by giving advice! The more I ask, the more I see the potential and the destiny I’ve believed in become reality—and the more I grow in my capacity to believe in people.
Tony Stoltzfus is an author, leadership coach and master coach trainer. Additional information on the role of questions in the coaching relationship can be found in Tony’s book, Leadership Coaching.
Which of your friends would thank you for forwarding this post to them?
Excerpted with permission from “No – the Only Negotiating System You Need for Work and...
Guest Post by Craig Morgan Every year families gather for Fourth of July’s where we grill hot dogs, swim in...
Guest Post by Jamie Graham Duprey I used to spend a lot of time and energy worrying about the world ending....
Hello My friend, I truly hope that my note here today finds you healthy and doing well. As you know, I have a...
Guest Post by Simone Joyaux According to Dr. Adrian Sargeant, two-way interactions (i.e., the donor talks...
My Dad, Arnett Tiede, was the greatest influence on my life and was always my "Hero!"...
As leaders, we often view ourselves as knowledge providers. So we teach, tell, or advise and, in this way,...