Asking people in coaching to get clear on their development questions often presents a challenge to them. It’s new learning for many. We have to teach them how, one question at a time.
We ask about their dreams and passions, challenges and struggles, what they want to get better at and start learning to do. These provide material to build their questions. Working from their questions makes them optimally focused and engaged.
This is in direct contrast to traditional approaches that base coaching on deficiency assessments. These are tools to find someone’s weaknesses and work in coaching to correct these gaps. A question based approach becomes more naturally a strength based approach. People grow faster because this approach creates a growth mindset, unlike the deficiency approach that reinforces a fixed mindset. It’s a subtle yet profoundly significant distinction.