Questions... Questions... Questions

Asking good questions is a key skill in coaching. I learnt in webtorial 12 that questions have the power to trigger a mental reflex known as “instinctive elaboration”. An “instinctive elaboration” is when the brain, for a brief moment focuses its resources solely on answering the question asked. This got me curious and I decided to look into “instinctive elaboration” a little further to see how I could leverage this mental reflex in a coaching conversation. 

I discovered that while questions can cause the coachee to experience “instinctive elaboration”, something they have no control over, their response is absolutely under their control. The quality of the questions we ask as a coach could either lead the coachee to think deeper and initiate profound shifts in thinking OR it could cause further confusion and maybe even anxiety for the coachee.

Good or even power questions allow us to harness the power of the coachee’s brain to spark deep thinking, creating opportunities for perspectives and perhaps even mind-changing realisations! This got me thinking… How do I ask powerful questions? I believe powerful questions are open-ended, asked with genuine curiosity and they contain the following components:

1. Builds Understanding

2. Establishes Outcomes

3. Shapes Options

4. Targets Action


“The power to question is the basis of all human progress.” – Indira Gandhi


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