Other Types of Questions
There are several other types of questions used by coaches, although they are all a variation of the open question.
Clarifying | · When you say…. What do you mean exactly?
· Did I understand you correctly when you said ….? · Am I right in saying that you believe….? · What does that mean in practice? |
Challenging | · What evidence do you have to support that approach?
· How might other people view that approach? · What could go wrong with that plan? · If that was the case, how you would respond to the problem? |
Elaborating | · Mmm, I am not sure I fully understand, would you tell me more about that idea?
· What other factors might need to be taken into account? · Can you explain that to me in a little more detail? · What other examples of that can you give me? |
Confronting | · How do you know this to be the case?
· What evidence is there to support that view? · Can you help me to understand how will this be possible as on the one hand you want to do X but you also want to do Y? · How would that strategy improve performance? |
Linking | · Earlier, you said … how might these two issues be linked?
· Looking forward, how does this fit with your long term strategy? · How does this plan fit in with what we discussed last week? · Thinking about your plans to achieve XYZ, how does this action help? |
Hypothetical | · What might happen if…?
· What would be the potential benefits of…? · Should the plan not work as you expect, what contingencies can you implement? · If you were to do XYZ what might be the consequences for your team? |
Cause and Effect | · What would happen if you increased X?
· How is this response related to…? · How might the sales representatives react to these plans? · Imagine if sales doubled; what impact would that have on production? |
Summary and Synthesis | · What else do you need to know or do to understand this better/be better prepared?
· What other issues remain unsolved or unclear? · What actions are you going to take to make this happen? · What might prevent you from achieving your plan? |
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