In his book, The One Life We’re Given, Mark Nepo poses the question: what is the thread that is constant for you, in joy and pain, in darkness and light? . . . Nepo’s question was a powerful one for me.
A Question is Like a Lantern
Not all questions are created equal, of course. Some kinds of questions are very directive. They tend to invoke narrow perspectives or even to make the person who is questioned feel defensive. Open-ended questions, on the other hand, invite a person to approach a problem from a new direction or to use a new lens to look at a situation. Open-ended questions are powerful, so powerful that in coaching, we call them “powerful questions.”
Powerful Questions
Coaching is about helping clients find their own answers to the dilemmas they face. Asking—rather than telling—is central to helping people listen to their “inner teachers” and find their own answers. That’s why one of the first skills you learn in coach’s training is that of asking powerful questions. A powerful question is one that invites the client look at the situation in a new way and discover new possibilities and fresh insights.