Powerful Questions and Coaching!
Hello Community,
I have some questions about the coaching stance. One of the key aspects of coaching a team is asking very powerful questions that drives a team's or individual's thoughts. I can not deny that it gets the juices flowing for any person. I am truly struggling in couple of aspects regarding asking these questions.
I am struggling to understand how to carry a coaching conversation by ONLY asking powerful questions. Do I not seem un-attached when I am asking question after question and not really adding any advice? I know that you as a coach are not supposed to add any solutioning when coaching.
Also, I am having a hard time not allowing my mind to solution. For example, I might have formulated some advice for an individual in my team based on the problem he is having. I can clearly see how he can approach a certain problem which would help the individual move forward. Now, I am also certain and I think Agile coaching is powerful because you are letting the person come up with their own answers! How do you approach asking powerful questions? Would love some thoughts!
I can clearly see how he can approach a certain problem which would help the individual move forward
Can you? You seem to enjoy a certain transparency over the problem which he does not. If so, share that rather than the solution, and not just with the individual concerned but with the team. They may then come up with an even better approach.
I'm going to use a sports analogy that I hope helps you out.
On a football(soccer for us in the US) team, there are a number of coaches. These coaches give guidance to the players on techniques that can help them be successful. They will help the player become better at the techniques by observing and offering suggestions. The players will practice the techniques alone and together. They learn from each other using the basic guidance that was given by the coaches. The coaches will observe and offer additional suggestions as the players become proficient with the techniques. The coaches will encourage the players to develop their own techniques.
The coaches also will draw up "plays" that if executed could result in goals. They will practice the plays as groups. The coaches will watch and stop the players if something goes amiss. At that point, the coaches will help the players understand how they got to the wrong goal and help them learn from their mistakes. They will start the play again, learn some more, and repeat.
Then comes game day. On game day the team is playing another team that has coaches. That team has also learned techniques and plays. However on game day, coaches sit on the sideline and they can not stop play to have their team try again. It falls on the players to work together to win. The plays that the coaches have drawn up may not work because the plays assume the other team will react in a specific way. The techniques may not work because the players on the other team also know those techniques.
I hope that you can see where I am going. Coaches do not provide solutions. They provide access to ideas, they encourage people to be better. They help people learn from mistakes. They encourage people to try new things as the situation warrants.
I might have formulated some advice for an individual in my team based on the problem he is having. I can clearly see how he can approach a certain problem which would help the individual move forward.
It doesn't matter if you can clearly see it or not. What matters is that the individual learns how to recognize the situation, analyze the situation, and develop a plan to move on. As a coach, you are there to help them be better, not to tell them what to do.
Thank you, really appreciate all of your insights!