Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Coaching: Does Coach Only Ask Open-Ended Questions?

Hi,

The answer is simply "No"!

Instead, we ask quite a lot of close-ended questions. We asked Close-Ended Questions because:

1. They are easier to be answered. They are great warm-up questions. These warm-up questions prepare and motivate clients to answer the more difficult open-ended questions.

2. These questions put the coach and client at the same point of initial understanding about the client's situation. This not only creates rapport, but also makes the coach easier to formulate suitable open-ended exploratory questions afterward.

3. Close-End questions can be very exploratory. They help clients to explore under a structured framework.

Close-End Questions are more than just "Yes or No" questions. Close-End Questions are also not "Leading" questions.

But what really is Close-Ended Question? Many people, even many experienced coaches misunderstand them. That's the reason why they are discouraged to ask them.

We will discuss further on Close-Ended Question in our next article.

Keith
Explore, Exceed & Excel