Coaching, Mentoring and Managing: A Coach Guidebook

5

Ask Questions That Get the Answers You Need ...............................................

Have you ever tried to communicate with someone who
continually gives one-word answers (“yeah” or “nope”) to your
questions? It may be you, and, as mentioned earlier, the right
questions can be critical to understanding what motivates,
troubles, inspires, angers or impresses team members. The right
questions create dialogue. How? By being open-ended. To ensure
these questions work, remember to be silent after asking. With no
help on your part, your associate is more compelled to fill the
void.

Open-ended questions are a lost art in most work
environments; pressure and time encourage brief communications.
Coaches give commands, often for the sake of brevity. “Tell me.”
“Explain to me.” By substituting commands for questions, people
automatically become defensive ... and dialogue shuts down.

Open-ended questions create rapport. They signal interest and
concern. They don’t demand a “yes” or “no” answer. They’re easy
to identify because they usually start with one of these words:
who, what, where, when, how or why.

Open-ended questions accomplish five key objectives.

1. Minimize defensive responses.


2. Show the speaker’s interest in the hearer’s ideas.


3. Communicate an openness — freedom from “right” or
   “wrong” answers.


4. Are 100 percent more likely to stimulate conversation.


5. Create a sense of “team” ... of pulling together toward
   mutual victory.

The Counselor Role: Confrontation and Correction

The right

questions create

dialogue.