Fifty great coaching questions

[From 50 Great Coaching Questions by Darren Poke]

Goal
1. What must you accomplish in the next 12 months?
2. What would you like to focus on today?
3. What’s important to you at the moment?
4. What are you working on at the moment?
5. What challenges are you struggling with at the moment?
6. How can you word that goal more specifically?
7. How can you measure that goal?
8. How can you break down that goal into bite-sized pieces?
9. How can you word this goal using positive language?
10. What do you want to be doing in five years time?
11. What’s your ideal future?
12. Where is your life out of balance?
13. What is the legacy that you want to leave?
14. What new skill do you want to learn or develop?

Reality
1. What’s working well for you at the moment?
2. What isn’t working well at the moment?
3. What have you done so far to improve things?
4. How does this goal impact your spouse/partner?
5. What’s the excuse that you have always used for not achieving your goals?
6. What aspects of your life will be impacted by reaching the above goal?
7. What is the biggest obstacle that you are facing?
8. What are you afraid of?
9. What are you passionate about?
10. What are you willing to endure to see your goal become a reality?
11. Is that a need or a want?
12. Where are you sabotaging yourself?

Options
1. What do you think you should do first?
2. What would be the most helpful thing that you could do now?
3. If money wasn’t a restriction for you, what would you do?
4. If time wasn’t a restriction for you, what would you do?
5. What would you do if you weren’t answerable to anyone?
6. What would (enter name of relevant expert) do in this situation?
7. What do you sense God is telling you to do?
8. If you were guaranteed to succeed, what would you do?
9. What’s the best use of your time at the moment?
10. If you could only do one thing this week, what would it be?
11. What can you do better than anyone else in your organisation?
12. What books should you be reading to help you achieve your goals?
13. If you went to your boss with this problem, what would they suggest?
14. If you saw someone else in your situation, what would you suggest they do?
15. If you had 50% more confidence, what would you be doing that would be different?
16. If you weren’t holding anything back, what would you be doing?

Way Forward
1. What are you going to do in the next 24 hours?
2. How committed are you in reaching this goal?
3. On a scale of 1 to 10, how motivated are you to achieving this goal?
4. What will it take to turn that 6 into a 9?
5. Who do you need to speak to about this goal?
6. How are you going to celebrate reaching your goal?
7. Whatever your first step is, can you think of anything that might stop you from doing it?
8. Is there anything else that you need to consider before starting?

Coaching resources

Books

Roehl, Tim & Steve Ogne. TransforMissional Coaching B & H Publishing Group. A foundational text for our Wesleyan Coaching Network…strong in practical, holistic and missional coaching with over 200 coaching questions.

Whitmore, John. Coaching for Performance. Pfeiffer & Company, Author of the G.R.O.W. model of coaching. Foundational book.

Stolzfus, Tony. Leadership Coaching One of the best foundational books for Christian coaching – Questions, techniques, how to set up coaching relationships, coaching models and strategies. Available at www.coach22.com.

Stolzfus, Tony Coaching Questions: A Coaches Guide to Powerful Asking Skills

Harkavy, Daniel S. Becoming a Coaching Leader: A Proven Strategy for Building Your Own Team of Champions

Walling, Terry. Stuck: Navigating the Transitions of Life and Leadership. ChurchSmart. Very practical helps for coaching leaders through transitions.

McGraw, Phil. Life Strategies—Doing What Works/Doing What Matters. Hyperion

Cashman, Kevin. Awakening the Leader Within. Wiley

Blanchard, Scott & Homan, Madeleine. Leverage Your Best Ditch the Rest—The Coaching Secrets Top Executives Depend On. Morrow

Jones, Laurie Beth. Jesus Life Coach—Learn from the Best. Nelson

Demmitt, Dallas & Nancy. Can You Hear Me Now? Life Journey

Connellan, Thomas K. Bringing Out the Best in Others Bard Press

Covey, Stephen R. The 8th Habit—From Effectiveness to Greatness Free Press

D.A. Benton. Secrets of a CEO Coach McGraw Hill

Creswell, Jane. Christ-Centered Coaching—7 Benefits for Ministry Leaders Available at www.lakehickoryresources.com

Rosiniski, Philip. Coaching Cross Culturally Amazon.com

Biehl, Bob. Asking to Win. Available at www.coach22.com

Stanley, Paul & Clinton, Robert. Connecting: The Mentoring Relationships You Need to Succeed. Navpress

Davis, Ron Lee. Mentoring, The Strategy of the Master. Nelson Publishing

Clinton, Robert. The Making of a Leader. Navpress A must read classic on how God shapes leaders.

Engstron, Ted. The Fine Art of Mentoring. Wolgemuth and Hyatt

Miller, Linda & Hall, Chad. Coaching for Christian Leaders Chalice Press.

Miller, Linda and Hall, Chad. Coaching in Organizations

Dear, John. The Questions of Jesus Image Books.

Lee-Thorpe, Karen. How to Ask Great Questions Navpress.

Collins, Gary. Christian Coaching Navpress.

Logan, Robert and Sherilyn Carlton. Coaching 101 ChurchSmart

Drakeford, John. The Awesome Power of the Listening Ear Word Books

Chad Hall. Faith Coaching: A Conversational Approach to Helping Others Move forward in Faith Chad Hall FaithCoaches.com; www.cacoaching.com; Conversational Leadership” resource – Backdoor coaching

Scott, Susan Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life One Conversation at a Time This is a secular book, but excellent in regards to having powerful coaching conversations in the workplace, ministry world, family world, etc. Susan Scott is also in charge of Fierce, Inc, consulting and coaching.

Grodzki, Lynn, and Allen, Wendy The Business and Practice of Coaching: Finding Your Niche, Making Money, and Attracting Ideal Clients A book on how build a thriving coaching business. Lots of practical guidance.

Web Sites

Wesleyan Coaching Network

International Coaching Federation

Center for the Advancement of Christian Coaching

CoachNet

Coaching.com

Coachville.com

TransformationalCoaching.com

MinistryCoaching.org

CoachingPastors.com

Coach22.com

ChristianCoachingCenter.org

LeadershipCoachingAndConsulting.com

CoachU.com

BecomingACoachingLeader.com

Magazines