Our 13 Best Executive Coaching Questions

Questions that gather information and build trust

• Are often open questions
• “Can you give me an example of that?”
• “Can you tell me more about your view of ________?”
• “What role might you play in this situation?”

 Questions that explore interests

• Help coaches understand what is most important
• “Can you help me understand why that is important to you?”
• “What concerns you about this situation?”
• “How does _____affect you?”

 Questions that help explore solutions

• Should not lead the receiver to your solutions
• “What have you tried, and how did it work?”
• “What other things might you try?”
• “What would make this idea more acceptable to you?”

 Reality Checking Questions

• Help explore the outcomes that they are talking about
• “Why do you think the result will be different if you do nothing different?”
• “What might be the problems with this idea?”
• “If you can’t resolve this here today, how will that impact you?”

 Questions that Pose Dilemmas

• Help the coach not feel responsible for solving the problem
• “So your dilemma is that you like this job a lot, and you make a good living at it, but you are unsure if you can continue because you don’t feel respected. Is that correct?”