Discovery Coaching Flashcards
To memorize discovery coaching questions and the importance of the questions.
What are the six discovery session questions?
These are the questions I use to structure my every discovery session.
- Why are you here?
- Why are you here, now?
- In what way/s specifically are they an issue to you?
- If you were to know, where did this come from?
- How do you act this issue out?
- What do you want instead?
These questions are to be asked in this order.
We can ask them other supplementary questions in between those six, such as
* Tell me more.
* Tell me more about.
* Explain that to me.
What is the reason for question one:
Why are you here?
Why are you here is an open question. It is open intentionally, so the client can answer the question as they wish and we’re not guiding them in any particular direction.
This gives the client the opportunity to explain, from their perspective, why they have reached a state that they feel they need coaching. It means they’ll give their personal reasons to why they want coaching.
Any time that I have a client that says to me:
“What do you mean?”,
I can always reply with
“What was the first thing that popped into your head, when I asked you that?”
What is the reason for question two:
Why are you here now?
Essentially, we asking, why now? Why not yesterday? Why not a year ago? Why not two years ago? Why not tomorrow? Why not, next year?
This is very important because there is a specific moment in my client’s life where they’ve made the decision, NOW is the time.
The reason we want to know that is because if we want to understand the catalyst for change that they have experienced, then we understand what helps them change.
What is the reason for question three:
In what way/s specifically is this a problem for you?
Question number three is asking specifically, in which way is that a problem for the client?
We know that the client has a problem and want to find that out ASAP. If we tiptop around it, we’re not going to uncover it.
What is the reason for question four:
If you were to know, where did this come from?
We’re trying to find where the problem originated from. We are being quite specific in asking where did it come from. What we’re doing is also assuming that it came from somewhere. We’re not assuming that this is a problem the client would have had forever. Because the chances are they were not born with this problem.
Not where did begin, who started it, etc. Where did it come from is open enough that it’s open for interpretation.
What is the reason for question five:
How do you act out this problem?
We are allowing our client to realise that on some level, there must be some form of responsibility that they bring to the problem.
Also, by asking the question, it allows the client to step out of themselves and think, how do I act out this problem?
This question will almost certainly make my clients ask, “What do you mean?”, and I will have the same answer:
“What is the first thing that popped into your head when I asked that question?”
What is the reason for question six:
What do you want instead?
This question is to help shift the clients mind away from the negative to forward thinking and what they want instead of the problem they currently have.
What do you want instead? Quick summary, problem, problem, problem, shift perspective, shift perspective, however, what do you really want instead?
Do we want to challenge generalisation?
We want to challenge generalisations. If we don’t challenge them, they remain unchallenged. If they remain unchallenged, they remain strong. We don’t want them remaining strong because if our client has a generalisation that’s not serving them, it will be holding them back.
If it has no impact on their life, then leave it alone.
We don’t want to challenge them too hard, because we don’t want it to be argumentative, or make them defensive. We don’t want it to be offensive. At the same time, we don’t want to tiptoe around our clients because we want our clients to like us. We’re there to help them.
