One of the best descriptors of a coaching relationship is the analogy of a stagecoach – a coach helps a person move from where they are to where they want to be. As a coach, we help the client make that movement through the combination of powerful listening and asking powerful questions. Through these two skills, the client discovers answers or direction within themselves that lead to the desired movement.

Coaches most often establish a relationship with a client in which, over time and through several sessions together, the client develops a plan and takes action to achieve the goal that he/she has established for the coaching relationship. Often, we use the G.R.O.W. model to guide the coaching relationship through the process of establishing a Goal for growth or change, examining the Realities around this goal and the process, exploring some Options that the client might use to grow or change, and then defining the Way (some call it Will) that the client chooses to pursue this growth or change.

Below are 150 questions that provide examples of the types of questions that a coach might use within the coaching relationship, to help the client discover and define a plan for growth or change. Every coaching relationship is a little bit different, so these questions need to be tailored to the coach, the client, and the nature of the relationship.

The coaching relationship generally extends over a number of sessions together. While we often use the G.R.O.W. model to guide the overall relationship, the client also sets goals for each coaching session and defines actions to be pursued between sessions. This first set of questions are some examples that might be used at the beginning of each coaching session.

• How was your week, two weeks, month?
• What’s on your mind today?
• How have you grown this week?
• What did you learn?
• What are you grateful for?
• What did you accomplish this week?
• Of the actions we talked about last time, what did you accomplish?
• What progress have you made towards your goal for our coaching relationship?
• What would you like to focus on for our conversation?
• What is the biggest issue on your mind today/this week?
• Based on the amount of time we have together today, what would be your ideal outcome from our conversation?
• What would you like to have achieved by the end of this session?
• What would you like to take away from our conversation?
• How can our session today help you with the current challenges you are facing?

Once the session moves into coaching, the first session(s) are most likely focused on defining the Goal for the coaching relationship. Questions regarding the Goal might look like the following:

• What do you want to get from this coaching relationship?
• What is your current biggest problem or challenge?
• What’s missing in your life right now?
• What would you like more of in your life?
• What would you like less of?
• What is your desired outcome or goal?
• What’s the real challenge here for you?
• What is it specifically that you want to achieve?
• What would it look like if you were entirely successful?
• Describe your ideal outcome from this coaching…
• What would you like to happen that is not happening now, or what would you like not to happen that is happening now?
• Why are you hoping to achieve this goal? What is the deeper meaning or personal significance that this goal has for you?
• What do you want to achieve long term?
• When do you want to achieve it by?
• What will change if you achieve this goal?
• Help me understand why this change is particularly meaningful to you.
• Describe this goal or challenge a bit more…
• What positive things do you feel will happen if you accomplish what you’re trying to achieve?
• If you don’t change this, what will it cost you in the long run?
• How would your life be transformed if you changed this right now?
• What does success look like?
• What do you imagine it would look like if you could accomplish this?
• How will you know if you have achieved your goal?
• How long have you been thinking about this goal? What are some of the thoughts that you have had about this?
• What’s important to you about that outcome or result?
• Is this goal pulling you forward or are you struggling to reach it?
• Is that positive, challenging, attainable?
• What would be your next goal after you achieve your current one?
• What’s the bigger picture?

Once a Goal has been defined (or at least a first version of one), coaching moves on to examining the Realities of the situation. Here are some sample questions that demonstrate what this phase of the coaching relationship might look like:

• What’s the current situation?
• How would you like it to be?
• What’s your biggest obstacle to achieving this goal?
• What have you tried?
• What will happen if you don’t take this step?
• What is in your control?
• What’s standing in your way?
• What’s the cost of not taking action?
• What’s the benefit of taking action?
• What’s getting in the way of your progress?
• What will things look like after you’ve been successful?
• What’s worked for you in the past?
• When have you been successful in a similar situation in the past?
• What did you do to make it successful?
• How does this affect the people around you?
• Are you focused on what’s wrong or what’s right?
• How long have you been thinking about this?
• What’s stopping you from taking action?
• What will you have to give up in order to make room for your goals?
• What qualities/resources do you have to help you?
• What are the internal/external obstacles?
• What’s the downside of your dream?
• What’s the benefit of this problem?
• What strengths can you utilize in making this change?
• How can you turn this around and have better results next time?
• What does your intuition tell you about this?
• Have you ever experienced something like this before?
• What are some ways this challenge is impacting you or others?
• What can you learn from this situation?
• Do you have a gut feeling about this?
• How do the key principles and priorities you live by apply here?
• If you could start over again, what would you do differently?
• What specific events led you to that conclusion?
• What are you doing to not achieve your goal?
• If your main obstacle didn’t exist, how would your life look?

As the client comes to more fully understand the Realities of the situation, she/he is equipped with the information to begin exploring the Options that might exist for moving toward the goal. The coach might use questions such as the following to assist in that process.

• What do you see as the first step to accomplishing your goal?
• Are there any steps you could take right away that would significantly improve your situation?
• What might you do to take you closer after that?
• Can you think of some alternatives? Is there another way?
• Who might you ask for help? Who else?
• What are the pros and cons of this option?
• Which possible pathway do you feel prepared to go down?
• What would you do if time/money/resources weren’t an issue?
• What has worked for you in the past when it comes to situations like this?
• How might you draw on that same approach in this case?
• Tell me about the resources that would be helpful? How or where might you acquire those?
• What might your family or friends suggest that you do?
• If a friend were in your shoes, what advice would you give them?
• How would you tackle this if time wasn’t a factor?
• What option appeals to you most right now?
• Imagine you had no barriers, what would that look like?
• What else could you do?
• Think of someone you respect. How would she/he handle this situation?
• What haven’t you considered that might have an impact?
• What resources do you need?
• What would you have to believe for this option to be right?
• What’s the worst that can happen, and can you handle that?
• How can you solve this problem so it never comes back?
• How can you learn what you need to know about this?
• Is this the best option you can imagine or is there something greater?
• Which step could you take that would make the biggest difference, right now?
• What fears or inner drives are influencing your response? How could you remove those things from the equation so you can make a better decision?
• Tell me what you think would happen if you tried doing that?
• How might you broaden your current line of thinking?
• What has worked for you already? How could you do more of that?
• What’s the best/worst thing about that option?
• What are the pros/cons of pursuing each option? Which is most advantageous?
• What would it cost in terms of time and resources to do this? What would it cost if you don’t do this? What’s the cost if you don’t decide or let circumstances overtake you?
• What decision would best align with your faith? What is God saying to you on this?
• What will really make the biggest difference here?
• If you weren’t scared, what would you do?
• What might make the difference that could change everything?

After exploring Options, the client should be ready to choose or define a specific action plan (the Way) with milestones and target dates for moving forward. Here are some sample questions for the Way (or Will) phase of coaching:

• Which opportunity or option are you going to pursue?
• What is a first step you can take?
• What are the steps you’re going to take? What’s the very first thing you will do?
• What are the next three steps? What else?
• What specific actions will you take to achieve your goal? What is your time frame?
• Have you decided to take action or are you just hoping you will?
• What are you willing to commit to here?
• Who do you have to support you or hold you accountable?
• What support do you need to get that done?
• When precisely are you going to start and finish each action step?
• How might you turn these steps into a plan?
• Who needs to know what your plans are?
• What will you do now?
• When will you do it?
• How specifically will you know you’ve completed that action/goal?
• What could arise to hinder you in taking these steps?
• What personal resistance do you have, if any, to taking these steps?
• What will you do to eliminate these external and internal factors?
• What support do you need and from whom?
• What will you do to obtain that support and when?
• What roadblocks do you expect or that require planning?
• Have you considered the potential barriers?
• Tell me how you plan to overcome these obstacles…
• What commitment on a 1-to-10 scale do you have to taking these agreed actions?
• What prevents this from being a 10?
• What could you do or alter to raise this commitment closer to 10?
• What does this accomplishment mean to you?
• How will you celebrate that?
• To what extent does this meet all your objectives?
• Is there anything missing?

At the end of each coaching session, the coach needs to check in with the client to assure that they are both on track and that the client is achieving his/her expectations for the coaching relationship. The client should also have a set of action steps to accomplish prior to the next coaching session. The wrap-up to each coaching session might use questions like the following:

• Is there anything else you want to talk about now or are we finished?
• What was your biggest win of the session today?
• What actions do you plan to take in preparation for our next session?
• Are there any other actions that would be helpful before we next meet?
• What was most useful for you?
• What’s been your major learning, insight, or discovery so far?
• Are there any important questions that have not been asked?
• What had real meaning for you from what you’ve spoken about? What surprised you? What challenged you?

As mentioned earlier, these are simply examples of the types of questions that might be used in a coaching relationship. Some of these might easily fit into different phases of the G.R.O.W. model or a coach might prefer some other model for guiding the conversation, still using similar questions.

The important thing to remember in coaching is that the coach’s responsibility is to practice powerful listening that leads to powerful questions. The coach’s role is to use questions like these to assist the client in drawing out the thoughts, hopes, dreams, fears, etc. that play a part in the client’s understanding and moving forward.

What other questions do you find effective in coaching others?