10 Core Questions to Bring Into Your Next Group Program

10+ Core Questions for Your Next Program
Copyright 2008-9. All Rights Reserved. Jennifer Britton

We often say that questions are a coach's best tool. I've spent that last few weeks on the design of a new coaching program for managers and in designing it, I was struck once again by the power and simplicity of the powerful question.

In the next few days become consciously aware of the questions you are bringing into your work with clients - whether it's in 1-1 work, or with groups or teams. Are your questions:

• Open-ended
• Leaving the client breathless before they answer, or leading them to pause or say "Wow. That's a great question".
• Between 5 and 6 words in length (One of my key takeaways from my own coach training years ago was that powerful questions usually are 5 or 6 word long - take a listen to yours!)
• Leading a client to really think differently, or deepen their understanding, as a result of the question

Here are some of my favorite core Questions for the Group Context. They are not all powerful questions, but they do get people thinking and conversations flowing:

Starters/Warm up:
What’s your hope for today’s session? What’s your fear? What’s your fantasy?
What do you want to take away from today’s session?
What is your intention for the day?
What will you commit to bringing to the group?
What role do you want to in the group?
On a scale of 0-10 how engaged will be with the process?
What risk will you take today?
What is one action you can take today to stretch your comfort zone?

Check Ins along the way:

What’s been your biggest ah-ha so far?
What is one thing that you can do in the next hour/day/session that will stretch your comfort zones?
What has shifted for you since we started?

Taking Action:

What action can you take to make this happen?
What do you want to commit to?
What do you need to say yes to? What do you need to say no to?

What will success look like?

Enjoy and try weaving these questions into your next session.

Warmly

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC

Group Coaching Essentials

Email: info{at}potentialsrealized{dot}com