Six Coaching Questions - Goals

Last week I lead a one day coach training session up in Thunder Bay for a group of HR professionals

and program managers. One of the areas we discussed was how important goals are to the coaching process. In fact, goals frame the context of the conversation as well as help connect that conversation with the bigger picture of what each person is working towards. whether you are working with individuals, teams or groups as a coach, working around goals is critical

Today's post include more than six coaching questions you might want use to explore when working around goals in coaching.

As a starting point, you may want to have some discussion around how goals are SMART-E - as I write in From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching. SMART goals can be made into SMART-E goals, ensuring that goals are not only Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound, but that they are Exciting as well. If goals are not exciting, what is the likelihood of follow-through?

Remember that goals are of then the "bookends" of any coaching conversation. We generally start and end coaching conversations by asking what the focus of the conversation is, what success will look like at the end of the conversation, and making sure we circle back to check in at the end of the conversation in terms of how we did.

Questions you may want to ask:

1. What's important about that goal?
2. What will success with this goal look like?
3. What will success around that goal enable you to do?
4. What might get in the way of success? (OR What could derail your progress with this)?
5. What will help you be successful?
6. What lessons learned will help you be successful this time?
7. Who can support you in your actions? Or What will support you?
8. What will you do to keep this goal in front of you?
9. What milestones are there along the way?
10. How will you celebrate when you complete your goal?

What are some of your favorite coaching questions? Feel free to comment below or post them on our Effective Group Coaching Facebook  page.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC, CPCC
GroupCoachingEssentials.com | Potentials Realized
Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2009) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)
Phone: 416-996-8326
Upcoming programs include: the Mentor Coaching Group (10 hrs for ACC/PCC) starting Friday March 4th at 11 am ET. The next Group Coaching Essentials teleseminar (8.75 CCEs) program starts April 6. the next Advanced Group Coaching Practicum starts Thursday March 31st (10 CCEs)

Six Powerful Questions to Deepen Awareness in Groups

Many coaches have been enjoying my series of "Six Questions". Today we look at six powerful

questions you may want to incorporate in your next group program to deepen awareness.  Consider how you might use these:

1. What's your role (in the group, in the issue etc)?
2. What impact did you have?
3. What are the beliefs underlying the issue? (mine for enabling beliefs, limiting beliefs)
4. What perspective are you in around (insert issue...)?
5. Six months from now, how will you think about (the issue/topic)?
6. What's helping you? What's hindering you?

In a group coaching process you may be posing these questions to the entire group (one question at a time, of course) and you may get group members to:

• Indivudallly reflect and journal around the question
• Individually reflect and write down their responses in the session
• Discuss the question in the group (particularly if you have a smaller grouping of 3 - 6 members)
• Indicate if they are interested in being "laser" coached around one of these areas in front of other group member (like a fishbowl)
• Discuss this in smaller groups or triads using a breakout (including virtual breakout rooms)

Activity:
Make a list of 20 powerful questions you might use to support group members in deepening awareness around  a specific topic you are coaching around.
Use one or more of your powerful questions with your group. What do you notice about their impact? Which ones had more of a "sticky" factor or resonance?

Deepening Awareness is one of the eleven core coaching competencies. How much time are you spending as a coach with your clients in support of them deepening awareness?





Have  a great week,
Jennifer


Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC, CPCC
Potentials Realized | GroupCoachingEssentials.com
Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)
Phone: (416)996-8326