With Guest Contributor and The Sound of Coaching Collaborator Barbra Sundquist

Did you know the giraffe has the biggest heart in relation to its body size of any mammal?

That's why I choose it to be our symbol for learning the IAC's Coaching Mastery #1™: Establishing and maintaining a relationship of trust.

From the IAC website, Coaching Mastery #1is defined as:

Ensuring a safe space and supportive relationship for the client’s personal growth, discovery and transformation..)

(For members of the IAC, see their learning guide for more information

The keywords to remember for Mastery #1 are TRUST and RAPPORT (remember the giraffe with the extra-big heart).

Some of the ways that you build trust and rapport are by:

• using active listening skills such as paraphrasing and listening for feeling as well as content
• having a warm and supportive tone of voice
• validating the client's feelings
• asking for the client's suggestions and input

Action Item:
 
Listen to the 6 minute coaching excerpt below and then answer the questions. Then scroll down to read my suggested answers. (My answers are not all-inclusive. If you heard something that I didn't mention, well done!)

And now, continue reading for a set of questions (and their answers!) vis-a-vis this live coaching clip.

» Continue reading

I enjoyed this article from Marcia Bench over at CCI; it's pithy on the topic of great questions. What are some of your best coaching questions?

How to Amp Up Your Coaching Questions
by Marcia Bench, Founder/Director, Career Coach Institute

Asking coaching questions is distinctly different from asking for directions, asking permission, or asking how something works. Powerful coaching questions must have at least 4 key characteristics. Otherwise they won't further the coaching conversation, nor will they really 'hit the mark' with clients so that they have the breakthroughs they need.

So how do you know a powerful question? They must fit these 4 criteria.

1. Nonjudgmental vs. judgmental: 'Shouldn't you stay at your job instead of becoming a starving author?' is judgmental, and requires a yes/no answer. Instead ask 'Which option seems best to you? Why?'

2. Short vs. long: 'What do you really want?' is much more powerful for most people than 'In the ideal world, with all the money you want, and no concerns for kids or commuting or being by family, do you have an idea what you would choose then?'

3. Open- vs. closed-ended: Questions that require a yes or no answer stop the coaching session flat. So instead of 'Do you think you can do that?' ask 'What needs to happen so you can move forward?'

4. Match client's language and/or communication style: Clients process information differently - some use visual language, some focus on the auditory (hearing), others prefer to feel, experience and interact with it. Changing just a few words from 'see' to 'hear' or 'feel' can make a huge difference in the impact of the question.

'Master Certified Career Coach Marcia Bench, 'The Career Coach's Coach,' publishes the widely circulated 'Career Coach News' ezine weekly with over 7,000 subscribers. If you're ready to start or grow your own coaching business as an infopreneur so that you can have a huge positive impact on others' lives and the planet, make people's work matter™, and earn a great living working the way you want in the process, get your F_REE tips now at www.careercoachinstitute.com'

More on great coaching questions, how to ask them, and how to know if you're on the right track with them, in blog posts coming soon. How do you know when you've been asked a great coaching question?