164 coaching questions for each coach’s toolbox [List]

Good coaching questions are one of the most important tools for a coach. People will have to think for themselves before taking action. Moreover, they will experience it more as an idea of ​​their own, instead of being told to do something. Asking coach questions ensures maximum support and minimum resistance for the client. Here you will find 164 examples!

In this article you will find a large number of effective coaching questions

All answers and sources are already everywhere. You just have to ask the right questions. Someone can have a jacuzzi in their backyard for years without using it. Only the question: “How can we make process x fun?” can ensure that the jaccuzi is also used from now on. These kinds of inspiring questions are addressed in an NLP Practiitoner Training! You will also find a large number of questions in this article!

Coaching questions can be used, for example, to give people new insights and perspectives and even to defend your position and win discussions. Instead of saying, “Kids shouldn’t be in front of the TV all day,” say, “Do you think kids should be in front of the TV all day?”

With questions you get extra valuable information, for example about what it takes to buy your product. In addition, you do not have to do any convincing work yourself. For example, you might ask, “What would help you find out if you are going to buy my book or his book?”

Powerful Questions for Coaching (Examples)

By asking questions, you let the client talk. An additional effect of this is that they cannot be distracted because you have to be 100% hardworking when telling, compared to 40% when listening. For example, you can lead the client to positive states of mind.

Question set 1. Asking for the solution instead of pushing a solution

• What do you think is the reason that is?
• What is the solution?
• How do you find out?
• Could you do something about it?
• Looking back now, what could you have done differently?
• What are you going to do differently from now on?
• What could you do differently in the future?

Question set 2. Open questions are the basis of coaching

• What…
• How … This is a very useful one for learning things. So often ask these kinds of questions to teachers and excellent people you want to model.
• Why… Other ways to ask why questions are:
  What is the reason…? What makes that …? How is it that…? How do you think that is? Why is that?

Ask ‘why’ five times in a row and you will find the core of the problem.
– Sakichi Toyoda

Question set 3. Read people and feed it back via coaching questions

Constantly tell what you perceive in the other.

Step 1 – Observation

Observing and naming what you see.

• I see / hear / feel / {perception}.
• I see that you … (possibly imitate)
• You say you …
• I saw you act like that.

Step 2 (optional) – Your response

This step is optional.

• That upsets me .
• That makes me feel concerned.

Step 3 – Asking for the meaning

What makes that {perception}?

• What makes you say that?
• I wonder what that means.
• What would that have meant?
• What does it mean? What could that mean?
• What makes you get into this position like that?
• What do your feet actually want to tell you?
• What is going on?
• What happens now)?
• What hits you (now)?
• What is going through your mind right now?
• What happened?
• What makes you {perception}
• What makes you say that?
• How are you now?
• How do you experience this?
• Just feel what it does to you.

Step 4 – Response to step 3 or after you enter an experience or make a change (Very broad questions that always help you)

• What happens now?
• What do you experience?
• What do you need?

In addition, ask the questions below:

Question set 4. Continuing to ask questions

• (You mention x) and what else?
• Tell me about it.
• Tell!
• Can you explain that?
• How is that so?
• Can you give an example of that?
• What do you mean exactly?
• Can you tell me about that?
• The why question (Why)?
• Explain.
• Talk about it.
• Explain yourself.
• Tell me more.
• Continue.
• Silence tolerance: do not say anything after the question and leave room for the answer. Let the other person do the work.
• All other questions in the metamodel help you to keep asking questions.

Question set 5. Questions about the context

• Who, where and when is this happening?
• At what moment does this happen?
• In what situation does this happen? Where are you? What does the room look like?
• What is happening? What else is happening?
• Who are there? Who are you with?
• What do you hear and see around you? What are the circumstances?

Question set 6. Questions about the external observation

• What do you perceive?
• What do you see, hear, feel, smell or hear that makes you know: now I can do x?
• What is the ‘trigger’? The actual observation?

Question set 7. Questions about the filters (conditionings)

• What makes you feel and think this?
• What does this remind you of? What does this remind you of?
• What does it evoke in you?
• Where have you experienced this before?

Question set 8. Coaching questions about the internal representation / processes (thoughts & sensory perceptions)

Ask these questions to find out what’s left after someone’s filtering process. This has everything to do with thinking, reacting, making representations (images) and evaluating them.

• What do you think? What thought causes the feeling? What thoughts have that given to you? (Or with a premise: What beautiful thoughts do you all have?)
• How do you think that is?
• How did that happen?
• Why do you think?
• What questions do you ask yourself?
• What do you see / hear / feel in your mind?
• What do you say to yourself? What is your internal dialogue?
• What image do you have? What do you see?
• What do you see, hear, feel, hear, smell in that internal experience?
• What are your fantasies?

Question set 9. Questions about the internal state (including emotions)

• What do you feel (because of that)? How does that feel now?
• Where do you feel that?
• How do you feel?
• What kind of mood are you in?
• What is going through your mind right now?
• What kind of emotions do you have?
• Notice what you are experiencing now.
• How’s that for you?
• What does that do to you?
• What is happening? What else is happening?
• What happens now?
• What hit you?
• It hits you, doesn’t it?
• How is that?
• It hurts you a lot, doesn’t it?
• How does that make you feel?
• What feeling goes with that?
• How do you feel about that?
• How does that feel?
• How does that make you feel?
• What feelings do you have about this?
• What’s that feeling called?
• What does it do to you?
• What do you feel?
• What do you experience?
• How do you experience that?
• How do you feel now?
• What is happening to you inside?
• Stay in this experience and notice where it takes you. Get curious about this.
• Where in your body do you feel the {pressure, tension, movement}? How do you experience this in your body? If necessary, ask more submodalities questions about this feeling.
• (What do you need?)

Question set 10. Questions about physiology and appearance

• What physical posture do you adopt?
• How are you doing then?
• How do you look yourself?
• What is your attitude?
• What is striking about your posture?
• How is your muscle tone?
• What kind of facial expression do you have?
• How is your breathing ?
• What kind of facial expressions do we see?
• What kind of gestures do you make?
• What are your eyes doing?
• How is your tonality and your intonations?
• What kinds of unconscious non-verbal behaviors and reactions do you have?
• What kind of clothes do you wear

Question set 11. Questions about external behavior

• What is your observable behavior? What can others perceive about you?
• What do you do (then next) (in this situation)?
• How do you behave?
• How do you trade?
• Physiology?
• Attitude?
• Movement?
• Gestures?
• Tonality?
• What do you say?
• Do it for once?

Question set 12. Chunk up and down

• Use questions to move to a higher or lower level of abstraction. This is called ‘chunken’. You can read more about it here.
• You can also chunk up and down via the model of the logic levels. Use this set of questions to guide clients to higher levels of the logic levels.
• In any case, make sure that with this model you discover the values ​​and the beliefs related to a specific context.
• Another tool for this is to ask about the positive intention.
• You can also chunken up with the milton model and chunken down with the meta model .

Question set 14. Lead the other through the observation posts

There are a number of powerful questions with which you can make someone assume a different perception position. To view these coaching questions, click on the accompanying article on observation positions.

Question set 15. The TOTE energy (the underlying principle, not the literal model)

In the next sub-sections, we are going to explore several TOTE questions. An example of a situation where the TOTE energy comes in handy:

Is your compliment making someone angry? Then the meaning of your compliment is an insult. Communication takes on meaning through the reaction of other people. So check regularly what effect your communication has and whether you are in the right direction.

Report can disappear completely due to one wrong word. Even if you think you are talking about what the client means, it is quite possible that that is not the case at all. It is very easy to avoid this: ask for feedback regularly. Trigger, Operate, Test, Exit. Are you on the right track? Have you understood what she means?

Application of the TOTE principle: Check whether you have understood the client

For example, you can ask the following before continuing:

• What I hear you say is… is that right?
• Is it true that you …
• I understand that you …
• I want to make sure I understood you correctly. What I hear you say is …

Application of the TOTE principle: Let it indicate whether the next step has been reached

This means that you constantly ask for feedback in order to move forward.

• Give a signal when you are completely there.
• If you are completely in it you can indicate it.

Application of the TOTE principle: Is the progress for the client also approved?

• Is the place correct?
• Is the picture correct?
• Is the feeling right?
• Is the word correct?

Application of the TOTE principle: Ask the client what is best

• What would be the best question I can ask you right now?
• If you secretly knew the best way to move forward from this point, what would it be?
• If you were to coach yourself, what would you ask yourself now?
• What question do  you  think I should ask you now?

Question set 16. Have someone realize something with a question

If you want to point out something to someone, you can do that much more subtly by means of a question.

• Is the implication clear?
• Do you see that happening?

Question set 17. Questions to count blessings (these are from Tony Robbins)

To count blessings, ask the questions below:

1. What are you happy about in your life now?
2. What makes you happy?
3. How does that make you feel?

Do the same with the words below: the word ‘happy’ is exchanged with:

• Pride
• Grateful
• To enjoy
• Dedicated
• Love
• What makes you happy?
• What gives you energy?

Have the client ask themselves these questions every morning.

Question set 18. Find out why the client did not complete its tasks

• How did you prevent yourself from taking the action?
• What did you choose to do instead of your action? What did that get you? Looking back, would you make the same choice?
• What did you achieve instead of doing your action?
• What other priority was the competition for your action?
• If the same obstacle came again, what would you do?
• What can you learn from this?
• What lies below what has not been spoken?
• What really stopped you from completing this promotion?

Question set 19. Coaching questions that lead the client to his / her heart

1. Close your eyes. Allow your attention to drop … drop … drop … to the center of your heart, where you will find your intuition / spirit.
2. ‘If I wasn’t scared (the ego is scared), I would …’
3. Do this in 4 minutes of silence: you cannot give words to this mission level.
4. How would it feel if you felt your intuition, soul, your heart, uncensored?

For dozens of additional questions to get in touch with your heart, use this article with tips to get to your intuition.

Question set 20. Questions about what the client has learned after a certain part (with a presupposition)

You mainly ask these questions from a meta position: you have an overview of the exercise that has just been done. So that is dissociated so that you can reflect clearly on sin interference of feelings.

You also ask open questions that presuppose that something has been learned. So you don’t ask, “Did you learn anything?” But: “What have you learned?”

• What do you notice?
• What did you learn?
• What insight have you now gained?
• What do you take from here?
• How much more are you now {desired state}?
• What does that mean to you?
• What has it brought you?
• What does that mean to you?
• What does that do to you?
• And of course keep asking: what else?
• What do you take from here?
• What has changed?
• What’s different now?
• How different is it now?
• What else? (Continue to ask)
• What has it brought you?
• Tell me 3 other ways to {need}?

Question set 21. Completely clean it up with a closing question

After you have done an exercise, intake interview or intervention, you can ask the following:

• Are we ready?
• Do we have enough answers?
• Have you been helped?
• Can you move forward?

Additional resources on coaching questions

You should now have an answer to the question: “What questions does a coach ask?” But we’ve saved the best questions for last! Do you also want to use them in a structured way in your coaching conversation?

Then use the coach model. Click here to go to all these questions.

To your success!