Throughout the coaching process, we’re always looking for certain questions we believe will trigger growth in our client, evoke awareness, and help them discover new opportunities and solutions to improve their professional lives.
There’s one question that almost always helps to make a session better, and it’s a question you might ask about halfway through the coaching session. It’s really very simple: “How are we doing?” That’s the question.
You can build off of that question with: “What insights have you had so far?” They’re similar questions, but they’re not exactly the same, so you can ask them both.
The point here is to do a check-in halfway through the coaching session. This is an opportunity for us coaches to be vulnerable, to expose ourselves to the possibility that we’re not on track. We acknowledge the client, in the second half of the coaching session, may need more focus and attention in a certain area to reach their desired outcome. Or, we may find we are on track and moving assuredly towards the stated outcome, which will then suggest we continue in the same direction.
Either way, we need to discover what the client has gained through the first half of the coaching and what they’d like to work on in the second half.
There’s so much value to this one question that it almost seems like it should be mandatory, but that would go against the grain of wanting to be natural and unscripted in a coaching session. Nonetheless, it’s hard to imagine a coaching session where it wouldn’t be helpful to check-in with your client about halfway through.
When answering this question, clients may also share fresh insights with you. If this happens, your response could be along the lines of: “That’s very interesting to hear. Would you like to go deeper into one of those ideas, one of those discoveries, one of those insights?” Or, if they’re satisfied with what’s happened in the first half of the coaching session, you might say: “Where should we go next? What would be most helpful to you in the second half of today’s session?”
This question also works if your goal is to help a client have better meetings. Many meetings are convened to solve problems and many solutions are often suggested. Well, at the halfway point, the meeting leader could check-in with the group to see how they’ve fared towards the goal of the meeting. The group’s answer would then dictate where the meeting goes from there.
Coming back to the check-in during a coaching session now, asking “vulnerable” questions like this one can help you determine if you need to redirect your coaching to ensure even greater value in the second half of a coaching session.
We hope this post has been helpful to you on your coaching journey. If you’d like to go further with our instruction, consider joining the Center for Executive Coaching. We have 3 levels of enrollment and payment plans to suit your pace and budget. Learn about our enrollment options here, or contact us to learn more.
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