A Question About Questions
Image: by TeroVesalainen from Pixabay
What are your favourite questions?
As a leadership coach, questions are an essential part of my toolkit. And like any good craftsman, I am constantly looking for new and better tools to add to my collection.
I was therefore overjoyed when I came across this post by Scott Ginsberg, which lists 62 types of questions and why they work.
While this is by no means an exhaustive list, and I already use a number of them in my coaching conversations, I found a few that I really liked. And Ginsberg’s rationale for the questions also prompted some deeper thinking around why these questions made sense. Here’s a brief list of the questions that stood out for me:
If stumbling on this list of good questions was a happy accident, lady luck also had a bonus in store. In a podcast interview with author Mark Nepo, I came across this wonderful distinction between questions in the world of circumstance and questions in the world of meaning :
questions in the world of circumstance have answers, like what time are we going to begin this interview, and what’s the expiration date on milk, and when do I pick up my prescription? Those are real answers to things in the world of circumstance, but in the world of essence, in the world of meaning and the world of spirit, questions don’t have answers. We ask questions the way we would open a door we want to walk through with someone. Questions lead to relationships, not answers. Questions in the inner world are like throwing a log on a fire to keep each other warm, or questions are like a lantern we swing so we can see a few steps ahead of us.
As I learn how to help people go deeper inside themselves to find answers, I realise that my questions have to be more of the latter type … questions in the world of meaning, questions that help them be in relationship with what they seek, questions that allow them to see what lies ahead..
If you love questions, you might also want to read:
What are some favourite questions you ask yourself or those you help?
Please leave a comment below or send me an email, and I’ll do my best to answer your questions.