Everyone now knows that managers and leaders need to coach their people.

Daniel Goleman put a stake in the ground more than 15 years ago by saying that coaching was one of six essential leadership styles to get superior results.

You are possibly getting very good coaching, and you are not delivering effective coaching.

7 questions for coaching

• The kickstart question
• The focus question
• The foundation question
• The lazy question
• The strategic question
• The learning question

One of the reasons managers don’t coach is because they don’t know where to start.

Answers are closed rooms and questions are open doors that invite us in.

If you know what question to ask, get to the point and ask it.

The awe question is, “And what else?”

When you ask what else, you are being curious, attentive, and genuine.

Ask the right questions if you want the right answers.

Focus on the real problem, not the first problem.

Without a good question, a good answer has no place to go.

If you are not trying to fix things, you don’t need a backstory or the background.

The foundation question is, “What do you want?”

Five times a second, your brain is scanning the environment and asking, is it safe here or is it dangerous?

The Karpman Drama Triangle has three elements: the victim, the persecutor and the rescuer.

The minute we think we have all the answers, we forget the questions.

“How can I help?” and “What do you want from me?” are powerful questions at work and in relationships.

One of the best things you can do after asking a question is to listen to the answer.

A “yes” is nothing without the “no” that gives it boundaries and form.

Questions are not about judging people. They should be about encouraging them to think.

Your job is to create space for those learning moments.

We live in a world that our questions create.