At the beginning of every coaching session, we want to establish two truths:

1. The client is the expert of their situation.
2. The coach is the expert at creating new awareness in the client.

If the client had full access to their expertise, they wouldn’t need a coach. They need the coach to draw the expertise out in the fullest possible way. There are many ways to do this, but let’s focus this post on asking wider discovery questions.

Picture for a moment that the client’s expertise is like water held high above their heads in a bucket. The client needs access to their expertise but it is out of reach. The bucket has a small pinhole in the bottom so there are drips falling but it isn’t enough to help the client move past their current obstacle. The client doesn’t need more water, they need access to the water they already have.

Picture your questions as a tool. Each question you ask can widen the pinhole in the bottom of the bucket. Some questions you ask don’t seem to widen the hole at all. Other questions seem to open the hole and allow a slow trickle. And yet other questions open the hole and allow a steady stream of client expertise to flow into their current issue.

Here’s my premise: Wider questions create a wider flow of the client’s expertise.  Here's my premise: Wider questions create a wider flow of the client’s expertise. Click To Tweet

Widen Questions About Perspective

One way to create discovery is to help the client gain a new perspective. Sometimes we do that by helping the client see another point of view, and sometimes we do that by helping the client look into the future or the past.

Let’s look at a question that shifts the client’s perspective.

“What would your spouse say about this issue?”

This question accesses more of the client’s expertise. By considering the view of someone the client knows well, the client likely will see a fuller picture of their issue. Clients rarely consider other perspectives without a prompt. What the question does not do is allow the client to choose the new perspective. The coach has become the expert on where the client should look for perspective.

A wider version of this question might be:

“Who would see this issue differently?”

The previous question allowed the client to access their expertise through the lens of one other person. This question allows the client to be the expert of whose perspective might be most helpful. It creates more awareness.

An even wider version of the question could be:

“What is another viewpoint on this issue?”

The previous questions put the emphasis on who. The client was limited to only consider who might have a different perspective. This question widens the client’s access. The client might think of a viewpoint that is beyond an individual.

Wider Questions About Layers

Another way to create discovery is to dig underneath the issue to see what values, passions, assumptions, and such might be influencing the client’s view of the issue.

We might ask:

“What do you have so far?”

This is an oft asked question that has no effect at all on the client’s access to more of their own expertise. It may sound like you opened the flow because the client begins to talk, but they are only sharing what they already know. There is no discovery.

We can widen the question by asking:

“What makes you passionate about this issue?”

It is a better question because it causes the client to look at a deeper layer of their issue. The client discovers that their issue does not stand alone but is built on desires. On the other hand, it is not a great question because the coach decided that passion was the area that needed to be explored. Once again, the coach became the expert.

We can make the question even wider by giving the client the control of what to look for in a deeper layer:

“What makes this issue important to you?”

This allows the client to consider the fullness of all possibilities beneath the surface and opens the client’s expertise in a much deeper way.

Conclusion

We could conclude the coach is also being the expert by deciding that the client should explore by means of perspective or layers. The coach needs to provide just enough distinction that the client can begin to gain more awareness. Too much distinction and the coach creates flow but also limits the full possibility of the flow. Too little distinction and the client gains no new awareness.

Often when we ask a question and realize it doesn’t create enough awareness, we freeze and for the life of us can’t think of a better question. By considering how to make your questions wider, you can start with the question that first comes to mind, but before you ask it, widen it. Let the client be the expert of as much as possible in the conversation including where and what to explore.