The most important skill for a coach is to be able to ask the right questions at the right time. But attention: don’t put everything into a question! And especially in emergency situations instruct!
Open versus closed questions:
(closed questions are to be answered with yes or no, either or, etc, open questions are those which begin with “why”, “how”, when”, “who” etc.)
Example for closed: “Do you feel nervous?”
Example for open: “How (nervous) do you feel?”
Non-judgement versus judgement questions:
Example judgmental: “Why did you drive so fast?”
Example non-judgmental: “What factors did you take into account before deciding for this speed?”
Questions on sense and body-awareness versus intellectual questions:
Sensory questions can lead to greater awareness of comfort, stress, nerves and excitement.
Example: “On a scale from 1-10, how stressed are you now?” “What could you do to reduce stress for let’s say one point only?”
Coaching questions versus questioning development:
In coaching questions the answer is up to the coachee. In questioning developing the
learning contents is already clear right from the beginning but will be just elaborated by asking in order to activate the learner.
Example for questioning development: “what does this traffic sign mean?”
Example for a coaching question: “How stressed do you feel when you enter a roundabout?”
List of Coaching-questions:
The following questions are examples to be applied:
What would you like to improve in your driving?
What is the result you want to achieve?
Once you have corrected the problem what would be the ultimate result?
What is the problem?
What are the possible ways to change?
Which of these options would you choose?
Where do the problems come from exactly?
What would you have to change?
What are you experiencing at this moment?
What do you want to try next, what is best for you?
What is important to you in driving?
How do you decide what to do in this situation?
How successful was that action?
How confident do you feel now?