The Art of Asking Questions
Lumia Coaching instructor Deanna Moffit discusses how to choose good coaching questions, and the impact of asking the right ones... at the right time!
The Everything Life Coaching Podcast, featuring Lumia Coaching founders John Kim and Noelle Cordeaux, is a deep dive into the experience and business of being a life coach. Subscribe to get new episodes weekly!
A conversation with Lumia Coaching instructor, Deanna Moffitt
Deanna Moffitt helps people turn “what if” into “why not.” She elevates their experience in life and leadership through the power of their conversations, questions, and decisions. She has helped folks at companies including Google, American Express, DocuSign, Microsoft, Viacom, Marriott as well as 100's of individuals outside of the corporate world.
To learn more about Deanna’s coaching practice, you can visit her website at www.deannamoffitt.com or connect on Instagram @deannamoffitt.
How Coaches Can Ask Better Questions
In this episode, Deanna and Noelle discuss the class Deanna teaches in Lumia’s life coach training program – The Art of Questioning – and how much impact the right question makes at the right time! And you enjoyed this one, you won’t want to miss the podcast where they discuss Improv and Transformational Coaching.
If you’re like many people you’re interested in coaching because you are the person your friends, family, and colleagues come to for help with their problems. It’s easy for you to dispense advice that is often very insightful and you feel great about helping people in this manner.
But here’s the deal, coaching isn’t about solving problems for your clients; it’s about getting your clients to solve their own problems. That’s a struggle for many new coaches because they’re coming from a model that has worked in the past with people they know well.
In order for our clients to really take a look at their challenges and roadblocks and be able to create their own map for their lives, we need to ask questions that will get them thinking and reflecting in a new way.
Benefits of coaching with questions
When we ask good questions of our clients it fuels their creative ability to see their challenges in a new light. They begin to think and create answers they believe in and they start assuming leadership in their own lives instead of looking to others for the answers.
Asking questions also clarifies your coaching relationship. By asking questions instead of providing answers it sends the message to the client: “You are the expert in your life, I am a peer and I want to help you navigate, but I am definitely not driving your experience.”
Sometimes the greatest gift you can give to your clients is to truly see and hear them; to validate that they are not broken and that they can create the roadmap for their lives. When you ask questions it automatically puts you in the position of needing to listen more, which builds trust and a bond between you as the coach and our client. When we talk about what truly matters to our clients it sends a message that we care about them and our belief that they can make huge transformations.
Ready to discover how you can ask more powerful coaching questions?
Listen in as Deanna and Noelle discuss how to stimulate curiosity, catalyze introspection, and help clients achieve new insights in response to the questions you ask.
You can also check out Deanna's blog post, How Does Asking Better Questions Lead to a Better Life?
Want to Become a Coach?
One of our values at Lumia is that we dare to be different. Our coaches like Deanna ignore the expectations society tries to impose on them, and seek to live from their own truth instead. If you are ready to step into your power as a coach, come check out Lumia Life Coach Training. Grounded in science, our ICF accredited program features authentic instructors, a robust curriculum, and business instruction to prepare you for liftoff.
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