When coaching, we often feel a tension between sticking to a fixed structure and following what a client says in the moment.
Paul developed an activity for our coach training workshops to help coaches notice promising next steps that emerge in conversation.
A simple way to improve coaching conversations is to let the client’s previous answer shape the next question.
Person A – Answers a question.
Person B – The coach – must then ask a follow-up question that uses at least one word or phrase from A’s answer.
For example:
A manager says, “The team keeps waiting for me to decide.”
The word that stands out to the coach is “waiting”, so they ask, “What is the waiting telling you?”
The manager continues, “I need to back their decisions”.
Now the conversation has somewhere useful to go.
When each question springs from the previous answer, the quality of the conversation improves. This activity helps free them, by shifting their stance from one of control (which is illusory) to one of influence (which is more realistic) and more relevant questions, more engaged responses and more useful outcomes.
Solutions Focus practice depends on listening for what is already present:
- signs of progress
- descriptions of preferred futures
- resources
- differences that make a difference
When there’s useful material in the first answer, the coach’s next question can reveal it.
We’re not abandoning the structure entirely, simply freeing it up. Returning to the agenda keeps control. Letting the answer shape the next question builds influence.
That is a useful distinction beyond coaching. For example, in presentations, audience questions and comments can shape a more engaging route through the material. In meetings, contributions can inform next steps rather than being noted, bypassed and lost. In facilitation, listen for what you can echo. These are clues, indicating where your attention will pay off.
Small shifts in attention and language can influence what happens next and create significant differences in outcomes.
If you’d like to develop more improvisational coaching, leadership and facilitation conversations in your organisation, explore our workshops, programmes and resources available or get in touch