When Your Client Is Stuck with Try These 35 Questions
A common feeling that arises within coaching clients is a feeling of being stuck. This can manifest in them struggling to formulate solutions or having difficulty making forward progress on goals. Here are 35 questions that will help facilitate the breakthroughs your clients need to move forward on their journey to goal attainment:
Understanding how the emotion arose
1. What is your definition of being “stuck?”
2. Why do you believe you are stuck?
3. What is standing between you and your goals?
4. Are you stuck because you lack certain skills or knowledge or because you know what to do but haven’t been applying what you know?
Struggling to formulate answers
5. If you knew that nothing you said would be considered wrong, what answer would you give?
6. If you were pretending to know, what would the answer be?
7. Have you run out of answers, or have you run out of easy answers?
8. What research can you do to find the answer to this problem?
9. What advice would you give your best friend if they were in this situation?
10. Five years from now looking back on this moment, what would the best decision be?
11. Is it possible for you to figure out an answer by our next session?
Identifying hope
12.Who do you know personally who has overcome the challenge that you are currently having?
13. Who have you heard of who has overcome the challenge that you are currently having?
14. What resources do you already have that can help you make forward progress?
15. Have you ever overcome this obstacle in the past? How did you do it then?
16. Have you ever solved a similar problem to this? What takeaways from that can you apply to this situation?
17. What, if anything, gives you hope that you can overcome this challenge?
Clarifying goals
18. Are you pursuing a goal that you authentically want, or is it what others expect of you?
19. Are you crystal clear on what you want?
20. What would you pursue if you knew you couldn’t fail?
Nudging them out of their comfort zone
21. If you were more willing to step out of your comfort zone, what opportunities would arise for you?
22. Are there any decisions that you have been avoiding making?
23. Would taking a risk help you get unstuck?
24. Is your desire to get unstuck greater than your fear of coming out of your comfort zone? If not, what could be done to get your desire to increase to that point?
25. What behaviors, if any, are undermining your progress?
Untapped Opportunities
26.What is a solution that you have heard of but have yet to try for yourself?
27. What skills do you have that you aren’t currently utilizing?
28. How can you redefine this situation in a way that emphasizes your personal power?
29. What is something that you are passionate about? How can you use that passion to help you achieve your goals?
Action-oriented Questions
30. What would you do in this situation if you knew that no one would judge you?
31. What is your gut telling you to do?
32. What is the simplest step that you can take in the right direction?
33. What action that takes one hour or less to complete could move you in the direction of achieving your goals?
34. What action would you take if you valued yourself more?
35. What action would you take if you trusted yourself more?
Marissa Russell (USA)
Marissa Russell is CEO of The High Achieving Woman, where she coaches typically high-achieving women who have fallen off track back to greatness.
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Amazing article! Thank you
Great question bag! Thank you.
Great range of questions. I really appreciate the different angles. Thanks and great work.