Best self-coaching question ever!
Posted on February 11, 2022 by Dr Larry Davies, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.
I'm amazed to see people learn to self-assess, and self-coach...the ones who learn quickly to rely on themselves use this one question over and over.
When you feel stuck, or when you feel like you are all over the place, it becomes hard to explore the pathways you can take to get unstuck, or to get focused in the direction you need to go. Your journey to a better self can stall easily.
In my coaching experience so far, I’ve found that almost all of my clients work best to move on with their journey by employing one simple question. The question helps them leap over several obstacles that their minds put in their way. This prevents them from making the plans they need to be making in order to reach their goals. The question seems so blindingly obvious, and the attempt to answer the question might seem simple at first, but with repetition it becomes more challenging, and in the end, a more fruitful way to explore their possibilities…and that question is:
‘… and what else… ?’
I know, this seems like a simple question, but it’s a profound thing to learn.
‘… and what else … ?’
The best self-coaching question ever!
What I have experienced is that most clients have only considered one or two ways to go to solve their problems. The will ultimately judge each idea almost immediately. They become frustrated, because those one or two ways never seem to be adequate solutions. They get the feeling that the brick walls that surround them are thick and impenetrable. They soon find out that by thinking slightly differently that the walls of doubt fall quickly.
I recommend that the approach to solving a problem be a little different … that the brainstorm is a good place to start, and it should be just that: a brainstorm. You generate ideas, then ask ‘… and what else … ?’ You generate more ideas and keep pushing to add one more possibility to the list without judgement or a decision being made. At that point, my next coaching question is ‘… and what else … ?’ Here’s the point where the easily disposable ideas are gone, and some deeper reflection comes in. This is where you tap into the great reservoir of your past experience, consider your myriad past successes, and bring them back out from some dark closet of forgotten memory where they reside.
In short, using this simple question helps both me and my client see a much greater horizon to move toward. Only after my client feels they have really wrung out their brains with possibilities … only then can we process all the possibilities, and that can take on a number of different ways …
The importance of ’ … and what else … ?’ though, is to generate the raw material of possibilities. It is there to train the mind to minimize obstacles constructed through quickly judging and dismissing ideas. A lot of raw materials are needed before the next step can be taken, and the best path forward on the journey is found.
If you try ‘… and what else … ?’ and you feel satisfied with what it generates, consider doing some sessions with me and we can take these, and other, next steps together.
With me or without me: I wish you well on your journey.
