Burger Bites: Inquiry
The Burger Bites Series Is Designed To Bring You A Taste Of Coaching.
There are aspects of coaching that touch on deep wisdom. Not the ordinary wisdom that is pragmatic. Coaching has plenty of that, with specific goals and detailed plans, next steps and ways for clients to make sure they do something. Once in a while, coaching encourages us to slow down and consider new perspectives.
An important coaching tool used for opening the door to new possibilities is the Inquiry. An inquiry is a question, but not one that’s easily answered through research. It has rhetorical tendencies and is only slightly clearer than a Zen koan.
Coaches suggest an inquiry when there is a question that cannot be easily answered. For example, if a client is talking about the importance of having a more peaceful life, the coach might ask the client to describe a peaceful life. The client might have a ready answer, or the client might say, “I don’t know exactly, but it would be a lot less stressful than my life now.”
The coach might ask for another part of the definition of a more peaceful life, and the client might give another example of what it includes, or what it excludes. Within a few minutes, the client might have articulated a pretty good, cohesive picture of how a peaceful life looks and feels.
But if the client is struggling to come up with a definition, the coach might recommend an inquiry. That is a broad and philosophical question designed to stimulate ideas and direct self-discovery. In this example, the coach might suggest the following inquiry: How will you know when you have a more peaceful life?
It might sound pretty simple, but for a person struggling to define important values or make important decisions, the format of an inquiry is powerful. There is focus on one end, in the topic, but there are wide-open possibilities on the other end.
A coach might suggest an inquiry without attempting much discussion first. If a topic seems vague to the client, the coach might suggest the inquiry in addition to the action steps the client chooses.
For example, a client may be very action focused, moving forward on steps chosen, but the coach might realize the client is always striving for the next thing and doesn’t seem to value what he or she has already accomplished. In this situation, a coach might recommend an inquiry like: Think about what you need and want right now in your life. How are the goals you have accomplished helping you have those things? This focuses the client on the present moment to see if the reasons for pursuing the long-term goals are being honored.
Clients might decide to journal in response to an inquiry, start a list and add to it, or e-mail one response per day to the coach. There is no obvious answer to an inquiry, and if the coach thinks he or she knows what the answer will be, it’s probably not a very good inquiry. The best inquiries come from a coach using attentive observation, affectionate curiosity, and intuition.
