Boy, what a powerful coaching question. “How is that working for you?”

A client comes in and complains about being depressed. The coach asks: “How is that working for you?” Zing! If that doesn’t get you to ask more crucial questions, such as: “Yeah, what is this doing concretely for me?” Or: “Does it help me?”

I have asked some clients the same thing when they feel stuck or are in a situation where they have a hard time seeing their solution. I ask them simply how does feeling stuck, sad, tired, whatever negative feeling work for them? The answer is not. It doesn’t work for them. Next, you let your client get to the next logical step: “What can I do?” which opens another myriad of questions on how to change the situation into a more positive one in order to grow and go forward.

Boy, I love coaching. It’s all about you.