Among the “questioning” skills, the “perspective-changing questions” are a major part of the skill set. Consisting of a variety of variations, this skill will give you confidence as a professional coach, and your clients will be able to calmly accept their own assumptions and biases by asking these questions.
Know your point of view.
Clients usually see things from the position they are currently in. A shift in perspective can be achieved by inviting the client to move from there to another place.
Change the subject of perspective.
If you feel that the client is only seeing things from his or her own position, ask questions that invite the client to consider the perspective of the subject he or she is thinking about or from a third party’s point of view.
Turn the point of view to the facts.
We all have assumptions, more or less. Assumptions anchor the client’s perspective and constrain possibilities and options. The coach plays an important role in unraveling the client’s assumptions and guiding them toward awareness.
Change the time frame of your perspective.
Suppose you are in a state of “what you want to be in the future”. The goal is to encourage the client to move from the present time by asking questions to take a “perspective from the future” from which to reflect on the present, and questions to recall past experiences and take a “perspective from the past” from which to reflect on the present situation from that point in time.
The perspective is turned to the hypothetical.
Adults who are conscious of adapting to society, rather than infants who were filled with a sense of omnipotence and behaved without feeling constrained in any way, tend to be caught up in the real world and put the brakes on their own behavior. By turning our perspective to assumptions, we broaden our imagination.
Broaden your perspective.
As the saying goes, “People only see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear,” and even those who utter “I am not shortsighted” may themselves be making assumptions. In order to break free from this bias, the coach encourages the client’s awareness by asking “questions that turn the perspective to the emotion,” “questions that take a leap of faith,” “questions that bring the perspective back to the origin,” and “questions that take a holistic viewpoint.
コーチング情報局を運営する株式会社コーチビジネス研究所では、企業を対象としたコーチング研修、ビジネスパーソンを対象としたビジネスコーチング、個人の方を対象としたライフコーチングを提供しております。その他、コーチングを学びたい方のためのコーチングスクールの運営、経営者やビジネスリーダー向けにセミナーを開催しています。興味や関心がございましたら、お気軽にご相談・お問い合わせください。
This article was written in Japanese and converted into English using a translation tool. We hope you will forgive us for any inadequacies.
Coach Business Laboratory, Inc., which operates the Coaching Information Bureau, provides coaching training for companies, business coaching for business people, and life coaching for individuals. In addition, we operate a coaching school for those who want to learn coaching and hold seminars for executives and business leaders. If you are interested or have any questions, please feel free to contact us for further information and consultation.
