Coaching Skills for Virtual Teams: Part 3 – Questions

Questions form the backbone to any great coaching conversation. What is the state of questions being asked in your team?

While asking informational questions can be of great value, in the virtual team context, we may be in multiple conversations where we are using questions to:

• Help people clarify what they know themselves
• Create shared experiences and new shared knowledge
• Support people in coming up with a solution for their context

When we operate in the virtual and remote context it usually means that we aren’t having to advise, but rather coach. This can necessitate a different set of questions or a different way to ask questions rather than a Yes/No approach.

In creating more powerful questions for the virtual space we want to focus on a few things:

1. Make sure our questions are clear- Shorter is usually better. Are you asking one question at a time or more than one?
2. Consider when it’s more appropriate to ask an open-ended question rather than a question that will lead to a yes/no
3. Ensure that we are using language and terms that are more resonant to the person we are speaking with. The diversity on virtual teams can span language, technical skills, professional background, and geography to name a few. What is going to be understood best?

In coaching we usually encourage questions to be:

• Short and concise
• One at a time
• Starting with WHAT, rather than WHY (which may put people on the defense if trust levels are not high)
• Noting when HOW questions may put people into problem solving or how to, early
• Focused on both expanding awareness around issues AND supporting action

Take a look at this short video I created on 20 powerful coaching questions. You may find it useful to incorporate into your own work as well.
 
Best,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019),  Coaching Business Builder (2018), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). Pick up a copy of any of her books at Amazon
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