Purpose
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to distinguish open from closed questions, and construct powerful open questions that avoid leading the client toward a specific answer.
Lesson Explanation
A closed question can be answered with a single word, often “yes” or “no”: “Are you happy with your job?” A open question requires genuine reflection and a fuller answer: “What about your job feels unsatisfying right now?”
Powerful coaching questions are almost always open, typically starting with what or how rather than why — “why” questions can unintentionally sound accusatory or trigger defensiveness (“Why haven’t you started yet?”), while “what” and “how” questions invite reflection without that same defensive tone (“What has made it hard to start?”).
A genuinely important, separate concept: a leading question is a question that already contains the coach’s own assumed answer, even if phrased as “open” — for example, “Don’t you think you should just talk to your boss?” is technically a question, but it supplies the coach’s opinion rather than genuinely opening space for the client’s own thinking.
A powerful, genuinely open, non-leading question does three things at once: it’s open-ended, it avoids “why,” and it doesn’t smuggle in the coach’s own assumed answer.
Practice Questions
1. Rewrite the leading question “Don’t you think you should just quit?” into a genuinely open, non-leading question.
View Answer
Something like: “What are you considering doing about this situation?”
2. A coach asks, “Why didn’t you follow through on your commitment?” What problem does this lesson identify with “why” questions like this?
View Answer
They can sound accusatory, putting the client on the defensive rather than opening genuine reflection.
3. Rewrite “Why haven’t you started yet?” to avoid sounding accusatory.
View Answer
Something like: “What has made it difficult to start?” or “What’s been getting in the way of starting?”
4. A coach asks, “Do you think a career change might actually be a bad idea?” Is this a leading question, and why might it be a problem in coaching even though it’s phrased as a question?
View Answer
Yes, it is leading – it steers the client toward a particular answer, undermining the client’s own independent thinking, which coaching is meant to support.
5. Is “What are your options here?” an open or closed question?
View Answer
Open – it invites an expansive answer rather than a yes/no response.
6. Is “Are you happy with your job?” an open or closed question?
View Answer
Closed – it invites a yes/no answer.
7. Rewrite “Are you happy with your job?” as a genuinely open question.
View Answer
Something like: “How do you feel about your job right now?” or “What’s your relationship with your job like these days?”
8. Which two words do powerful coaching questions typically start with, according to this lesson?
View Answer
“What” and “how.”
9. A coach asks, “What do you think is holding you back?” Name the three things a powerful, non-leading question does at once, according to this lesson.
View Answer
It stays open, avoids suggesting an answer, and invites genuine reflection.
10. True or False: any question starting with “what” is automatically non-leading.
View Answer
False – a “what” question can still be leading, e.g., “What makes you think that’s a bad idea?”
11. A client seems defensive after being asked “Why do you keep avoiding this conversation?” What alternative phrasing, consistent with this lesson, might reduce that defensiveness?
View Answer
Something like: “What makes this conversation difficult to have?”
12. A coach asks, “Have you thought about maybe talking to your manager?” Is this a leading question, a closed question, both, or neither?
View Answer
Both – it’s closed (invites yes/no) and leading (suggests a specific action).