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