Markus Amanto

The Swedish Leadership Expert

COACHING QUESTIONS Page 1 of 6

Below is a list of A LOT of questions. Please do not get overwhelmed by the long list, it is meant as
inspiration. The list is divided into different categories of questions to make it easier to digest. Look through
it to get a better idea of what kind of questions a coach could ask.
Then find a few of them that are your favorites and that you can memorize to add to your repertoire of
questions that help people grow. Several of the questions are similar, so again pick your favorite. Don’t
bombard people with questions, give time for the question to sink in and the answer to find its way out of
their mouth.

Beginning of Session
• What would you like to have achieved by the end of this session?
• On what issues do you want to work today?

Self Insight
• What’s not so good with how you are right now? And where are you already awesome?
• What do you need most right now?
• What are you most proud of?
• What do you think you’re secretly afraid of, that’s getting in the way of ________ ?
• What are you ready to change? What are you not ready to change yet?
• What haven’t you admitted out loud yet?
• Where/when do you feel you are at your personal best?
• Where/when do you feel most triggered, reactive, not at your personal best?
• When you experience ________________ (an emotion) where do you experience that in your body?

Clarifying the Problem

• What’s missing in your life/work right now?
• What is your current biggest problem or challenge?
• What’s the problem in a nutshell? Now, what’s the problem in one sentence? And what’s the problem in
one word?
• How would you explain your problem to a six year old child?

Identifying Obstacles
• What might keep you from getting where you want to go?
• What obstacles are getting in the way of success?
• Where might you experience resistance?
• What’s standing in your way?

This resource is part of the online course “New Manager: The Basics and More of Being a Great Leader”
For more information visit: markusamanto.com © 2016-2020 Markus Amanto
 Markus Amanto
The Swedish Leadership Expert

COACHING QUESTIONS Page 2 of 6

• What obstacles do you expect to face? How do you plan to approach them?
• What roadblocks do you expect or require planning?
• What’s stopping you from taking that action?
• What needs to change in your thinking to take that action?
• What would have to change to make that happen?
• What is challenging about it?
• What is the hardest/most challenging part of that for you?
• Is there anything missing?

Values/Motivation Questions
• What is the most important thing in the world to you, and why?
• What’s important about that to you?
• What is so important to you that you would stand in front of a bus to defend it?
• How important is this to you really?
• What do you want? Why do you want that?
• What are your most fundamental motivations in life?
• What are your deepest hopes for your longer-term future?

Creating Motivation to Change

• What would be the impact on you (and others) if things don’t change?
• Is this really good enough for you?
• What will happen if you don’t take this step?

Looking at Self Sabotaging Behavior

• How does that serve you?
• What is the benefit of staying just as/where you are?
• What are you doing to not achieve your goal?

Learning from the Past

• What obstacles have you faced, what did you do, and what did you learn?
• How have you tackled this/a similar situation before?
• What has contributed to your success so far?
• What has worked for you already? How could you do more of that?

This resource is part of the online course “New Manager: The Basics and More of Being a Great Leader”
For more information visit: markusamanto.com © 2016-2020 Markus Amanto
 Markus Amanto
The Swedish Leadership Expert

COACHING QUESTIONS Page 3 of 6

• What are your biggest mistakes and what did you learn from them?
• What have you done to try to solve the problem?
• What have you done, tried, or considered?
• What is working well?
• If you started this project today, knowing what you know, what would you do differently?

The Other People

• What is the impact on you/your team/the business?
• How will you communicate your goals with key stakeholders?
• Who will be impacted, positively or negatively, by these potential changes?
• Who are the key people in your network of support?
• How can you appropriately explain your point of view to your boss?
• What would the CEO, board, or shareholders want to see happen?
• If this person was here right now, what would you say?
• Who needs to be included or in alignment to these goals?

Focus Changing Questions

• How could this setback actually be a blessing?
• What would you do if this apparently difficult problem was really an opportunity for you to start
considering very important changes in your life?
• If you were to list all the advantages of being in this difficult situation, what would they be?

Finding Resources/Solutions
• What would you do if you had unlimited resources?
• What resources do you have access to?
• If a friend were in your shoes, what advice would you give them?
• Imagine for a moment that your issue is resolved. How did you get there?
• What would you suggest I ask you to move this forward?
• Name someone successful that you admire. What would ________ do if they were in your position?
• What would your favorite hero (role-model, guru, etc.) do in this situation?
• What starts you to move forward? Say more…
• What were you pretending not to know, that, if you did know right now would cause that old thing to
resolve itself?

This resource is part of the online course “New Manager: The Basics and More of Being a Great Leader”
For more information visit: markusamanto.com © 2016-2020 Markus Amanto
 Markus Amanto
The Swedish Leadership Expert

COACHING QUESTIONS Page 4 of 6

• Who else could offer you feedback?
• Who else might be able to help?
• What do you think you need to do to get a better result (or closer to your goal)?
• What else could you do?
• What advice would you give to a friend about that?
• What could you do differently?
• Who do you know who has encountered a similar situation?
• Is there anything else you can do?
• What support do you need to get that done?
• What would you do if you had a magic wand?
• If you consulted the old wizard (good witch) in yourself, what would he (she) say?
• If this person were not a work colleague but your best personal friend, how would you tell her?
• If rather than in work, this was happening in a sports team, what could be a very effective solution for
you?
• What are the five main skills that people you know usually see in you?
• If you didn’t spend so much time banging your head on the wall in front of you, where is the door or
window that opens towards your future?
• If your office team was playing a theatrical or Broadway show, what is its title and theme? [Follow up their
answer with: ‘’What winning lessons can you take from that show, to apply in your issue?
• It feels as if you are stubbornly struggling uphill hardly making any progress. How can you change your
process to make it a smooth and very enjoyable downhill ride, like on a ski slope?
• If your anger or rage was actually excellent fuel to get you moving in this situation, what would be the
most effective way to direct its energy to achieve your goal?
• What can you accomplish that doesn’t depend on others?
• What conditions would have to be in place?
• Who are examples or leaders you respect because they demonstrate those leadership behaviors?
• What are your options?
• If you project yourself several years forward and imagine the problem is totally solved. Can you describe
it? [Follow up their answer with:] What have you done to reach that satisfactory outcome?

Exploring, Describing Questions

• Help me understand…
• Tell me more about that…

This resource is part of the online course “New Manager: The Basics and More of Being a Great Leader”
For more information visit: markusamanto.com © 2016-2020 Markus Amanto
 Markus Amanto
The Swedish Leadership Expert

COACHING QUESTIONS Page 5 of 6

• Let me make sure I understand what you are saying…
• I’m curious about…
• Could you describe further…
• What are you feeling/thinking right now?
• Can you tell me more?
• What’s the best/worst thing about that option?

Inspiring Action
• If you could change just one thing right now, what would it be?
• What are three actions can you take that would make sense this week?
• What’s the first/easiest step you could take?
• What’s the easy way forward here?
• What is one step you could take right now that would indicate you were moving forward?
• What do you think you need to do next?
• Which option do you feel ready to act on?
• When are you going to start?

Describing the Goal

• If your main obstacle didn’t exist, how would your life look?
• What does success look like?
• What will things look like after you’ve been successful?
• What would it look like if you were entirely successful?
• What would you see if you popped into a time machine and there it was (your success)?
• In six months, if things were going exactly the way you want, what would you see?
• What are your ideal outcomes?
• Where would you like to be in your career in 3-5 years?
• If you really dared to formulate your deepest hopes, what would you say?

Measure Progress
• How will you know when you have done it?
• How will you know you have been successful?
• How specifically will you know you’ve completed that action/goal?

This resource is part of the online course “New Manager: The Basics and More of Being a Great Leader”
For more information visit: markusamanto.com © 2016-2020 Markus Amanto
 Markus Amanto
The Swedish Leadership Expert

COACHING QUESTIONS Page 6 of 6

• How will we know we’ve moved the needle on this?
• How will we measure success?
• How will you celebrate that?

End of Session
• What was your biggest win of the session today?
• How do you prefer concluding this session?
• What do you plan to implement, back on your job, before our next coaching session?

Miscellaneous Questions
• What do you not want me to ask you? (Tip: ask this playfully)
• Why not? (in response to “I can’t/I won’t/I shouldn’t”)
• What would be your next goal after you achieve your current one?
• If this weren’t a problem, what would be your biggest problem?
• Are there any important questions that have not been asked?
• How will you prepare for that?
• How will you stay self-aware and mindful when things get busy?
• What would happen if you did that?

This resource is part of the online course “New Manager: The Basics and More of Being a Great Leader”
For more information visit: markusamanto.com © 2016-2020 Markus Amanto