The Power of Closing Questions in Coaching: Making It Stick

Balancing ways of being/doing and facilitative/directive stances to determine the perfect question

A few months ago, I had a pivotal conversation with a school leader. We had spent the better part of an hour identifying the next steps for school-wide initiatives, but it became clear that the real work wasn’t about strategy. It was about surfacing deeper beliefs about leadership.

As we wrapped up the conversation, I knew that the questions I asked in t…