Q Basics Open-Ended questions for Coaching Mastery
Powerful open-ended questions are the hallmark of professional coaching. The QBasics deck offers 54 basic open-ended questions to help coaches and managers master this fundamental skill. Although designed as a training tool it's also great for self-coaching! The questions are divided into three “suits” or categories with 18 questions in each category.

Simple & Curious
Expanding Awareness
Taking Action

The questions have been compiled through research of available coaching literature, personal experience and interviews with coaches working in both corporate and coach training settings.

For self-coaching: begin with a question or two from Simple and Curious, then explore more through the questions in the Expanding Awareness suit. When you are ready, use the Taking Action questions to clarity next steps.

Sample Questions (Try them on for yourself)

Simple and Curious
What do you want that you do not have now?

Expanding Awareness
What strengths can you leverage?

Taking Action
What will increase your chance of success?

12 page User Guide
The User Guide addresses the art of open-ended questions, describes the kinds of questions in the deck and offers practical suggestions for using the cards to build mastery.

Common challenges of new coaches and managers who coach:

Tendency towards long, ineffective and complex questions.

Not fully understanding the difference between open-ended questions, yes/no questions, leading questions and why questions.

Difficulty getting the coachee to identify specific steps and make a commitment to action.

The Benefit of the Q? Basics deck...

Facilitates skill development post-training or in lieu of training.

Effective coaching conversations are possible immediately – The Q? Basics questions are designed to elicit values, vision, passion, action, resourcefulness, choices and perceived obstacles.

Questions are easy to adapt to specific situations and provide a model as a coach/manager develops his/her own questions and style.

The questions have been carefully researched and represent the best of the basics.

Q? Basics offers a method of introducing material in a fun, effective way within corporate training environments and can be used by internal or external trainers.

Modules can be designed around the Q? Basics suits providing an effective structure to introduce a mix of coaching skills.

The beauty is in the simplicity

My story

When I was in training to become a coach I had a great mentor. She insisted that I generate and memorize some basic, simple questions. She repeatedly pointed to questions that were short, simple and curious. The results were always that it kept the focus on the client and their answers.

These simple open-ended questions empowered my clients. I came to trust the questions and trust my client's ability to discover the answers. The beauty is in the simplicity. The end result is a successful client, a successful coach and greater ease in the process.

What others are saying about Q? Basics

"I found using the Q?Basics powerful and effective in teaching coaching skills to seasoned leaders in my Leadership Enhancement Retreats. The participants stated that they found Q?Basics added great value and expedited their learning of coaching skills. They wanted Q?Basics sets for themselves."

Diana Gabriel, PCC
Professional Certified Coach

"Marcy, I love your open-ended question cards. Your three main categories (color-coded for ease of recognition) of Simple and Curious; Expanding Awareness; and Taking Action relate very closely to the coaching model I teach. I’ll be recommending this attractive and useful deck of coaching question cards to coaches, as well as anyone who wants to refine their communication skills."

Barbra Sundquist
www.BarbraSundquist.com

"Q-basics is useful for the newer coach seeking to learn a solid set of coaching questions or for the more experienced coach or manager wanting to get back to basics. This deck has multiple uses as a training tool or as a way to keep your coaching stance when working with a client."

Paula Hemming MA, PCC
Former Director of Life Coaching Education
Adler Graduate School, Minneapolis MN

"I have given the cards to my apprentices in Singapore and they are thrilled with them. They are just learning to coach, so the questions have been very helpful to them."

Rebecca Bradley MCC,
President of Partnership Coaching Inc.
Marietta, Georgia

"I used Q? Basics in a University Leadership class of 25 Executive Directors. After completing the wheel of life assessment tool and choosing an area from the assessment they wanted to work with, participants were introduced to Q? Basics. They were each given three questions, one from each category, Simple and Curious, Expanding Awareness and Taking Action. They applied the questions in that order, to their chosen area. The feedback was profound and powerful and helped participants commit to action in a very short time. I found Q? Basics to be a great way to introduce new people to coaching by helping them become more comfortable and safe with the process. I highly recommend these cards to all coaches and trainers."

Rita Goldhammer, CPCC Former Program Manager, University of St Thomas,
Center for Non-profit Management, St. Paul, Minnesota