While coaching clients often need reality checks, it’s natural for anyone to feel embarrassed and less open to hearing feedback if constructive criticism is delivered too harshly or bluntly. That’s one of many reasons why it’s important for coaches to become experts in diplomacy.
There are several ways to give someone a reality check without explicitly stating that this is what you’re doing. Below, 15 professionals from Forbes Coaches Council talk about the kinds of questions they ask their clients to help them see things from a different perspective—one that’s more objective in line with reality—and find more clarity in situations that challenge them.
11. ‘How Do You Want To Be Perceived?’
Asking how they want to be perceived by others invites the leader to think about how they are showing up to others and what they want their leadership legacy to be. It also gets them to align what they are doing currently and what they need to shift. – Kristy Busija, Next Conversation Coaching, LLC