Seven Days Of Self Discovery
Inquiry questions and the homework assignment you didn't expect.
If you enjoy this week’s issue please hit the ❤️ button at the top of this email so that more leaders can find it.
While working individually with leaders, coaches often assign inquiry questions as homework to provide the opportunity for ongoing reflection and self exploration.
Coaching encompasses much more than the time spent with your coach; in fact the majority of the work happens outside your coaching sessions.
The question or prompt that you and your coach decide to use will be designed to prompt contemplation for the following hours, days or weeks.
Often it might be a simple question or statement.
And it can be directly connected to your current focus or completely unrelated.
The power of unrelated questions lies in their potential to stimulate unexpected and often quite profound insights, as if almost by stealth.
For the coming week, here is your assignment:
Select seven questions from the list below and contemplate a new one each day for the next seven days.
Keep the chosen question in your awareness and pay attention to the thoughts it provokes.
You might choose to:
Write it down and place it above your laptop screen to consider during breaks
Mull it over during a run or walk
Attach a note to your kettle, pondering it while making tea or coffee
Doodle or draw your reflections in a notepad
Use the question as a screensaver for the day
Make it a morning journal prompt
Discuss it as a conversation starter with a friend or colleague
It is important to remember that there are no right or wrong answers, and in fact, there’s no requirement for a definite answer.
The objective is to spark curiosity and explore beneath the surface, discovering insights along the way.
Here are your ten inquiry questions (in no particular order):
Who did I need to be to reach today?
What am I tolerating?
Where am I drifting?
How do I operate?
What am I yearning for?
In what ways am I too hard on myself?
What does leadership mean to me?
Who am I becoming?
What defines a rich life?
“I am successful when I believe that…”
For more: You can read more about how to use this technique with those you lead in the Harvard Business Review piece The Kind of Homework That Helps Coaching Stick, as well as a set of goal orientated reflection questions such as:
What would you like to learn during the next quarter?
What projects would you most like to work on? How would working on them serve your goals?
Improvement in what skill would have the greatest impact on your career development?
If you’ve enjoyed this week’s issue please hit the ❤️ button at the top of this email so that more leaders can find it.
Meantime if you haven’t already, you can subscribe to receive the next issue straight to your inbox.
