10 Powerful Career Coaching Questions to Level-Up and Grow Your Skills
Career coaching can be a helpful tool for leaders who want to further develop their skills and grow in their careers. A good career advisor will ask powerful questions that challenge assumptions, help clarify goals, and open up new areas of growth.
Each of these is worth thinking about on your own, journaling on, discussing with a career coach or advisor, and using the answers to guide your career planning and inform your professional development. There are no right answers and each of these answers should be very specific and unique to you and that is the point.
Here are 10 powerful career coaching questions that can help you level-up and grow your skills:
What would you do if you couldn’t fail?
This question helps leaders to think outside of the box and consider what they’re truly passionate about. It’s easy to get bogged down in day-to-day tasks and lose sight of our bigger goals, but this question can help us get back on track.
What do you value?
Your values are the driving force behind everything you do, so it’s important that they align with your long-term goals. If they don’t, it will be difficult (if not impossible) to achieve lasting success. This is a difficult question for many people because it requires introspection and self-awareness. But it’s worth considering because it can help set you on the right path professionally.
What are your blind spots?
We all have areas where we could stand to improve, and a good coach will help us identify those blind spots. This question forces us to take a hard look at ourselves and our businesses in order to find areas of improvement. Not sure? Ask some of your professional contacts, your clients, peers, boss, and reports. It is worth it. Most people go through life avoiding these blind spots when, in most cases, knowing these makes them easy to solve and avoid.
What motivates you?
Our motivators are a guiding force in our lives and can influence everything from the way we make decisions to the way we interact with others. Clarifying this can help us make better decisions and stay true to ourselves. This one is worth reflecting on, honestly, and sharing with your significant other or a trusted advisor.
How do you want to be remembered?
This question makes us think about our legacy and what we want our lasting impression to be. For some people, this may be leaving a certain company or organization in better shape than they found it. For others, it may be making a positive impact on the lives of others. Whatever the case may be, this question can help us focus on what’s truly important to us.
What is your definition of success?
Success means different things to different people, so it’s important to clarify what success looks like for you. This question can help you set goals that are aligned with your definition of success, which will increase the likelihood of achieving them.
What are your long-term professional goals?
This question forces you to think beyond your day-to-day responsibilities and consider where you see yourself in 5, 10, or even 20 years. It’s important to have a clear sense of your long-term goals because they’ll inform the decisions you make today and help you stay motivated when things get tough.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced in your career?
This question is designed to help coaches understand how you’ve dealt with adversity in the past and identify patterns in your behavior. It also allows coaches to see what challenges you’re currently facing and how they can best support you through them.
Who are some of the people who have been most influential in your career?
This question is twofold; first, it allows coaches to better understand your network and second, it gives them insight into the people who have had the biggest impact on your professional development. Understanding who these people are can help coaches provide more targeted advice and support. You can use it the same way – while I recommend working with a career coach – you can use this information to help you reflect on your own growth so far and help you look forward, keeping in mind the support you will need to get there.
What are some of your biggest accomplishments?
This question is meant to help coaches understand what skills and qualities you already possess that will help you achieve your long-term goals. It also allows them to identify any areas where you may need more development in order to reach those goals. Answering this question honestly requires introspection, reflection, and a willingness to be vulnerable.
Career coaching can be a helpful tool for leaders who want to further develop their skills and grow in their careers. A good coach will ask powerful questions that challenge assumptions, help clarify goals, and open up new areas of growth. By asking yourself these 10 powerful career coaching questions, you can level-up and grow your skills so that you can reach your full potential as a leader.