Adapted from an article contributed by Kees van Langen, internationally recognized expert on leadership coaching.

Coaching can help you become a more effective leader in the workplace.  Tim Galway, writer of The Inner Game of Tennis, defined coaching as “unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance.”

Based on valuing people and believing in their potential, coaching is about guiding your staff to discover for themselves.  Productive questions help them think through a situation and draw on their experience and insight.  Coaching uses open-ended, how-what-when-or-who questions to help them come to the best conclusions about what to do.

For example: “Let me tell you how to clean this room on time” forces information without involving the person.  “Why did you do it that way?” or “Why were you late?” puts the person on the defensive.  “How could you have adjusted your approach to clean the room more efficiently?” engages the person in thinking through a solution, values her knowledge and intelligence, and greatly increases the probability that the solution will be used in the future.

Letting people think through–and even struggle with–these questions is important, because in doing so they own and have commitment to their solutions.

The next time you encounter a situation where you want to develop someone’s natural and innate abilities, consider what you can ask to help them think through what’s best–and then watch them step up to greater performance.