Effective questions
Just because you ask questions does not mean you are coaching. Question and Answer technique (Q&A) is an important aspect of driving instruction because it involves the learner in the process and allows the instructor to check that learning is taking place. Coaching questions are very different from traditional Q&A and the article this month is going to explore these differences.
You’ll remember from previous articles that I have considered the importance of rapport in a client-centred relationship and how active listening is all about listening behind and between the words, looking at body language, and helping the speaker explore their thoughts and feelings. My last article was about my check test and illustrated how the use of questions can be combined with building rapport and active listening to ensure a truly client-centred approach. It is this combination of skills that enables the driving instructor to establish a balance between instruction and coaching – a balance that is critical in keeping the car safe. There are a number of different questioning techniques that can be employed to help strike this balance but before we look at these I would like to explain about coaching questions.
Coaching questions are effective questions that target the thoughts and feelings that motivate behaviour. Questions such as ‘What were you thinking as you approached that roundabout?’ or ‘How did you feel as you drove along that road?’ are excellent conversation openers to use parked up at the side of the road. It is important to ensure there is no negative tone attached to these questions so they cannot be used when you know your customer has just made a mess of whatever they were doing. The questions need to be asked in a way that is neutral and non-judgemental. You don’t know what answer the customer is going to give but you are curious and want to explore with them what they were thinking or how they were feeling so that they can understand how these thoughts and feelings link to their behaviour. Actually, the questions need to be even more open than I have suggested because by mentioning the roundabout or the road they have just driven along you are potentially restricting and guiding their response. ‘What have you been thinking about?’ or ‘Describe your thoughts to me’ or ‘How did that feel?’ or ‘What were you feeling?’ are examples of wide open questions. If the rapport is good the client will have no problem in telling you they were thinking about what they were going to be having for tea or how they are looking forward to going out at the weekend. These kinds of response open up a discussion about distractions and how distractions can interfere with the decisions we need to make when driving. This becomes a good example of how thoughts and feelings motivate behaviour.
Now let’s take a look at the different types of questioning techniques we can use to maintain a client-centred approach:
Just because you ask questions does not mean you are coaching. Question and Answer technique (Q&A) is an important aspect of driving instruction because it involves the learner in the process and allows the instructor to check that learning is taking place. Coaching questions are very different from traditional Q&A and the article this month is going to explore these differences.
You’ll remember from previous articles that I have considered the importance of rapport in a client-centred relationship and how active listening is all about listening behind and between the words, looking at body language, and helping the speaker explore their thoughts and feelings. My last article was about my check test and illustrated how the use of questions can be combined with building rapport and active listening to ensure a truly client-centred approach. It is this combination of skills that enables the driving instructor to establish a balance between instruction and coaching – a balance that is critical in keeping the car safe. There are a number of different questioning techniques that can be employed to help strike this balance but before we look at these I would like to explain about coaching questions.
Coaching questions are effective questions that target the thoughts and feelings that motivate behaviour. Questions such as ‘What were you thinking as you approached that roundabout?’ or ‘How did you feel as you drove along that road?’ are excellent conversation openers to use parked up at the side of the road. It is important to ensure there is no negative tone attached to these questions so they cannot be used when you know your customer has just made a mess of whatever they were doing. The questions need to be asked in a way that is neutral and non-judgemental. You don’t know what answer the customer is going to give but you are curious and want to explore with them what they were thinking or how they were feeling so that they can understand how these thoughts and feelings link to their behaviour. Actually, the questions need to be even more open than I have suggested because by mentioning the roundabout or the road they have just driven along you are potentially restricting and guiding their response. ‘What have you been thinking about?’ or ‘Describe your thoughts to me’ or ‘How did that feel?’ or ‘What were you feeling?’ are examples of wide open questions. If the rapport is good the client will have no problem in telling you they were thinking about what they were going to be having for tea or how they are looking forward to going out at the weekend. These kinds of response open up a discussion about distractions and how distractions can interfere with the decisions we need to make when driving. This becomes a good example of how thoughts and feelings motivate behaviour.
Now let’s take a look at the different types of questioning techniques we can use to maintain a client-centred approach:
- Goal questions
This type of question is used to help the client set the goal and also to check what support is required from you to facilitate them achieving this. These questions would often be asked at the start of a lesson but could also be asked in the middle of a lesson where one goal has already been achieved and another one is being set. Normally, they would be used at the side of the road because they are an ideal opportunity to ensure the customer is in control of their own learning process. Example questions might be:
What would you like to achieve today?
How do you learn best?
How do you want to do this?
What skills do you already have that will help you achieve this today?
What support do you need from me?
Where would you like to practise?
How much time do you want to spend practising?
Do you need me to do anything?
Would you like a demonstration?
How will you know when you have succeeded?
How will you measure your success?
- Closed questions
Closed questions are good for checking knowledge and facts. They have just one correct answer. For example, ‘What is the speed limit on this road?’ These questions can be asked on the move because they are not generally too distracting. They also work well at the side of the road if the customer is a little reticent in opening up - by asking a couple of closed questions you help establish rapport.
One of the benefits of the goal setting questions is that you will have established what level of support the customer requires during any practice. If the customer wishes to have a go on their own this doesn’t mean you would step in and ask them questions to check where they are looking and what they intend to do. You would allow them to drive in silence. However, if the customer is, for example, practising raising their awareness of hazards then you might have agreed to ask them closed questions that draw their attention to particular hazards as they drive on their chosen route.
- Safety critical questions
Sometimes it will be necessary to step in and say something to keep the car safe even though you have agreed that the customer is going to practise something on their own in silence. You would ideally explain this before the car starts moving but if you haven’t it is still crucial that you recognise the time to intervene with instruction. If you can do this in the form of a question, all well and good, however, it really doesn’t matter when there is a risk of danger. Whether you ask a question or not you will still be instructing in this situation and will have taken the responsibility back from the customer for the driving task.
Examples of the type of safety critical questions you might use are:
Do you need to brake for this car emerging?
Are you going to steer round this cyclist?
Will you be stopping at this pedestrian crossing?
All these questions have an instruction in them and the response expected is in the form of an action rather than anything verbal. It would also be appropriate in these situations to have the dual brake covered or to be ready to go for the steering wheel.
The good thing about asking a question in these types of situations rather than giving an instruction is that you are endeavouring to keep the responsibility sitting with the customer. They still have to make a decision to respond to your question. Afterwards, it is important to discuss the situation at the side of the road. Remember, though, that timing is critical and if you have no time to ask a question then don’t!
- Open questions
Open questions have more than one correct answer. A question that can be answered with Yes or No is an open question. It could also be answered with Maybe, Sometimes, That depends, for example, so there are any number of responses. Usually, the instructor does not know what answer the customer is going to give. These types of questions are asked to start a conversation where the customer is given the opportunity to explore their thoughts, values, opinions about something related to driving. The more open the question can be the better, however, sometimes, a question that just gets a yes or no response is good because it then helps move the conversation forwards.
Example questions might be:
What do you think about the speed limit on this road?
What are your views on alcohol and driving?
- Task specific questions
These questions are part of an exercise that has been agreed with the customer. They could be to do with reading the road ahead where you agree that you are going to ask questions about the signs and road markings. For example, What is the next warning sign? What is the speed limit on this road?
Another type of exercise is about distractions where you might say to the customer that you are deliberately going to ask them questions that are unrelated to driving and that you will discuss with them afterwards how easily(or not) they were able to maintain their focus on the driving task. For example:
Have you got a holiday booked this year?
What are you going to do this weekend?
How did you get on at college this week?
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