-->

6 Questions to Help Empower Emerging Leaders

Do you want to empower the people around you to be all that God meant for them to be?  If you are responsible for the care and development of leaders – staff or volunteers, use these six questions as a basic agenda for any one-on-one coaching conversation and you will see amazing growth in their leadership.

1) “How are you?”

Remember at the heart of effecting coaching is a relational investment.  We should begin every coaching conversation by checking in to see how the person we are coaching is really doing.

2) “What are you celebrating?”

Moving from “How are you?” to “What are you celebrating?” keeps the tone of your relationship life-giving.  It’s tempting to quickly focus on what’s not working or what is broken.  This question keeps the conversation focused on where the emerging leader is feeling successful.

3) “What challenges are you facing?”

The previous questions are very relational, but if it helps any, remember that when it comes to coaching, the relationship really is the task.  This question gives your leader an opportunity to talk openly about the things that aren’t going very well in his group or team.

4) “How will you go about those challenges?”

Once a leader has disclosed some areas where he or she may be experiencing some challenges with his life or group, it is tempting to quickly move into “fix-it” mode and try to solve the problem for him.  The best way you can serve a leader is to help him tap into the wisdom and insight God has already given him to deal with whatever situation they are facing.  It is your job, as the coach, to draw those answers or solutions out of the leader.

5) “How can I help you?”

This is an important question, but if you never get to this question because the leader has already come up with an action plan as you walked through the previous questions, considers yourself an extremely effective coach.  One of the ways you can best serve a leader is to help them through a tough situation, so if your help is needed be willing to give yourself as an investment in the leader.

6) “How can I pray for you?”

The best way to wrap up a coaching conversation is to ask the leader how you can be praying for him.  After the leader has had a chance to express some areas where he is in need of prayer, take a few moments to pray for the leader and reassure him that you will be praying for him regularly.

*This article was adapted from its original format as seen on http://www.daveferguson.typepad.com/ which was an excerpt from the book, Exponential.