Select concise, clear, open, purposeful, constructive, focused, and neutral questions with the highest ROQ – return on questions – the greatest impact in the shortest time. Purge the verbiage to make coaching a vagueness-free zone.

Coaches are masterful at selecting questions - curious, mind-opening, provocative questions. Questions that expand horizons, deepen awareness, and spawn insights. Coaches make every question count, avoiding vague or general questions like: ‘How are things since I last saw you?’ and instead asking ‘what unfolded with the actions you decided on?’

This dose explores a classic 2008 article by Michael Neeson entitled Using Socratic Questioning in Coaching. What’s the bottom line? Socrates teaches us to choose questions that are most impactful. We might say that he inspires coaches to deliver the biggest ROQ - return on questions – the greatest impact in the shortest time.