TED Coaching Questions – Tell, Explain, Describe

TED Coaching Questions

In the world of coaching, TED questions stand for questions that start with the phrases: “Tell me, Explain to me, Describe to me”.

Starting questions with these phrases ensures that you, as a coach, really ask open questions that can help your coachee develop a deeper understanding of what’s being discussed, have more space for self-reflection and awareness development, and explore their thoughts and feelings more expansively.

For instance, asking “Tell me about a time when you felt most successful in your role” encourages clients to reflect on positive experiences and recognize their strengths. Similarly, “Explain to me what success looks like for you” helps clients articulate their goals and aspirations more clearly, while “Describe to me the challenges you’re facing” allows them to identify and analyze obstacles without the constraints of yes/no answers.

Asking TED questions not only helps to create open conversations, it give you, as a coach, space to provide active listening and empathy. These questions can be particularly helpful when in the expansive / exploratory / broadening phase of a coaching conversation as they can create a focus on exploring possibilities, which can also support a collaborative atmosphere where coachees feel supported and understood.

In short – using these question starters can lead to better coaching conversations.

Learning More

A great starting point is to learn more about coaching itself.

In other posts we have written briefly about the ABCDE, ACHIEVE, CLEAR, GROW and POSITIVE coaching models. In addition, we’ve written about coaching wheels that can be helpful in personal and executive coaching.

Being a coach for the first time is a bit of a strange thing. When you start, it can be difficult to both listen fully to the person you are speaking to, and to think of meaningful and helpful questions at the same time. It’s often useful to have a few little tools to help you do this, and TED is a pretty nice little tool.

Clearly, when you use questions that start this way, you’re giving yourself the best chance of asking open and expansive questions that will help your coachee think through and broaden their understanding of what is being discussed.

Overall, we think TED is a helpful tool.

That said, we also think that practice is a great thing when it comes to coaching, as is practicing your mindset and developing yourself as a person and a coach.