Welche Frage, wann und warum? – Eine qualitativ-linguistische Programmatik zur Erforschung von Frage-Sequenzen als zentrale Veränderungspraktik im Coaching

Abstract

Questions symbolize an important, if not the most important intervention tool in coaching according to the coaching literature and training manuals. Despite such claimed omnipresence and omnirelevance in coaching theory, there are hardly any empirical findings to back up such claims. Neither in quantitatively operating psychological effectiveness-research nor in qualitatively operating linguistic or psychological process-research on coaching questions have received much empirical attention. It is vital to close this research gap via a cooperation between coaching practice and relevant disciplines and methods. In a first preliminary step, this programmatic paper establishes "questions in coaching" as a proper research object in conversation analysis. Questions are discussed in their formal and functional dimensions as well as an institution-specific social practice. Conversation-analytic findings from surrounding professional formats such as psychotherapy or doctor-patient interaction serve as points of orientation. The linguistic and CA discussion focusses on the impact of question-sequences on change and thus on the efficiency of coaching. The article ends with a critical evaluation of a conversation analytic approach to question sequences in coaching and sketches out the added value (for the coaching practice) of an interprofessional and interdisciplinary research that draws on coaching theory as well as linguistic and psychological methods and theories.

It’s A Pirate Tale – A Supplementary Approach To Coaching In Business And Management

“…Questions are thus elementary elements for coaching. On the one hand, they always presuppose new experiences, but they are also designed to enable new experiences because they enable a change of viewpoints and perspectives of perception (Graf & Spranz-Fogasy, 2018). If the questions were to change purposefully with reference to pirates, new perspectives could be made possible and the coachee could benefit.…”

How to investigate the local and global change potential of questioning sequences in executive coaching? A call for interdisciplinary research

“…In particular, it has never been investigated how questions in their sequential organization contribute to the local and global eff ectiveness of coaching. As stated in a recent overview article by Graf and Spranz-Fogasy (2018a), neither coaching outcome nor process research address vital issues such as the co-and con-textual embedding of questions in the ongoing coaching process or interaction. A similar critique is found in McGee (1999), McGee and colleagues (2005) and James and colleagues, who argue that "(w)hile we feel it is helpful to examine question types, it is relevant to note that examining single questions in isolation is overly simplistic due to their impact being a feature of how they are combined and sequenced" (2010:83).…”

“…Against the background of our linguistic understanding of coaching as a co-constructed professional helping conversation, analyzing discursive practices such as questions requires considering them in the co-text of their preceding and following turns. Th e empirical focus then shift s from 'questions' to 'question-answer-third position reaction sequence' -in other words, to questions in their sequential set-up (Schegloff 2007, Stivers 2013, Graf & Spranz-Fogasy 2018a. Sequentiality represents a core tenet of Conversation Analysis (Schegloff 2007, Sidnell & Stivers (eds.…”

“…Our research interest was sparked by the discrepancy between the attested importance of questions in coaching due to their change potential and the unsatisfying research situation (Graf & Spranz-Fogasy 2018a). First empirical results from a purely quantitative perspective show that questions represent a central steering element in coaching (Deplazes 2016), and isolated studies with non-authentic coaching data evince diff erences between solutionoriented and problem-oriented questions (various publications by Grant and colleagues).…”

“Now once again this idea of yours (…) how does it sound when I say that?” – Changing the perspective: how coach’s questioning practices elicit self-reflecting processes in clients

“…Not only are questions regarded as a fundamental instrument for controlling and structuring the conversation ( Deplazes, 2016 ; Jautz et al, 2023 ), they also enable coaches to evoke self-reflection processes in clients and thus drive the coaching-immanent change project ( Graf and Spranz-Fogasy, 2018b ; Spranz-Fogasy et al, 2019 ). Schreyögg (2012) therefore names asking questions as the most important task of a coach, while Tracy and Robles (2009 , p. 131) also describe questioning as “one of, if not the, central communicative practice of institutional encounters.” Coaches have a wide repertoire of questioning actions to stimulate self-reflection in clients and thus successfully advance the coaching change project ( Bercelli et al, 2008 ; Muntigl and Zabala, 2008 ; Graf and Spranz-Fogasy, 2018a ; Spranz-Fogasy et al, 2019 ). This transformational power of questioning practices in coaching has been asserted in the practice literature for many years, but there is little empirical research on the change potential of reflection-stimulating techniques used by coaches ( Peräkylä, 2019 ; Graf et al, 2023b ; Fleischhacker and Graf, 2024 ).…”