TED is a simple mnemonic to help you remember some great question starters in coaching conversations. TED stands for: “Tell”, “Explain” and “Describe”. Summary by The World of Work Project
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 ak 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 suppor a collaborative atmosphere where coachees feel supported and understood.
In short – using these question starters can lead to better coaching coversations.
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.
You might enjoy this podcast on coaching:
The World of Work Project View
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 explansive questions that will help your coachee think through and boraden their understanding of what is being discussed.
Overall we think TED is a helpful too.
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.
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Sources and Feedback
We have no sources for this, it’s just something we’ve picked up in our client work and discussions with other coaches. If you know of a source to cite, please let us know and we will.
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