Mapping the Iceberg

Here’s a framework for questions you can use in both coaching and facilitation. 

Having a framework for the kinds of questions you might ask can aid in following a progressive, helpful line of inquiry. Your questions can build on each other, helping the coachee or meeting participants come to their own conclusions. The goal of both coaching and facilitation is to help clients surface the ideas and insights within themselves. Most of the best insights and ideas are often hidden below the surface, like an iceberg below the surface of the ocean. As a coach or facilitator, your job is to help your clients map that iceberg.

Start at the top of the iceberg with an open, expansive question that your client can take in any direction. Some top-of-iceberg questions are:

• What’s happening?

• What’s on your mind?

• What’s going on?

• Or simply, what’s up?

Then, ask questions that move down the iceberg, digging deeper and investigating further.

• What’s behind that?

• What may have caused that?

• What could be going on there?

• Can you say more about that? 

• What impact is that having?

• Why is that?

• What else?

Then, there are questions that move up the iceberg, where your clients can adopt a position of reflection and observation. These are “balcony” questions that encourage meta-thinking; that is, encouraging them to think about their thinking.

• What’s coming up for you right now?

• How does this affect you?

• What’s your reaction to that?

• What’s your opinion about that?

• What do you think about that?

• What’s important to you about this?

• What does this make you think about?

• How would you describe what’s going on?

• What are you noticing about yourself and your reaction to that?

• What story are you telling yourself about that?

• What do you like/dislike about that?

Then, there are questions that move across the iceberg to reframe or advance the thinking on an issue.

• How else could you look at that?

• What do you think the other person’s perspective might be?

• What do you appreciate about that?

• What’s another way of thinking about this?

• What’s another perspective you could take on this?

• How might you look at this differently?

What’s missing from this list are questions for coming to closure, making decisions, or committing to actions. These are questions like “What could you do about that” and “What will your next step be?” There is certainly a place for action-oriented questions in both facilitation and coaching, but exploring an issue can be just as valuable as coming up with solutions because of the insights it creates. The goal of coaching and facilitation can simply be a new understanding.

Sometimes, in asking questions, you hit rock bottom, where the client is either unable or unwilling to continue exploring. You have a few choices if you feel like you’re hitting bottom. You can:

• Change directions on the iceberg. If you’ve been moving down, move up. If you’ve been moving up, move across. 

• Ask, “Is there anything more you want to say about this?”

• Transition on to the next thing.

• Go to the top of another iceberg: “What else is going on for you?” “What else is on your mind?”

• Close.