Oct. 6, 2025

Questions Over Answers: Empowering Clients Through Curiosity

Send us a text Curiosity beats quick fixes—and the difference shows up in your client’s results. We dig into the real reason new coaches rush to solutions, the hidden costs of assumption-led sessions, and the simple, reliable practices that keep coaching client-centered and effective. Instead of prescribing steps, we show how to use targeted, clean questions to reveal what matters, expand options, and build genuine ownership. We break down clean thinking, a practical method to catch your own...

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Send us a text

Curiosity beats quick fixes—and the difference shows up in your client’s results. We dig into the real reason new coaches rush to solutions, the hidden costs of assumption-led sessions, and the simple, reliable practices that keep coaching client-centered and effective. Instead of prescribing steps, we show how to use targeted, clean questions to reveal what matters, expand options, and build genuine ownership.

We break down clean thinking, a practical method to catch your own biases in the moment and steer back to the client’s world. You’ll hear why giving answers often backfires—creating dependency and misfit plans—and how a single reframe, like “How could you excel at both?” shifts a client from either-or to both-and. We share the follow-up that multiplies momentum—“How could one make you better at the other?”—and talk through ways to keep curiosity warm, precise, and ethical without drifting into vague conversation. Expect concrete examples, language you can use today, and a structure for sessions that moves from discovery to expansion to selection and small, testable actions.

If you’re building coaching skills, leading teams, or guiding clients through change, this conversation gives you questions that open doors, not directions that close them. Listen for the moments where curiosity created a breakthrough, learn how to avoid questions that send clients down dead ends, and get a preview of the next lesson on working with client perspectives without planting limiting beliefs. If this helped sharpen your practice, follow the show, share it with a coach who’s stuck in advice mode, and leave a review so more people find these tools.

Sign up and join us live: Monday, October 6 · 7:00 AM Pacific / 10:00 AM Eastern for an honest, behind-the-scenes look at the lessons we’ve learned by watching real coaches grow:

https://www.modernleadership.us/mastery

(And yes, as long as you sign up we'll send the replay in case you can't make it live!)



Chapters

00:00 - The Assumption Trap

00:10 - Curiosity Keeps It Client-Centered

00:38 - Why Answers Can Backfire

01:04 - Quote: Curiosity Creates Breakthroughs

01:04 - Spotting Early Assumptions

01:14 - Staying Curious In The Moment

01:28 - Clean Thinking Method

01:45 - A Question That Changes Everything

02:32 - Practice Better Questions

02:46 - Recap, Links, And Next Lesson

Transcript
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00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.799
When coaches start their first practice calls, we see them jump right into solutions.

00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:06.000
Why does that happen?

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They're really trying to help.

00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:10.640
Unfortunately, they assume too much up front.

00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:17.039
And staying curious is what really helps keep the session focused on the client instead of the coach's assumptions.

00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:22.800
When we ask questions, we can actually help our clients stay in curiosity mode and lead their own transformations.

00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:30.079
When we're giving them all of the answers, number one is a lot of times those answers won't even work for them because those are our answers.

00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:38.079
But number two, now it kind of handcuffs them to waiting for you to give them direction and they can't actually empower themselves to go out and to take their own actions.

00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:44.560
I've also seen that sometimes if you assume too much, it actually shuts your client down because they don't feel connected to you.

00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:46.000
You're not getting curious.

00:00:46.159 --> 00:00:49.200
You're just giving them steps, actions, or things for them to do.

00:00:49.359 --> 00:00:54.560
Remember that asking questions open doors that your clients never even knew existed.

00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:56.240
So stay in curiosity mode.

00:00:56.320 --> 00:00:59.439
And you're going to be amazed just what doing that can do for your client.

00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:03.759
That's why today's quote is curiosity creates breakthroughs.

00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:07.280
What does it look like when a coach makes an assumption too soon?

00:01:07.519 --> 00:01:13.760
They start to guide the client in a direction thinking that's the best way for them to go, but they don't have all the information yet.

00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:18.239
How do you stay curious when you think you already know what's going on?

00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:21.680
It would be simple just to say never assume that you know the answer.

00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:28.480
But in reality, it's to be able to coach yourself in the moment to keep you out of your head and into your client's situation.

00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:32.159
One of the things that we teach our coaches a lot is this process called clean thinking.

00:01:32.319 --> 00:01:41.840
And that is anytime that you start to bring in your preconceived notions, ideas, or actions that you think your client should take, the session is no longer about them and it's more about you.

00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:45.359
So being able to guide yourself back into curiosity is huge.

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Have you ever seen curiosity make a major shift in your client?

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Almost every single session.

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I always look for a question that will get my client to sort of thinking of things differently.

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One of the ones that comes up a lot is how could you excel at both?

00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:02.319
Or how could you do both?

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This is something that was actually asked of me early on when I was trying to excel in my police career, but also wanted to create a better connection with you and the kids.

00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:13.840
And what I realized is that my brain was focused on, well, I can only do one or the other.

00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:16.080
And what I didn't realize is I could have both.

00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:17.919
But somebody had to ask me that question.

00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:20.080
How could you excel in both?

00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:24.560
And not just excel in both, but how could one make you better in the other?

00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:32.719
And when I started to ask myself that question, I had so many infinite answers and I was excited to do it that I went out there, I took action and ended up changing my situation.

00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:37.680
Now that's why we practice questions over and over and over again inside of the certification.

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Not only because we want you to get reps into practice, but there's actually some questions that you can ask that will take your client in the wrong direction.

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More on that in a few more lessons.

00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:55.919
Now, if you missed episode number two, definitely grab that one because we talked about jumping in the pool and how you could accidentally give that thing your client is struggling with more power over them.

00:02:56.080 --> 00:03:01.759
And today we talked about how curiosity can prevent you from rushing to judgment or making assumptions.

00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:04.400
And next lesson, we're gonna go pretty deep.

00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:13.280
We're gonna be talking about your client's perspective, what you can do with it, and what you want to 100% avoid doing so that you don't plant any limiting beliefs.

00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:15.360
See you in episode number four.