Uncomfortable Questions
#1882
Few things are as effective as an uncomfortable question to open one's eyes and make someone break through their very own stories.
To receive such a question is challenging and definitely not comfortable. Powerful and liberating, indeed.
But challenging and uncomfortable.
As a coach and mentor, I know it very well.
Marcia Reynolds, a masterful coach, says, "The coach isn't there to help the client feel better, but to see better." And that means that we must ask uncomfortable breakthrough questions.
Yet, I've learned that asking uncomfortable questions is as challenging as being asked. Nobody likes discomfort, even when we know it's necessary to grow. However, in a coaching or mentoring relationship, that discomfort is part of the journey and mostly welcomed.
In our everyday lives, though, it's different, and most people don't react kindly to questions that make them feel uncomfortable. So, we may refrain from asking those kind of questions. In the end, we don't want to be the ones who make someone else uncomfortable.
Yet, those questions are fundamentals and, sometimes, must be asked.
So, I wonder, what do you need to feel comfortable and confident enough to ask uncomfortable questions?