3 Types of Coaching Questions that Spark Clarity During Disruption
Disruption isn’t an occasional challenge—it’s the new normal. Whether it’s market shifts, organizational restructuring, or global uncertainty, your team looks to you for guidance. But as an experienced leader, your greatest tool isn’t having all the answers—it’s asking the right questions.
The right questions create space for reflection, unlock new perspectives, and help your team navigate complexity with confidence. Neuroscience tells us that well-crafted questions activate the brain’s problem-solving regions, shifting people from fear-based reactivity to forward-thinking creativity.
When you coach your team through disruption with powerful questions, you help them move from overwhelm to ownership.
When uncertainty strikes, the brain’s default response is often to seek safety. The amygdala—the part of the brain responsible for processing fear—can trigger a threat response, making people defensive or resistant to change. But when you ask open-ended, thought-provoking questions, you activate the prefrontal cortex, the center of higher reasoning, innovation, and problem-solving.
This shift matters. Instead of reacting out of fear, your team can engage in deeper thinking, find new solutions, and take meaningful action. The right questions help them reframe problems as opportunities, giving them the mental space to lead through change rather than be paralyzed by it.
Use these questions to shift your team’s perspective and drive clarity in uncertain times:
1. Reframing the Challenge
What’s the real challenge here, beyond the immediate issue?
If this situation were happening for us instead of to us, what opportunities might it create?
How would we approach this if we had no fear of failure?
2. Expanding Possibilities
What’s another way we could look at this?
If we weren’t constrained by our current assumptions, what else might be possible?
What’s one unconventional idea we haven’t considered yet?
3. Building Ownership and Action
What’s within our control right now, and where do we need to adapt?
What’s one bold step we can take today to move forward?
How will we hold ourselves accountable for our decisions in the midst of uncertainty
Disruption isn’t easy, but it doesn’t have to derail your team. The questions you ask shape the mindset they bring to challenges. By shifting from directive leadership to coaching leadership, you empower your team to think expansively, take action, and lead alongside you.
So, what’s the most important question you need to be asking right now?
Leadership Practice
The "Pause and Ask" Method
In high-pressure situations, leaders often default to giving directives. But the most effective leaders know when to pause and ask instead.
Try this practice in your next team meeting:
Pause before responding to a challenge. Resist the urge to jump in with a solution.
Ask one of the powerful questions above and let the conversation unfold.
Listen deeply—without rushing to fix, judge, or direct.
By doing this, you not only develop your team’s problem-solving abilities but also cultivate a culture of trust, adaptability, and shared ownership.
About Athena
Athena Williams, Founder and CEO of Tenacious Leadership Institute, has been supporting leaders worldwide to become more tenacious for over 20 years. She has found that tenacity is the key to sustained leadership success in today’s ever-changing world. Through her coaching and leadership development programs, she helps leaders expertly handle change, complexity and other challenges so they can quickly get better results for themselves, their teams and their organizations. Take the first step to becoming a tenacious leader by scheduling a call with us.
