Parenting Assessment: Powerful Questions – Powerful Results
Guest Contribution by:
Nancy Seibel, Keys to Change
Visit Nancy at www.keystochangelifecoaching.com
Powerful Questions
You know a powerful question when you hear one. It captures your attention. It makes you stop and think. Something new becomes clear to you as you consider the question. Powerful questions can be quite simple. Powerful questions avoid communicating judgment. Instead they focus on what can be learned (Williams & Menendez, 2007). Often, helping others is less about knowing the right thing and more about asking the right question (Hyatt, 2012).
Watching and scoring a videotape is really the beginning of putting the KIPS parenting assessment to work in the program. What happens next is where the change happens. Based on the results of the KIPS, if you’re a supervisor you can ask staff powerful questions to help them think about next steps in supporting the parents’ strengths and helping them grow in their responsiveness to their young children. If you work directly with parents, you can use powerful questions to help parents learn about their strengths and areas for growth in their relationships with their children. This learning can encourage parents to partner with you to develop plans and next steps.
Here are a few examples of powerful questions a supervisor might ask a staff member:
- When you see the father do that, what is your reaction?
- How do you suppose this feels for the mother? For her child?
- If you could wave a magic wand and do one thing to make this relationship stronger, what would that one thing be?
Staff members might ask parents:
- What is this video bringing up in your mind?
- What was it like for you to be playing with your child during this taping?
- What might your child have been feeling when you held him like that?
- If you could wave a magic wand and do one thing to strengthen your relationship with your child, what would that one thing be?
Try using powerful questions to build relationships, encourage reflection, and support discovery and learning. Powerful questions engage staff and parents as partners, increase buy-in and increase the likelihood of developing a good plan and putting it to use.
Powerful questions get powerful results!
In the comments section below please share with us a time your question got a powerful result.
For more on supervsion and parenting assessment see:
Supervision: Key to Making Parenting Assessment Matter to Children
Nancy L. Seibel, M.Ed., NCC, BCC is an infant mental health specialist, experienced supervisor and trainer and a life coach. She owns and directs Keys To Change, a life coaching and early childhood consulting practice.
References
Hyatt, M. (2012). 7 suggestions for asking more powerful questions. Retrieved online on 1/29/13 at http://michaelhyatt.com/asking-more-powerful-questions.html
Williams, P. & Menendez, D.S. (2007). Becoming a professional life coach: Lessons from the institute for life coach training. New York, NY: WW Norton.
Copyright: Nancy L. Seibel and Keys to Change Life Coaching, 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from the author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nancy L. Seibel and Keys To Change Life Coaching with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.