ABSTRACT
A great question is one of the powerful tools in the process of pattern making and pattern breaking. Questions are used to challenge and extend thinking, confront discrepancies, explore reasons, build understanding and seek detail. The closed questions that we most frequently use often begin with the words what, when and who. Few people would argue that we use many different styles of thinking in our day-to-day lives. If we think back to our work on pattern recognition and pattern evaluation it is easy to see how useful these questions are in identifying and clarifying patterns and analysing the results of applying those patterns. Another way of thinking about using the different types of question is to transfer them into a coaching context. Some questions are likely to be used at different stages in the problem-solving process. The power of choosing a question to connect with another person's thinking style was made very clear in a recent trainer training programme.
