An exercise to explore questioning and listening – especially the importance of open questioning. Very handy for introduction to Coaching courses!

Explain that…

You own a restaurant called Luigi’s, which has a renowned reputation for serving excellent Italian food.

One night nearly everyone who has eaten at your restaurant was ill.

There was nothing wrong with the food.

[The reason they were ill was because the restaurant is on a ship and the weather was really bad that evening and everyone was seasick.]

You are going to try to find out why the people were ill.  Say that you will answer the questions directly.

Tell delegates that their aim is to interview me to find out why so many clients were ill.

See who will be the first to find the answer!

Explain that delegates need to ask questions to find out what happened. 

Remember, there is a place for closed questions as well as open questions. 

Ask delegates who have come across this before, not to spoil it for the rest.

Virtual Training: Ask delegates to type questions into chat – so we can see the flow – but answer them verbally.

At the end, discuss how easy was it? What would you do differently next time?