An effective way to coach and give feedback.
What is the sound of one hand clapping?
The above is a Zen kōan.
Kōans are open-ended, short, pithy statements(questions or riddles) that one reflects upon. Kōans do not have an accepted answer. The idea behind kōans is that the act of contemplating(journey) on the kōan is more important than the answer(destination).
A parallel to kōans is the Socratic method.
The Socratic method is a teaching style involving a dialogue—asking and answering questions—between a student and a teacher to stimulate critical thinking.
Giving feedback and coaching is a crucial part of being a leader. The best way to do this is to encourage your team to think by asking pertinent questions and motivating them to arrive at answers independently.
Plant a seed in their mind by asking the right question and let them go down the rabbit hole in search of answers. The process of doing this will enrich them more than you serving the answers on a plate.
This method works great with parenting too.
Follow @abhyrama
Photo by Austin Ban on Unsplash