Why “what else?” is the most underrated question in coaching
The first answer comes from habit. The second and third come from searching. Here is what that pause does in the brain, and how to hold it.
Ask a leader what is getting in the way of their goal, and you will almost always get a fast, tidy answer. “Time.” “My team isn't ready.” “Budget.” It sounds like insight. Most of the time it is a rehearsed story.
That first answer matters, but it is rarely the one that changes anything. The question that moves the conversation is the one that comes next: “What else?”
The first answer is the easiest one to reach
The brain is an efficiency machine. When we hear a familiar question, it reaches for the most accessible answer, the one already well rehearsed. Each time a story is retold, it gets easier to retrieve. So the first answer tells you what the client has said before, not necessarily what is true now.
“What else?” switches the brain from retrieving to searching
When the easy answer is set aside, the brain has to look further. This pause matters. The prefrontal cortex holds the question open while the mind widens its search, pulling in memories, feelings and connections that were not part of the usual story.
Research on insight by Mark Beeman and John Kounios found that “aha” moments are preceded by a brief inward turn of attention, a quietening of outside input, followed by a burst of activity in the right temporal lobe as distant ideas link up. You often see this in a session: the client looks away, goes quiet, then says something they did not expect to say.
Silence is part of the question
The most common mistake is to fill that silence. A coach who rushes in with a new question or a suggestion pulls the client back to the surface just as the search begins. The pause is not a gap in the conversation. It is where the work happens.
How to use it in your next session
- Ask it more than once. The second “what else?” often brings up the real issue; the third can bring up the emotion beneath it.
- Hold the silence. Count slowly to five in your head before you speak.
- Watch the eyes. A shift of gaze or a slower breath usually means the client is searching. Let them finish.
- Stop when it lands. When you hear “Actually…” or a change in tone, follow that thread instead of asking again.
“And what else is in the way?” Then wait.
Further reading: Kounios, J. & Beeman, M. (2015). The Eureka Factor. Random House. · Bungay Stanier, M. (2016). The Coaching Habit. Box of Crayons Press, which popularised “And what else?” as a coaching question.