Chat GPT: It's All About the Prompts

As a career coach, I ask a lot of questions. I’m curious like that. I mean, asking questions is one of the most important learning skills we can acquire, right?

There are plenty of books written on the art and skill of powerful questioning, including two of my personal favorites: Grant’s Think Again and Marquardt and Tiede’s Leading with Questions.

Institutions like Harvard University offer workshops to teach how to craft powerful questions for the classroom. Organizations like Right Question Institute promote self-advocacy and inquiry at a young age through question-related programming.

So, it’s unsurprising that when the AI tool ChatGPT launched in November of 2022, I was curious. Let the Q & A contest begin!

Introducing myself to this new language model - much like coaching - I learned that it’s not about how many questions I ask but what questions I ask and, more importantly, how I ask them.

The devil is in the details, as they say.

As new iterations of ChatGPT release and I learn more about its capabilities, I find this to be true – the clearer I am about my ASK, the more detailed and targeted its response.

I know what you’re thinking. “Well, duh.”

But it’s not as easy as it sounds. And just like getting to know my clients, I’ve had to get to know ChatGPT…by asking questions in different ways to refine my questioning. This is the essence of what we, as coaches, call Powerful Questioning!

I’ve had help improving my questioning by using Awesome ChatGPT Prompts, which are prompt templates you can copy and paste into ChatGPT. These prompts help AI produce concise and accurate responses to my inquiries. So, each time I ask a question, my questioning gets more defined, and my responses clearer.

A must-have resource is Fatih Kadir Akın’s comprehensive guide for crafting compelling ChatGPT prompts. Whether you’re just starting to explore the possibilities of ChatGPT or are a pro, this e-book will help target your questioning.

As a career coach, I write about coaching techniques, including powerful questioning, but how do I use ChatGPT to help clients grow in their careers? Stay tuned as I chronicle my journey integrating this evolving technology into my career coaching practice.

In the meantime, share your ChatGPT stories and happy questioning!