Tell, ask or something in between? Six ways to intervene when coaching.
Managers who coach can find themselves swinging between telling people what to do and asking question after question. John Heron’s six categories give you a wider range, and a way to choose between them.
On this page
Match the intervention to the moment: when each of the six helps, how it sounds and what to watch for.
John Heron, a British psychologist who founded the Human Potential Research Project at the University of Surrey, developed six-category intervention analysis for people in helping roles: counsellors, doctors, teachers, consultants. It is just as useful for a manager in a one-to-one. An intervention is simply anything you say or do to help the other person move forward.
Heron grouped the six into two families. The authoritative three – prescriptive, informative and confronting – put you in the lead: you direct, inform or challenge. In coaching language they push. The facilitative three – cathartic, catalytic and supportive – help the other person find their own way: you make room for feeling, help them think, or affirm them. They pull. Heron saw no hierarchy among the six: each is judged by how well it fits the person and the moment.
Three that push: prescriptive, informative, confronting
Prescriptive
Directing: telling them what to do or how to do it.
When it helps: They have asked for your call and you have one; a deadline, a safety rule or the law leaves no real choice; they are new to the task and need a starting point before they can weigh options.
What it sounds like:
- “Send the proposal to finance by Thursday; they need two clear days to check it.”
- “Don’t promise the client a date until the supplier confirms in writing.”
Watch for: Deciding things they could have worked out, and taking the ownership with the decision. Giving instructions on matters that are theirs to decide. Dressing an instruction up as a question.
Informative
Giving knowledge: a fact, some context, a precedent or a piece of your own experience.
When it helps: They are missing something they need to decide well, or a short piece of your experience would save them repeating a mistake.
What it sounds like:
- “The policy changed in April, so the old form won’t be accepted.”
- “In my first month managing a team I kept doing my old job too. It took me a while to see that nobody else could step up while I did.”
Watch for: Turning a two-minute point into a lecture. Stories that are really about you. Detail they don’t need yet. Shorthand from your own part of the business. Leaving out what it means for them.
Confronting
Raising awareness of something they are not seeing or are avoiding: a pattern, an assumption, a gap between what they say and what they do. Direct, not aggressive.
When it helps: They keep circling the same issue; their words and their actions don’t match; a blind spot is costing them or others.
What it sounds like:
- “Your plan assumes the team can take on the extra work. Can they?”
- “You’ve said twice that you don’t mind, and both times you looked away.”
- “Every example you gave of the team’s success was something you did yourself.”
Watch for: Saving it up until it comes out as a verdict. Softening it until it disappears. Challenging the person rather than the behaviour. Leaving before they have had a chance to respond.
Three that pull: cathartic, catalytic, supportive
Cathartic
Making room for feelings – frustration, worry, disappointment – that are getting in the way of thinking.
When it helps: Emotion is blocking clear thought: after a setback, a rejection, a restructure, a long stretch of pressure.
What it sounds like:
- “You sound worn out by this.”
- “What has it been like, carrying this for the last month?”
- “There’s no rush. Say whatever is on your mind.”
Watch for: Moving on the moment feelings appear. Rushing to fix the feeling. Going deeper than the relationship or your skill can hold; know when to point to an employee assistance programme or other professional help. Making it about your own feelings.
Catalytic
Asking and reflecting so that they think it through and reach their own answer. The core of most coaching.
When it helps: They have what they need to solve it; owning the answer matters more than speed; you want them to learn, not just to fix this one problem.
What it sounds like:
- “What outcome would make this worth the effort?”
- “What have you tried so far, and what happened?”
- “Which option would you regret not trying?”
Watch for: Questions with the answer built in. So many questions it feels like an interrogation. Asking when they really need information. Filling every silence.
Supportive
Affirming their worth, their qualities and what they have done.
When it helps: Confidence is low; they have just put in a hard effort; they have done something well and haven’t noticed.
What it sounds like:
- “Bringing that problem to me early was exactly the right call.”
- “You stayed calm while the client was shouting. That isn’t easy.”
- “I’d be happy for you to lead the next one.”
Watch for: Vague praise. Praise as a run-up to criticism. Reassurance that isn’t true. Supporting so much that you stop challenging.
Choosing in the moment
You don’t need to run through all six each time. Six signals point to a starting choice:
| If you notice… | Try |
|---|---|
| They are missing a fact or some context they need | Informative |
| There is a rule, a risk or a deadline that leaves no room | Prescriptive |
| They keep stepping round the same thing | Confronting |
| They are too upset, angry or anxious to think straight | Cathartic |
| They have what they need, and owning the answer matters | Catalytic |
| They doubt they can do it | Supportive |
Conversations move between categories. A common and useful sequence is cathartic first (let the frustration out), then catalytic (what do you want to happen?), then informative if a gap appears, and supportive at the end. Confronting tends to land better once the person feels heard.
Disguised interventions
Some interventions pretend to be something else. “Have you thought about calling them?” sounds catalytic but is prescriptive: it is your answer in the form of a question. “I’m just curious why you did it that way” is often a confrontation wearing a smile. There is nothing wrong with suggesting or challenging. The problem is doing it in disguise, because the other person can often tell, and then has to guess what you really mean. If you have a suggestion, say so: “Can I offer an idea?”
The “watch for” lines on each card are our own practical notes on how each category goes wrong in everyday management.
Find your default, then stretch it
In our experience, most managers have a favourite family. Under time pressure it is often push, because it feels faster. Some managers who have been on a coaching course swing the other way and stop giving information people need. Try this for one week:
- After three ordinary conversations – a one-to-one, a corridor question, a problem someone brings you – jot down which of the six you used, roughly how often.
- Notice the one you used least.
- Use it on purpose at least once a day for the rest of the week, where it fits.
- At the end of the week, ask one person you work with what they noticed.
For a structure to hang these interventions on, see GROW coaching questions; for planning a specific conversation, A development conversation that lands. For the difference between praise and advice, The trouble with the feedback sandwich covers when each works best.
Written by great{with}talent from our consultants’ coaching skills practice. The six categories and the authoritative and facilitative grouping are John Heron’s: Six Category Intervention Analysis (Human Potential Research Project, University of Surrey, 1975), developed in Helping the Client: A Creative Practical Guide (Sage, 1990; 5th edition 2001). The descriptions, examples, “when it helps” and “watch for” lines are ours. For development feedback that looks forward, see FeedForward.
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