Asking Right Questions
A good question is the one that lets you obtain thetype, quality, and quantity of information you need.
Here are some basic but very effective types:
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Open-ended questions encourage people to reflect and reveal what's important for them. They allow people to freely expand on what is comfortable for them, rather than justifying their thoughts. Open-ended questions tend to explore possibilities, feelings, and the reasons why. Michael J. Marquardt, author of Leading with questions, describes some types of open-ended questions:
- Explorative questions force expansion on new points of view and uncovered areas.Have you thought of...?
- Affective questions reveal people's feelings about something.How do you feel about...?
- Reflective questions encourage more elaboration.What do you think causes...?
- Probing questions invite a deeper examination.Can you describe how...?
- Analytical questions look for the roots of a problem.What are the causes of...?
- Clarifying questions help align and avoid misunderstandings.So, you mean that..?
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Closed questions call for specific answers - usually yes or no - or they force the respondent to select an answer from a given set, or to agree or disagree with a statement. Closed questions tend to focus on facts - what, when, where - and are usually easy to answer. For example: "Where were you born? How many miles do you drive a month?"
The Anatomy of a Good Question
A good question doesn't depend just on the type of question it is, but also onhowyou frame it. The form of a question is part of its function. Good questions should be framed under these principles:
Good questions should empower
Disempowering questions focus on why the person did not succeed, which puts that person in a defensive mode. Empowering questions are asked from trust - they get people to think and find their own answers, which transfers ownership and develops self-responsibility.
For example, when giving feedback, instead of just saying "I don't think this would work," you could ask, What other options have you explored, and why did you choose this one?
Good questions should challenge assumptions
They should help clarify the situation and cause individuals, teams, and organizations to explore the methods, processes, and conventions that drive their actions.
Good questions should cause the person to stretch
They should encourage reflection and help people go beyond the obvious. Good questions motivate people to take things to the next level. For example, when discussing with technology teams, instead of asking, "Can you do this?" you could ask, Supposing this is the way to go, what would you need to have or eliminate in order to accomplish this?
Good questions should encourage breakthrough thinking
Good questions open up new possibilities. They involve people in divergent thought processes that lead to new perspectives. For example, when designing a new login screen, instead of just asking, "How could we make the login process faster?" you could ask, How could we deliver value to our users without them having to log in?
Dig deeper
Ask follow-up questions in order to get deeper information and clarify that everyone understands the same thing. Use the power of silence - just keep silent, look people in the eye, and nod - so they can expand on their thoughts and ideas without interruption.
Questioning Techniques That Build a Deeper Understanding
The 5 Whys
This method helps you get a deeper understanding of the root causes and underlying beliefs and motivations of people. It's at the heart of a proper design thinking process. Sakichi Toyoda, one of the fathers of the Japanese industrial revolution, developed the technique in the 1930s. Here's how to apply it:
- People don't buy products in our online store. --Why?
- Because they don't complete the purchase, they drop off.--Why?
- Because they tend to abandon the shopping cart. --Why?
- Because the cart is where we show shipping details and they think 10 days is too long.--Why?
- Because people buy our product as a gift to someone just a couple of days before the gifting date. 10 days is too long for shipping.
By question five, product designers most likely got closer to the root of the problem and shed light on new approaches to consider that weren't necessarily the original, "assumed" problem.
Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How
This is another framework that can be used in order to analyze and get a deeper understanding of the situation and context. Whenever you face a problem, asking these questions will help you get a clear view of the current situation, map critical pain points, and come up with possible ways of taking concrete action that will solve the problem:
- Who interferes with the process in the situation? Users, stakeholders, suppliers, clients, team...
- What elements compose the situation? Actions, behaviors, elements, tools...
- Where does it happen? Geographically, culturally, socially, economically...
- When does this occur? Past, present, future, situational context (when I'm in a rush), frequency...
- Why does this happen? Causes, constraints, needs, motivations...
- How is the situation created? Processes, metrics, results...
Questioning Techniques That Can Trigger the Imagination
There are some question starters that will help you frame your questions in a way that encourages imagination and causes people to develop new perspectives:
- What if...?
- How would it be different if...?
- Suppose that...?
- What if we knew...?
- What would change if...?
- What other way could we...?
Questioning Techniques That Foster Collaboration
As part of a design thinking exercise, there are some question starters that will help frame questions in a way that builds trust and encourages team collaboration:
- How do you feel about...?
- How would you describe...?
- How could we...?
- What help do we need in order to...?
https://www.toptal.com/designers/product-design/design-thinking-great-questions
Leading with Questions: How Leaders Find the Right Solutions by Knowing What to Ask by Michael J. Marquardt
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Ask questions, even if it scares you
What's in the way of leaders asking more and better questions, right now?
- We're protecting ourselves -- we look smarter if we don't ask!
- We're too busy
- We may lack skills in asking great questions
- We may work in environments that discourage questions
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Some people are waiting to be asked for their ideas
Cindy Stewart, a former factory worker, shares a story of overhearing the management team discussing a bottleneck problem on the factory floor. As they wrestled with solutions, Cindy thought "I wish they would ask me." Imagine what a difference it would have made if they had asked. Cindy's managers missed an opportunity to learn, to empower a staff member, and to quickly find a workable solution.
By asking great questions, leaders can develop their team members and:
- Cause people to focus or stretch, for example: "What are you trying to accomplish?"
- Create deep reflection, for example: "How is this supported by our core values?"
- Challenge taken for granted assumptions, for example: "Why do we do it this way?"
- Generate positive and powerful action, for example: "How can you take a leadership role in resolving this issue?"
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The search for great questions is never completed
Here's the action: keep looking for questions that will open doors, challenge assumptions, and promote creative thinking.So, what makes a great question?
Start with asking open-ended questions that allow others to tell their story. Questions that elicit a short response, like yes or no, give others limited room to share their perspective. Open-ended questions on the other hand help to establish, gather information, and expand understanding.
Asking open-ended questions is natural for children, who love to ask: "Why?" Let's take a leaf out of our own childhood books and ask that question.As leaders, when we ask why, it forces people to look at cause and effect. Continuing to ask the question allows us to dig deeper into the layers of the situation and generate insights.
When using questions to open doors, it's important that your team feels it's safe to answer. Here's where mindset comes in. Do you have alearnermindset or ajudgermindset?
The learner mindset tends to be optimistic and presupposes new possibilities, a hopeful future, and sufficient resources. The learner mindset asks: What's good or useful about this? How can we stay on track?
Conversely, the judger mindset focuses on the past to apportion praise or, more likely, blame. The judger mindset asks: Whose fault is it? Why can't you get it right?
Considering the need to ask questions that are open and have the learner mindset, here are some examples of questions you might use:
- What other options can we think of?
- How do you feel the project is going?
- Tell me more about...
- What resources have we never used?
- Can you elaborate on why this is happening?
- What would success look like?
Questions can empower or constrain. Questions can open up or shut down conversations. You can use questions to create a culture of learning or a culture of defensiveness. As a leader, the questions you ask can not only create benefits for you, but for your whole team and for your organization.
| Open Ended Questions | What needs to be done? |
| Challenge Status Quo | Why must it be that way? |
| Learner Mindset | What is good or useful about this? |
| Forward Looking | What possibilities does this open up? |
| Optimistic | What can we learn from this? |
| Empower Others | What are you trying to accomplish? |
| Build Relationships | How solid are our relationships among ourselves? |
| Understand Self | What has happened to my reflection time? |
| Deal with Dependency | Would you like people to solve their own problems rather than coming to you? |
| Serve Humbly | How can I help you? |
| Foster Reflection | How do you learn best? |
| Encourage Action | What will you commit to do by when? |
| Evaluate | What does our leadership team do that gets in the way of your job? |
| Listen | Are we listening to each other carefully? |
| Involve All Stakeholders | What are the common areas of interest? |
| Enable Change | What will you need from us in the future? |
| Develop Vision and Values | Are we being honest with ourselves? |
http://webbyclare.com/book-review-leading-with-questions
Questions to ask if someone asks questions?
- Why do u ask that?
- Why are you considering switching?
- How do you classify better? What's wrong with what you are using now?
- What is that problem and why is it essential to your project?
Manager negative connotations phrases
- Me as a manager is worried you are not performing
- You need to be more of a team player
- Your approach, makes it difficult to work with
- Try to make people more comfortable around you
- You are hurting relationships at work, when you talk about ...
- I am not as smart as you guys, so please explain me it in plain english
Team, On a serious note I would need each one of you to attend the evening call. It's just twice in a week and it's in reasonable time. Please be mindful about this. The purpose of the call was to talk and collaborate with the team (not just me).
Incase, if you were not able to attend due to unavoidable situations, Kindly have the courtesy to ping in the group.
I can't keep repeating same thing again and again guys!
Thanks!
There are lot of priority pending items .. which is spilled over to this current sprint .. and you guys have already took many leaves recently .. Instead of closing items in a proactive fashion , I feel we are tajking this client very causally . How will be deployment done if jenkins is not working for 2-3 days ? Lets take a call here what can be done ..
Hi I cannot be apologetic enough for sudden unavailability today. It was due to a court purpose I had to take care today. As for my recent leaves I understand that in the past week i took a few days off due to a relative of mine passing away and my work took the hit. I can assure you I’ll give in extra hours over the weekend as well to compensate for this. Rest assured my intention was never to take this client casually. Apologies if you felt otherwise.