In today’s digital world so much information is readily available to everyone. The answers to questions no longer matter; it is the questions you are asking that will move your career, business and organization forward. The answer is the question.
The golden rule of asking better questions: don’t ask a question if you aren’t prepared to listen and respond. It is OK to ask an opinion and not follow it but you need to remain open to what the speaker is saying and objectively evaluate it. Your questions shouldn’t have assumptions in them or demonstrate your intelligence.
Why, how and what questions set the stage for people to come up with their own solutions which increases their confidence, knowledge and ownership over the results. These questions reduce their dependence on you and help them to advance their skills and value.
Empowering questions will give the other person a sense of their own strength and efficacies. Asking for their ideas signals that your ideas may not be the best for the situation, it transfers power temporarily to them and will increase confidence and job competence. Empowering questions encourages someone to become their own thinker and problem solver. Empowering questions deliver short term value by solving the problem and long term value but giving them tools to handle similar issues in the future.
Better questions create value by:
Inspiring fresh and unpredictable ways of thinking: Can this be done any other way?
Creating ownership for the solutions: What do you suggest?
Bringing clarity to the situation: Can you provide a deeper analysis about this situation?
Creating moments of reflection: What would have made the outcome better?
Improving relationships by being non-threatening and agenda free: How is that project coming along?
Questions should never diminish someone’s value, confidence or sabotage their performance. Questions should never focus on failure or indicate you are trying to fulfill an agenda.
Do you have other tips on asking better questions? Share your ideas and thoughts on Twitter @betterquestionsClick To TweetLast updated on March 6th, 2018 at 06:10 am
