Ques­tion­ing Tech­niques: How to Get the Answers You Need

It doesn’t cost anything to ask questions – we learn this at an early age. The idea is that curiosity is one of the most important pre­req­ui­sites for learning, and the right question and the right time has helped many to make real progress in life. And even if the answer is not what we had hoped, we at least tried and didn’t lose anything in asking.

It’s not just children dis­cov­er­ing their en­vi­ron­ment or young pro­fes­sion­als fa­mil­iar­iz­ing them­selves with the world of work who benefit from asking questions. Long-serving employees also have questions whenever they take on a new area of re­spon­si­bil­i­ty. What’s more, managers also have to ask certain questions when they want to find out if their employees are satisfied or whether there’s room for im­prove­ment in the company. By employing the right question methods, you can influence con­ver­sa­tions to obtain the answers that help you make progress.

Questions based on genuine interest are a key re­quire­ment for re­spect­ful com­mu­ni­ca­tion in which both sides can ideally learn from one another. In the world of work, they are also an effective tool for achieving certain goals or results. Employees who con­sis­tent­ly ask for pro­fes­sion­al training show com­mit­ment and are more likely to be con­sid­ered for these kinds of training programs as well as pro­mo­tions. The moderator of a meeting may encourage par­tic­i­pants to think cre­ative­ly with targeted questions and generate in­ter­est­ing dis­cus­sions – thereby not only making the meeting more effective, but also enabling solutions that satisfy everyone.

Like in all areas of pro­fes­sion­al com­mu­ni­ca­tion, the wording, timing, and intention are critical when it comes to questions. A range of ques­tion­ing tech­niques are therefore available that are suitable for different sit­u­a­tions.

A dis­tinc­tion in questions that you may have learned at school is the dif­fer­ence between open and closed questions. While open questions ideally stimulate con­tem­pla­tion and lead to an active exchange of views, closed questions pre­de­ter­mine the possible answers, are primarily intended for checking knowledge, and can be answered with a word (yes/no questions) or a short sentence. For this reason, open questions should be asked during pre­sen­ta­tions – where possible – in order to encourage audience members to par­tic­i­pate. This technique can also be useful in pro­fes­sion­al meetings. However, if you want to avoid un­nec­es­sary dis­cus­sion and achieve results quickly, closed questions are more ap­pro­pri­ate.

Open and closed questions merely represent the two over­ar­ch­ing concepts for a whole host of ques­tion­ing tech­niques that you can use at work. Which method is most promising for you is largely de­ter­mined by the situation. After all, depending on whether it’s an annual appraisal meeting between a boss and employee or a project meeting with coworkers, different ques­tion­ing tech­niques are best suited for the different goals pursued. While an appraisal meeting benefits from a trusting and calm at­mos­phere, en­cour­ag­ing par­tic­i­pants to engage in lively dis­cus­sion and provide solution-oriented ideas is more important when it comes to mod­er­at­ing tech­niques.

In practice, it’s best when you don’t restrict yourself to just a single pre-selected method, but instead combine different variants with each other. This enables you to respond flexibly during a dis­cus­sion.

In the following para­graphs, we explain which question methods are ideally suited to which con­ver­sa­tion sit­u­a­tions. All the question types listed below can be for­mu­lat­ed as both open and closed questions. When opting for a par­tic­u­lar variant, you should also consider the mood of the con­ver­sa­tion par­tic­i­pants and how much time you have for the con­ver­sa­tion.

The opening question helps create a good foun­da­tion for the con­ver­sa­tion and should therefore be open and positive. For example, during an appraisal meeting you could ask which sit­u­a­tions the employee found es­pe­cial­ly positive and which achieve­ments they are proud of.

In the case of meetings, pri­or­i­tiz­ing the agenda items can be a good start. Ask the par­tic­i­pants which topics are par­tic­u­lar­ly important to them and include these agenda items in the con­ver­sa­tion ac­cord­ing­ly. This way, everyone will feel like they’re being taken seriously and a con­struc­tive working at­mos­phere will be created.

By asking hy­po­thet­i­cal questions, you prompt your con­ver­sa­tion partner to imagine a situation outside the (current) reality. This ques­tion­ing technique is es­pe­cial­ly good as a starting point for brain­storm­ing when looking for solutions to certain problems or tasks. For example, if you ask: “How would you perform the task if you had unlimited time for it?” or “How would you design the ad­ver­tis­ing campaign if you didn’t have to consider the client’s wishes?”, you get your con­ver­sa­tion partner to think about a topic from a new per­spec­tive and move away from familiar thought patterns. This provides the best con­di­tions for in­no­v­a­tive ideas.

Circular questions involve having the in­ter­vie­wee assess their options or behavior not from their own position but from a different per­spec­tive. They are intended to create critical distance from your own position. This can be achieved by asking questions like: “Which solution would you prefer as a rep­re­sen­ta­tive of de­part­ment X?” or “If you were an investor, would you be convinced that this will be a suc­cess­ful idea?”

These questions allow you to break up en­trenched dis­cus­sion sit­u­a­tions and, ideally, motivate stubborn sticklers for prin­ci­ples to accept com­pro­mis­es.

Para­dox­i­cal questions can provide in­ter­est­ing and en­ter­tain­ing thought ex­per­i­ments. Here, you turn the actual issue on its head and formulate the question as follows for example: “What would we need to do to make sure that we don’t deliver the project on time?” or “What would have to happen for you to quit your job?”

The answers reveal which factors bother the con­ver­sa­tion partners the most and what the most important elements are that have to be worked on in order to optimize projects or daily processes.

Don’t leave answers to stand without com­ment­ing on them; ask for more in-depth ex­pla­na­tions or jus­ti­fi­ca­tions. These follow-up questions allow you to indicate interest and also encourage your con­ver­sa­tion partner to reflect on their previous state­ments, explain their position more precisely or revise it if necessary.

Es­pe­cial­ly in one-on-one con­ver­sa­tions like the annual appraisal meeting or salary ne­go­ti­a­tions, it’s important to create a trusting at­mos­phere. Emotional questions like “What de­vel­op­ments are giving you cause for concern?” as well as “How do you feel in your new position?” are therefore ap­pro­pri­ate.

After dis­cussing ideas and sug­ges­tions for im­prove­ment, actions also need to follow what has been said. This is where future questions like “Who will take care of im­ple­ment­ing this idea?” or “By what date can we complete project X?” come in. Only then can long meetings also result in actual actions or results that can be recorded in the minutes.

Likewise, solution questions also aim to fa­cil­i­tate tangible results. They are also an effective tool for finishing never-ending, circular dis­cus­sions.

“We’ve discussed what isn’t working well in some detail, but what could we now improve specif­i­cal­ly?” These kinds of questions allow you to move meeting par­tic­i­pants from complaint mode into a problem-solving frame, enabling you to then discuss possible solutions.

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