The Principles of Effective Questioning

One of the great challenges of questioning effectively is that there isn't a standard set of questions that works in every setting. A line of questioning that works really well with one group might confuse or upset another one. Even the questions contained in this chapter are only offered as food for thought. It's always important to remember that every question has to be carefully evaluated to ensure that it's appropriate. Keep these guidelines in mind:

1. Customize for context: Be sure that questions are sensitive to things like the client's organizational culture, occupational group, gender mix, values, environmental factors, financial situation, recent history and current stresses.
2. Create inviting questions: Avoid embedding too many of your own thoughts and suggestions inside questions. This will lead people to answers that you favor and will make you look manipulative. Ask the kind of open-ended questions that encourage deep, creative thought.
3. Ask with sensitivity: Unless you decide to deliberately confront your clients to shake them out of complacent thinking, questions should always be asked mindfully. That means avoiding harsh language and verbal traps that raise client anxiety and increase distrust. Maintaining positive body language is a big part of this too.
4. Clarify assumptions: Check out your understanding of what clients are saying. Sometimes they use language differently or understate how they really feel. Ask things like: “Am I correct in thinking that …?” “Let me see if I've understood correctly that …” or “Are you saying that … ?”

Question Types

There are two basic question types: closed-ended and open-ended. Each has its uses, but facilitators predominantly use open-ended questions because they encourage clients to engage.

Questioning Formats

The sample questions in this chapter are organized according to their intention. In addition, each question also represents one of the following questioning formats. You can use these various questioning structures to ensurethat your facilitation work evokes a broad range of responses. Facilitators are always careful not to get in the rut of relying on just one type of question.

The Importance of Follow-On Questions

One of the most important aspects of effective questioning is the ability to ask the right follow-on questions. Follow-on questioning matters because the initial reply to a question often fails to get to the underlying issue. Think of follow-on questioning as peeling the onion to get to the heart of what's really going on. Some lines of questioning may need to be pursued three or four times to get to the core issue.

While the exact wording of follow-on questions can't be predicted, there are some general principles to keep in mind:

1. Start with straightforward fact-finding questions.
2. Follow up with questions that clarify the initial responses.
3. Ask for the rationale behind those responses.
4. Ask how things unfolded.
5. Use feeling-finding questions to get at the emotions buried at the core of the matter.
6. Use third-party or magic-wand questions in case people are blocked.

Asking Sensitive Questions

Other than those rare instances when a group needs to be deliberately confronted in order to avoid a catastrophe, facilitators work hard to avoid anything that feels threatening. When a line of questioning touches on a sensitive topic, facilitators often allow people to write their responses on pieces of paper. These are collected and tabulated before being shared, to ensure group member safety. This is especially true when questions press people to disclose information of a personal nature.

Here are some ways to safely ask tough questions:

• Create an anonymous way to gather data. This can be a paper survey that respondents return in a sealed envelope, a reply that they send via email to your office only, or an anonymous reply on an automated survey form.
• Use slips of paper. Allow a few minutes for quiet reflection and writing. Have people pass their notes to you. Mix them up and read them aloud without reference to who made which comment.
• Pose sensitive questions with a 1 to 5 rating scale on a flip chart or whiteboard. Invite people to write their rating on a slip of paper, collect these, and post the ratings. No one will know who gave which scores.
• Place a question and rating scale on a flip chart. Allow time for people to write their score on a slip of paper. Turn the flip chart toward a corner and invite people to file by one at a time to post their answers. Brave people will go first, while those who feel most nervous will wait to post their ideas and ratings after there are several numbers already on the board. Turn the board around to share the ratings.

The Question Bank

On the following pages you'll find samples of questions facilitators routinely ask. To make them more relevant, they've been reframed to fit a consulting context. The best way to use these sample questions is to think of them as food for thought.

Many of the sample questions can be used off the shelf, although they will be more effective if they're adapted to fit the context. While most questions are asked in the moment, note that it's often a good idea to send questions to group members in advance so that they have time to reflect and prepare appropriate answers. These questions can be used in groups, on surveys and one on one.

Questions to Get to Know an Organization

1. “Tell me the story of the organization.”
2. “What would you say was the organization's outstanding strength/achievement?”
3. “What's the organization's image with the public?”
4. “What values drive this organization?”
5. “Is your organization's culture generally receptive to outside input and to making major change?”
6. “Does the organization work through departmental silos, or do people work cross-functionally?”
7. “When a change is being contemplated, does management deliberately seek out employee input?”
8. “Does the organization have a peer-feedback or upward-feedback process?”
9. “What would your most satisfied customers say about you?”
10. “What words would your main competitors use to describe you?”
11. “Is there anything about the organization that an outsider like me might find confusing/surprising?”
12. “What has been the organization's major turning points/challenges, and how were they handled?”
13. “Who has been most instrumental in making the organization a success?”
14. “What role have you played in that success?”
15. “What are the things that the people who work here are most proud of?”
16. “What's the greatest strength of the people inside this company?”
17. “If you had a magic wand, what one thing would you change immediately?”
18. “If you could turn back time, what one event would you go back and change?”
19. “Rate the current organizational state on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being an ideal state.”
20. “Imagine that it's exactly ten years from today and there's a really positive headline in the newspaper about this organization. What does that headline say?”

Questions to Clarify the Facilitator–Client Relationship

1. “Tell me about your past experience with external consultants. How might those experiences affect our work?”
2. “What's the number-one skill or talent that you're hoping I bring to the project? What are the second and third?”
3. “What's the best contribution that I can make to this project?”
4. “Describe your idea of the ideal consultant–client relationship?”
5. “What powers do you think I will need to be able to manage the various challenges that could crop up?”
6. “Who should I be talking to on a regular basis? Are there any parties I shouldn't communicate with directly?”

Questions to Help People Get to Know One Another

1. “If you had to condense your resume down to four sentences, what would they be?”
2. “Give us a single snapshot from your youth that tells us who you are today.”
3. “Tell us one interesting thing about your hometown/youth/college years?”
4. “Tell us the three main things/events/talents that got you to where you are today?”
5. “Complete this sentence: My ultimate career destiny is to … ?”
6. “What's the hidden talent, past experience, or hobby most people here don't know about you?”
7. “What's the most enjoyable part of your job?”
8. “What part of your current job do you find most challenging?”
9. “If you had to name one additional skill or bit of education you'd like to acquire, what would it be?”
10. “What unique gift, experience, or skill do you bring to this organization/project/ team?”
11. “What would your colleagues say was your main contribution to the workplace?”
12. “What motivates you to do a great job?”
13. “What traits do you most need to see in a leader? In a fellow team member?”
14. “If you could invite three thoughtful people or leaders in your field to be part of this team, whom would you ask and why?”

Questions to Assess the Current Situation

1. “What are the things that this organization does exceedingly well?”
2. “What are the things that this organization does just okay?”
3. “What are the things that this organization does poorly?”
4. “What's going on in the environment that this organization needs to be especially aware of? What about competitors, suppliers, customers, finances, materials, human resources, machinery, and so on?”
5. “Does the organization have a systematic way of evaluating effectiveness, such as an organized process-improvement program?”
6. “What are the current barriers to working effectively that we need to pay attention to? Are there communication barriers? Is it difficult to access resources, get approvals, and so on?”
7. “Given the current situation, what are all the possible approaches you suspect organizational change experts might recommend?”
8. “What are the consequences for the organization if this project fails?”
9. “What would be the best possible outcome of this project?”
10. “If you had to give me one piece of helpful advice, what would it be?”

Questions to Establish Project Parameters

1. “What are some of the guidelines you've worked with in other projects that you think we should also adopt?”
2. “Do all projects undergo an initial cost/benefit analysis?”
3. “How will we make decisions? Who can decide what?”
4. “Which types of decisions need to be a consensus?”
5. “How should we communicate about work in progress, problems, and issues?”
6. “How do we avoid starting a rumor mill about possible changes?”
7. “What are the guidelines about who can talk to whom about what?”
8. “What's the process for missing a deadline or overshooting the budget?”
9. “How can we always ensure that resources are fairly allocated? What's the process if this doesn't happen?”
10. “How often do we need to meet to update project status?”
11. “How often do I need to report? What form should my reports take?”
12. “What should we consider to be an emergency? What sub-routines should we establish to ensure that these are handled effectively?”

Questions to Establish Behavioral Norms or Rules of Conduct

1. “Think back to a time when you worked on a team where everybody got along. What attitudes and behaviors did people exhibit? What rules did they follow?”
2. “What one helpful thing have you learned working on other projects and teams that you think this group should consider making a rule for this project?”
3. “List the top five things that motivate you in terms of how you're treated by both leaders and colleagues. Which of these need to become part of how this team operates?”
4. “What's the best way to head off or avoid interpersonal conflicts or disputes?”
5. “What kinds of information can we share, and what information needs to stay inside the group?”
6. “What can we do to ensure that confidentiality is maintained with respect to sensitive information?”
7. “What should the rule be about people missing project meetings?”
8. “What's the best rule for checking emails during a meeting?”
9. “How should we handle the good times we might encounter as a team? How about the bad times?”
10. “Under what conditions would you be willing to give and receive feedback about both team and personal performance?”

Questions to Identify Expectations

1. “Imagine that today is the last meeting of this project and that it was successful beyond your wildest dreams! What would we be celebrating today?”
2. “In your own words answer the question, ‘Why are we here?’ ”
3. “What's the burning question that absolutely must be addressed by this
   project?”
4. “What are the specific deliverables that need to be accomplished? By what dates?”
5. “If we asked employees for their hopes for this project, what would they say?”
6. “If we asked your competition what they would most like to see come out of this project, what would they say?”
7. “If we could get only two positive outcomes from this entire initiative, what should they be?”
8. “What do you think employees are hoping to gain from the changes that will emerge from this project?”
9. “What are the important milestones on the way to a successful outcome?”
10. “Describe the most positive thing you could personally gain from this project.”
11. “How will we know if we've been successful or unsuccessful?”

Questions to Uncover Issues or Problems

1. “Describe the biggest problem that this project could encounter, as a one-line newspaper headline.”
2. “If we encounter scope creep, why is it most likely to occur?”
3. “Could we potentially encounter any ethical issues during this project? What are they?”
4. “What catastrophic event could cause this project to lose its funding or lose management support?”
5. “Is there anyone or any group that might benefit from our failure to complete this project?”
6. “Name a factor outside of our control that is adversely affecting our project.”
7. “What's working/not working right now?”
8. “If you had to rank the top three issues being encountered in order of priority, what would they be?”
9. “How can we improve our capacity to notice issues and deal with them quickly?”
10. “Are there any recurring patterns in relation to this issue?”
11. “Are we looking at the whole picture, or are we seeing just one small part of something larger?”
12. “Can you describe fully what's happening with respect to this issue?”
13. “As an important member of this project, what keeps you awake at night?”
14. “Are there areas within the organization where commitment or capacity might be a concern?”
15. “What resources can we draw on in times of trouble? How can we build bridges to these resources now? Whom do we need to call on for each type of problem we might encounter?”

Questions to Encourage Creative Thinking

1. “How would other cultures approach this challenge? What would the Japanese do? The Germans? The Swedes?”
2. “If we think revolution instead of evolution, how does that change things?”
3. “If we set out to delight customers instead of just meet their needs, what would that look like?”
4. “What other companies have totally transformed themselves? What did they do?”
5. “What external resources can the people inside this organization call on?”
6. “What questions haven't we asked ourselves?”
7. “Describe some of the most innovative products or approaches to service that you know of. What makes them special?”
8. “What's the most obvious solution? What's the least obvious?”
9. “What would we do if money were no object?”
10. “What would your biggest competitors want you to do?”
11. “What's the opposite of what we plan to do? Is there an element of that which we need to consider?”
12. “What have you never done before that we ought to put on the table?”
13. “What would an eight-year-old say? What would an eighty-year-old say?”

Questions to Assess Resistance to Change

1. “What are the biggest challenges inherent in our strategy? What stands in our way?”
2. “What are the biggest external threats that could crop up and hinder our efforts?”
3. “What is it that people argue most about inside this organization?”
4. “Is there an aspect of this organization's culture that could factor in blocking change?”
5. “What is it that most frustrates the people working inside this company?”
6. “What types of changes do people typically resist? Which of these are we most likely to encounter?”
7. “Think back to a big project that you worked on before. What roadblocks did you run into?”
8. “How do you think employees are going to react to this change on a purely gut level?”
9. “Complete this sentence: ‘The thing that could come out of left field and blindside us is …’ ”
10. “Who are some of the key players, and how might they each react to change?”
11. “If people are going to resist our recommendations, who's most likely to do that and what form will the resistance take?”
12. “What are all the factors that we need to consider that might have an impact on successful implementation?”

Questions to Identify Implications

1. “Let's look at the main ideas on the table and drill down to identify the impacts of each on the project and the organization.”
2. “If we go ahead as planned, what are the expected outcomes? What are some of the potential unanticipated things we could encounter?”
3. “What are the potential impacts of downsizing/scaling up/adding a new product/moving to a new location?”
4. “Look into a crystal ball and tell me what you see that could be an unexpected implication.”
5. “What's one thing we know for sure about the bottom line on this matter?”

Questions to Build Ownership and Commitment

1. “What is the biggest potential gain for the company? For you personally?”
2. “What do you personally hope to contribute to this initiative?”
3. “What will ensure that every single employee gets on board to help make change a reality?”
4. “What do you feel is the biggest hope that individual employees have with respect to this change?”
5. “What's the most important factor for getting senior management solidly on our team?”
6. “What outcome will most ensure that your strategic business partners continue their commitment to you?”

Questions to Prompt for Clarity

1. “Could you be more specific?”
2. “Can you say that another way?”
3. “Please say a little more about that.”
4. “Can you give us another example?”
5. “What's the opposite of that?”
6. “Someone please restate that idea to make sure we all understand this the same way.”
7. “Tell us all more. How does this impact us?”

Questions to Gain Perspective

1. “Has anyone experienced a similar situation?”
2. “What assumptions are we making about this idea?”
3. “What are the pros and cons of this idea?”
4. “If we've forgotten one thing, what is it?”
5. “If this team had a blind spot, what would it be?”
6. “How might other stakeholders see this issue?”
7. “How are employees/customers going to react?”
8. “Let's think of one more perspective on this to capture another point of view.”
9. “Does anyone have something totally different to suggest?”

Questions to Challenge and Confront

1. “In what way is our current strategy basically what you've always done?”
2. “If you had to identify one reason why this project hasn't gone as far as it should or been as bold as it needed to be, what would that be?”
3. “If there was one human trait that's holding this project back, what would you say it was?”
4. “How could our actions potentially get in the way of follow-through on change plans?”
5. “How does the organization contribute to the problem? How do we?”

The final question to ask when you sense that there's still something that hasn't been brought to the surface:

1. “What's the one question that we haven't yet asked ourselves?”