QUESTIONING Skills

Asking questions is a fundamental key to learning.

          You will never progress to a top job until you have learned to ask hard questions. A skilful questioner learns much.

          Don’t be frightened to ask questions. They are easier to handle than mistakes.      

Five of the best tips to improve the way you ask questions

* Put the person at ease first

          Don’t be in a hurry. Start with comfortable questions. Chat and begin by asking questions that are simple and easy to answer.

 “Where did you grow up?” “Are you interested in any sports?”

* Ask direct open-ended questions

          Open-ended questions invite a longer reply and aim to get people talking. “What did you like about the office social last week?” A closed question will get you only a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response. “Did you attend the social last week?”

* Keep your questions simple

          Professional interviewers use simple questions such as ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘when’, where’, how’, who’ and ‘how much’.

          “Why do you want a job with us?” “How much would you like to be paid?”

*  Try some ‘suppose’, ‘probe’ and ‘agreement’ questions

          “If you were the boss, what things would you change?”

          “You said you were not happy with your working conditions. Why is that?””What made you say that?”

          “That sounds a good idea. So you think we could do things better. Tell us how.”

          ” Who does it better?”

          “How would you like a job in another department? Would that suit you?”

* Pause after asking a question

          By keeping quiet you put the onus to respond to the other person.  

          Never answer your own question. This is a great temptation. Take care you don’t make this mistake.

          Summarise and repeat the answer given. Give your interpretation of the answer given. This allows the other person a chance to amplify, to explain what they said and to make any corrections or alterations.

          Avoid evaluating answers but express your gratitude for the response to your question. An unexpected or a vague answer is often valuable as it may indicate they may not understand a situation,  you may have a communication problem to sort out.

          Don’t be frightened to ask questions. They are easier to handle than mistakes. Never let fear stop you asking something you didn’t understand or know.

– Geoffrey Moss (mossassociates.co.nz)

“The power to question is the basis of all progress.”  

Source: “Persuasive Ways. ‘Tricks of the trade’ to get your ideas across”. First published by  Moss Associates Ltd., New Zealand and in Chinese by the Shanghai People’s Publishing House, the Singapore Institute of Management, Kogan Page Ltd, U.K and in Hungarian by Bagolyvar Konyvkiado and  VIKAS, India.  Also published as the “Secrets of Persuasion” by Cengage Learning Asia and as an e-book and sold by Amazon.com.