Relearning The Art of Asking Questions

Communication
Relearning the Art of Asking Questions

by Tom Pohlmann and Neethi Mary Thomas
March 27, 2015
Proper questioning has become a lost art. The curious four-year-old

asks a lot of questions — incessant streams of “Why?” and “Why
not?” might sound familiar — but as we grow older, our questioning
decreases. In a recent poll of more than 200 of our clients, we found
that those with children estimated that 70-80% of their kids’
dialogues with others were comprised of questions. But those same
clients said that only 15-25% of their own interactions consisted of
questions. Why the drop off?
RELATED VIDEO
/
Think back to your time growing
up and in school. Chances are you
received the most recognition or
 PLAY 1:14 reward when you got the correct
answers. Later in life, that
The Art of Asking Questions incentive continues. At work, we
The four questions you need to often reward those who answer
solve different types of questions, not those who ask
problems. them. Questioning conventional
 Save  Share
wisdom can even lead to being
sidelined, isolated, or considered a
SEE MORE VIDEOS > threat.
Because expectations for decision-
making have gone from “get it done soon” to “get it done now” to “it
should have been done yesterday,” we tend to jump to conclusions
instead of asking more questions. And the unfortunate side effect of
not asking enough questions is poor decision-making. That’s why it’s
imperative that we slow down and take the time to ask more — and
better — questions. At best, we’ll arrive at better conclusions. At
worst, we’ll avoid a lot of rework later on.
Aside from not speaking up enough, many professionals don’t think
about how different types of questions can lead to different outcomes.
You should steer a conversation by asking the right kinds of
questions, based on the problem you’re trying to solve. In some cases,
you’ll want to expand your view of the problem, rather than keeping
it narrowly focused. In others, you may want to challenge basic
assumptions or affirm your understanding in order to feel more
confident in your conclusions.
Consider these four types of questions — Clarifying, Adjoining,
Funneling, and Elevating — each aimed at achieving a different goal:
Clarifying questions help us better understand what has been said.
In many conversations, people speak past one another. Asking
clarifying questions can help uncover the real intent behind what is
said. These help us understand each other better and lead us toward
relevant follow-up questions. “Can you tell me more?” and “Why do
/
you say so?” both fall
into this category.
People often don’t ask
these questions,
because they tend to
make assumptions and
complete any missing
parts themselves.
Adjoining questions
are used to explore
related aspects of the
problem that are
ignored in the
conversation.
Questions such as,
“How would this
Find this and other HBR graphics in our Visual Library  concept apply in a
different context?” or “What are the related uses of this technology?”
fall into this category. For example, asking “How would these insights
apply in Canada?” during a discussion on customer life-time value in
the U.S. can open a useful discussion on behavioral differences
between customers in the U.S. and Canada. Our laser-like focus on
immediate tasks often inhibits our asking more of these exploratory
questions, but taking time to ask them can help us gain a broader
understanding of something.
Funneling questions are used to dive deeper. We ask these to
understand how an answer was derived, to challenge assumptions,
and to understand the root causes of problems. Examples include:
“How did you do the analysis?” and “Why did you not include this
step?” Funneling can naturally follow the design of an organization
and its offerings, such as, “Can we take this analysis of outdoor
products and drive it down to a certain brand of lawn furniture?”
Most analytical teams – especially those embedded in business
operations – do an excellent job of using these questions.
/
Elevating questions raise broader issues and highlight the bigger
picture. They help you zoom out. Being too immersed in an
immediate problem makes it harder to see the overall context behind
it. So you can ask, “Taking a step back, what are the larger issues?” or
“Are we even addressing the right question?” For example, a
discussion on issues like margin decline and decreasing customer
satisfaction could turn into a broader discussion of corporate strategy
with an elevating question: “Instead of talking about these issues
separately, what are the larger trends we should be concerned about?
How do they all tie together?” These questions take us to a higher
playing field where we can better see connections between individual
problems.
In today’s “always on” world, there’s a rush to answer. Ubiquitous
access to data and volatile business demands are accelerating this
sense of urgency. But we must slow down and understand each other
better in order to avoid poor decisions and succeed in this
environment. Because asking questions requires a certain amount of
vulnerability, corporate cultures must shift to promote this behavior.
Leaders should encourage people to ask more questions, based on the
goals they’re trying to achieve, instead of having them rush to deliver
answers. In order to make the right decisions, people need to start
asking the questions that really matter.
TP
Tom Pohlmann is head of values and strategy at
Mu Sigma. He was formerly Chief Marketing and
Strategy Officer for Forrester Research, and
previously led the company’s largest business unit
and all of its technology research.
NT
Neethi Mary Thomas is engagement manager at
Mu Sigma, where she leads global engagements
for Fortune 500 and hyper growth clients in the
/
West coast. She is a seasoned analytics consultant
and P&L owner.

Relearning The Art of Asking Questions

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Relearning The Art of Asking Questions

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Relearning The Art of Asking Questions

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Communication

Relearning the Art of Asking Questions

Proper questioning has become a lost art. The curious four-year-old

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.