Topic 3.6: Curiosity and questions as mechanisms for strong communication

“When we become leaders we feel that it is important for us to have answers rather than questions … The ability to ask questions goes hand in hand with the ability to learn. A learning organization is only possible if it has a culture that encourages questions” (Marquardt, 2005: 12-13).^[1]

Jeff Carew, VP at Collectcorp: “If you do not create and maintain a working environment where you are always asking questions of yourself and your employees and forcing them to think, then you will probably never be any better tomorrow than you are today. Yesterday’s solutions will not solve tomorrow’s problems … and who else is better to teach you how your environment is changing than the managers on the floor or in the trenches?” (p12).

 “Oakley and Krug (1991) call questions the ‘ultimate empowerment tool’ for the leader”.

 “John Kotter, the noted Harvard professor and author on leadership, writes that key difference between leaders and managers is that leaders focus on getting to the right questions whereas managers focus on finding solutions to those questions (1998)” (p19). 

“Leaders need to create a questioning climate where employees feel safe and able to trust the system and the people involved. Without this level of safety and comfort, people are generally unwilling to be vulnerable, and to be comfortable answering questions that might seem threatening. And without trust and openness, people are unwilling to communicate about feelings and about problems, and thus ask the leader questions that may help them” (p24).

 “The act of questioning actually has a physiological impact on the human brain. The neurons make more connections because of the body’s need to deal with a question. To demonstrate this, take a heading in this or any book and convert it into a question. For example, consider the statement ‘action learning helps us to learn’. If you simply ask yourself ‘How does action learning help us to learn?’ you will be surprised at how much more you will learn and retain of what you read in that section” (pp29-30).

“Asking good questions requires two critical skills. First, you must know what questions to ask, for questions are not all created equal. Second, you must know how to ask them” (p57).

“Superb questions accomplish a number of wonderful results. So what constitutes a great question for the leader to ask? There is no single correct answer, of course, but for most of us who have experience with great questions would agree that they can create the following benefits:

• Cause the person to focus and to stretch
• Create deep reflection
• Challenge taken-for-granted assumptions that prevent people from acting in new and forceful ways
• Generate courage and strength
• Lead to breakthrough thinking
• Contain the keys that open to door to great solution
• Enable people to better view the situation
• Open doors in the mind and get people to think more deeply
• Test assumptions and cause individuals to explore why they act in the way that they do as well as why they choose to take action
• Generate positive and powerful action

 Marquardt highlights two different types of questions: content and process:

“Content questions ask about the data used to solve a problem or make a decision, process questions focus on how the problem was solved or the decision made … Most leaders focus on content questions, which come more naturally; process questions, on the other hand, require conscious attention. Starting with the appropriate process questions gives people access to insights that help them formulate and explain their thinking. In comparison, starting with content questions risks leading people and limiting their range of responses. Thus, the preferred sequence is to start with process questions and then proceed to content questions.”

 Types of open-ended questions:

• Explorative questions open up new avenues and insights and lead to new explorations: Have you explored or thought of …? Would such a source help …?
• Affective questions invite members to share feelings about an issue: How do you feel about leaving this job?
• Reflective questions encourage more exploration and elaboration: You said there are difficulties with your manager; what do you think causes these difficulties?
• Probing questions invite the person or group to go more deeply into a particular issue, to examine thoroughly or to question closely. This is useful not only for getting more information, but for getting people to be more open and expansive in their thinking; words such as describe, explain, clarify, elaborate or expand get into more depth or breadth on a topic. For example: Can you elaborate on why this is happening?
• Fresh questions challenge basic assumptions: Why must it be that way? What do you always …? Has this ever been tried?
• Questions that create connections establish a systems perspective: What are the consequences of these actions?
• Analytical questions examine causes and not just symptoms: Why has this happened?
• Clarifying questions help free us from ambiguity, but such questions are sometimes difficult to ask. When we hear a question, we tend to think we should know what the other person means, and that it is some fault of ours that we are not able to understand. Possible questions to ask: What specifically did you mean by that? How exactly would you like that done? Could you explain more about this situation?” (pp71-72).

 “Open-ended questions can address either content or process issues, and content and process questions have different roles. Spitzer and Evans (1997) distinguish them as follows: content questions ask about the data used to solve a problem or make a decision, and process questions focus on how the problem was solved or the decision made … Most leaders focus on content questions, which come more naturally; process questions, on the other hand, require conscious attention. Starting with the appropriate process questions gives people access to insights that help them formulate and explain their thinking. In comparison, starting with content questions risks leading people and limiting their range of responses. Thus, the preferred sequence is to start with process questions and then proceed to content questions” (p73).

 “Adams (2004) refers to two types of mindsets that may reside in the questioner: learner and judger. In the learner mindset, the questioner seeks to be responsive to life’s circumstances … Leaders with the learning mindset tend to be optimistic and presuppose new possibilities … The judger mindset, on the other hand, is reactive. Leaders with the judging mindset tend to focus on the past, not as a means of learning but to apportion praise or, more likely, blame” (pp78-79).

 “Here are some examples of questions asked from the learning mindset, according to Adams:

• What’s good or useful about this?
• What possibilities does this open up?
• What can we do about this?
• How can we stay on track?
• What can we learn from this?” (p79).