{"id":5773,"date":"2022-08-05T10:54:57","date_gmt":"2022-08-05T10:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stl-training.co.uk\/b\/?p=5773"},"modified":"2023-12-31T01:37:09","modified_gmt":"2023-12-31T01:37:09","slug":"asking-effective-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stl-training.co.uk\/b\/asking-effective-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Asking Effective Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Questions help us to gather information, clarify facts, and communicate with others. They are a key element of effective communication<\/a>. In this blog, you will see how you can improve results by making changes to how you ask questions.<\/p>\n

Management and Communication <\/strong><\/h2>\n

In our \u201cIntroduction to Management<\/a>\u201d course, we look at the importance of a new manager\u2019s communication and how vital it is to help your team increase productivity, efficiency and for you to get the results you expect from your team.<\/p>\n

The impact of asking the right questions on team performance cannot be underestimated.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Here are some questioning techniques that you can use:<\/p>\n

Closed questions<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Closed questions limit the answer to usually yes or no, some examples include:<\/p>\n

\u201cHave you identified all the resources required?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHave you hit your targets this month?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Although closed questions tend to shut down communication, they can be useful if you are searching for a specific piece of information. For example, you can use them when you need exact answers, fact checking, or summarising. Think quantitative data.<\/p>\n

Open questions<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Open questions get their name because the response is open-ended; the person answering has a wide range of options to choose from when responding. Open questions are great conversation starters. They can be useful for fuller fact finding, to enhance communication to a greater depth, and of course they are useful if you need to get a full answer from someone. Open questions use one of six words as a root:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • \n
      \n
    • Who?<\/em><\/li>\n
    • What?<\/em><\/li>\n
    • Where?<\/em><\/li>\n
    • When?<\/em><\/li>\n
    • Why?<\/em><\/li>\n
    • How?<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      \"\"<\/p>\n

      TED\/PIE<\/strong><\/h2>\n

      A simple tool to help ask great questions is the TED method, which stands for:<\/p>\n

      T<\/strong>ell me<\/p>\n

      E<\/strong>xplain<\/p>\n

      D<\/strong>escribe<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      You can also add the PIE method alongside TED to enhance your questions even more. PIE stands for:<\/p>\n

      P<\/strong>recisely<\/p>\n

      I<\/strong>n detail<\/p>\n

      E<\/strong>xactly<\/p>\n

      As an example you could ask:<\/p>\n

      \u201cTell me precisely\u2026?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

      \u201cExplain to me in detail\u2026?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

      \u201cDescribe exactly\u2026?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

      \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

      \"\"<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Other question types<\/strong><\/h2>\n

      There is a toolbox of probing questions that we can use. Each type serves a specific purpose.<\/p>\n

      Clarification<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

      By probing for clarification, you invite the other person to share more information so that you can fully understand their message.<\/p>\n

      \u201cWhat does \u2026 look like?\u201d<\/em> (Any of the five senses can be used here)<\/p>\n

      Completeness and Correctness<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

      These types of questions can help you ensure you have the full, true story. Having all the facts can protect you from assuming and jumping to conclusions \u2013 two fatal barriers to communication.<\/p>\n

      \u201cWhat else happened after that?\u201d<\/p>\n

      Determining Relevance<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

      This category will help you determine how a point is related to the conversation. It can also help you get the speaker back on track from a tangent.<\/p>\n

      \u201cHow does that relate to\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n

      Drilling Down<\/em><\/strong>
      \n<\/em>Use these types of questions to nail down vague statements.<\/p>\n

      \u201cWhat do you mean by\u2026?\u201d \u00a0or \u201cCould you please give an example?\u201d<\/p>\n

      Summarising<\/em><\/strong>
      \n<\/em>These questions are framed more like a statement, and they pull together all the relevant points. They can be used to confirm to the listener that you heard what was said, and to give them an opportunity to correct any misunderstandings.<\/p>\n

      \u201cSo you are after a product that is fast but also efficient?\u201d<\/p>\n

      Remember, paraphrasing means repeating what you think the speaker said but in your own words.<\/p>\n

      Closing Thoughts<\/strong><\/h2>\n

      Simple, eh? (Closed question there) So remember\u2026 the wording of the questions you ask can have a significant impact on the responses you receive. By following these tips, you can improve efficiency and communication skills within your team. It could be an easy productivity win!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Questions help us to gather information, clarify facts, and communicate with others. They are a key element of effective communication. In this blog, you will see how you can improve results by making changes to how you ask questions. Management and Communication In our \u201cIntroduction to Management\u201d course, we look at the importance of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[638,633],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-professional-management","category-professional-development"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stl-training.co.uk\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stl-training.co.uk\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stl-training.co.uk\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stl-training.co.uk\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stl-training.co.uk\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5773"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.stl-training.co.uk\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5781,"href":"https:\/\/www.stl-training.co.uk\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5773\/revisions\/5781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stl-training.co.uk\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stl-training.co.uk\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stl-training.co.uk\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}