Creating Powerful Questions

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Creating Powerful Questions

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alex.danger.falk

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Creating Powerful Questions

“Genuine questions ones for which we don’t already have answers

are open invitations to innovation, calling forth ideas and insights that do not yet exist”. “

Asking questions and the right questions can make the difference between an
individuals and or organizations success. If a company does not encourage
questions, the future of the business will be in jeopardy. If you do know which
questions to ask in critical decisions the future will be in doubt. Staying power
whether as an individual or an organization is increasingly being defined by
questioning skills.

The importance of carefully crafted questions for individuals and organizations is

reaching greater public awareness as is evidenced by the increasing number of
research projects into the practice of facilitation. A conversation that matters
focuses on questions that truly matter to the participants.

Great minds think with questions. Learning to ask good questions is learning critical and
artistic thinking habits. One of the greatest gifts a facilitator brings to an event is guiding
the formulation of questions which have real heart and meaning, create conversations
which foster constructive dialogue, access collective wisdom and create innovative
possibilities for action.

Good questioning skills may be the world's most unsung talent. Ask the right
questions in the right way, and you'll engage people; do it poorly, and you'll put
them off.

Role of Questions
The role of questions is simple – to focus the group’s attention in a manner
which:
• engages and motivates people to talk,
• generates energy and excitement, and
• compels people to commitment to action.

Questions have an unsung power to help evolve the future by having

“conversations focused on the right questions. As a facilitator the shaping good
questions becomes one of our most important gifts to the process and becomes
critical to achieving the desired outcomes.
Hints by Helen Newsletter Facilitation Essentials January 2006
Creating Powerful Questions Page 2

The Architecture of Good Questions

Designing powerful questions requires attention to three aspects:
The Construction;
Scope, and
Assumptions.

The Construction
The structure of powerful question starts with "how," "what," "where," "why" or
"when." Think that's obvious? Well, how many times have you begun a question
with "Tell me…" or "Describe for me..."? When you frame questions in that
manner, you take control of the process because you're giving commands as well
as asking for input. This type of question is great for probing and gaining further
details to clarify but not as an opening question.

When you ask a question there's nothing more important than generating a true
and honest curiosity about the answer. That's why open-ended questions are
best for most situations, unless you have a particular reason for leading someone
to a specific conclusion or actually need a fact supplied to you.

Try to avoid yes/no questions because they're usually a dead end. In contrast,
use open-ended questions which:

• invite opinions, thoughts and feelings;

• encourage participation;
• establish rapport;
• stimulate discussion; and
• maintain balance between facilitator and participant.

Scope
Powerful questions will allow for scaling up and down an issue – big picture to
snapshot. “What does it mean … for me, for my team, for my department and for
my company?”

Assumptions
Asking good questions requires us to be clear on the aim of the conversation –
what is we are out to achieve – a decision, a list of options etc.
Asking powerful questions requires us to be clear on the underlying beliefs and
values at work with the group.
Powerful questions are simple and concise enough to penetrate the layers of a
issue and get to the heart of things.
Hints by Helen Newsletter Facilitation Essentials January 2006
Creating Powerful Questions Page 3

Series of Questions
If we analyze of the types of questions we can ask, we see that not all questions
elicit the same type of thinking. A number of theorists have organized intellectual
activity into levels; one of the most well known of these organizational strategies
was authored by Benjamin Bloom in 1956 and is known as Bloom's Taxonomy.

While questions which elicit lower level thinking are an important part of dialogue,
they are useless unless they build toward questions which help people to
dialogue on the topic at a higher order level of thinking. As a facilitator you want
to sequence your questions to take the conversation from an objective level look
at the data, to a personal response to the information to an synthesis and
analysis all the way through to making a decision.

You will want your series of questions to follow a flow such as:

Questions of knowledge require participants to recall facts, terms, basic concepts

and answers about the topic at hand. Key words could be: arrange, define,
duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat,
reproduce, and state.

Questions of comprehension can then follow to demonstrate understanding of

facts and ideas by organizing, translating, interpreting, giving descriptions, and
stating main ideas. Key words in these questions: classify, describe, discuss,
explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review,
select, summarize, and translate.

Questions of reflection will allow participants to open the door to their wealth of
experiences bringing out people’s immediate reactions and associations tapping
into the rich learning’s and understandings gained through those experiences.
Key words in these questions: images, associations, excites, frustrates, remind,
impact, concerns, intrigues, gut level, high, low and response.

Questions which synthesis data will allow participants to deal with large amounts
of data: by compiling the information together in a different way by combining
elements in a new pattern or proposing alternative solutions. Key words for use
in questions: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design,
develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, and write.

Questions will analyze all of the preceding data which will look to examine and
break information into parts by identifying motives or causes or make inferences
and find evidence to support generalizations. Key words in these questions might
be: analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize,
differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, and test.
Hints by Helen Newsletter Facilitation Essentials January 2006
Creating Powerful Questions Page 4

Questions which encourage participants to look at application of this analysis

such as: Solve problems to new situations by applying acquired knowledge,
facts, techniques and rules in a different way. Questions at this level may involve
these key words: apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate,
interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, and write.

Using all of the previous information, facilitators should now pose questions
which invite participants to evaluate and determine their next steps, present and
defend opinions by making judgments about information, validity of ideas or
quality of work based on a set of criteria

Summary
Good questioning skills may be the world's most unsung talent. Ask the right
questions in the right way, and you'll engage people; do it poorly, and you'll put
them off.

Resources
Books
The Art of Focused Conversation by Brian Stanfield New Society Publishers
0865714169

Questions that Work - The Art of Formative Questioning by Andrew Finlayson

Amaccon 0814470777

Want to know more about facilitating?

Consider attending a highly informative dynamic workshop that will teach

all managers, supervisors and employees how to create a team culture
which fosters and sustains highly motivated employee.?

Consider attending one of the facilitation skills or making

meeting matters course offered by Helen J. Wythe &
Associates, which will provide knowledge and skills in the area
of group process.

http://www.hjwythe.com/facilitation/FaciliationFundamentals.asp
http://www.hjwythe.com/training/faciliation_skills.asp
http://www.hjwythe.com/training/MakingMeetingsMatter.asp