The Art Of Asking Open-Ended Questions As A Leader
How to get better at asking open-ended questions to support and coach your team members.
Asking open-ended questions is an aspect of active listening that builds on the skills of paraphrasing and allows the listener to gather more information. This skill can be really helpful in supporting team members.
What is an open-ended question?
Open-ended questions:
- Typically begin with what or how
- Allow people to tell their story and to share feelings
- Clarify information
- Keep the conversation going
On the other hand, closed-ended (or just closed) questions:
- Can be answered by “yes” or “no” or simple facts
- Stop the conversation
- Require many questions to get the full story
To understand the difference between open- and closed-ended questions it can be helpful to compare some examples:
- Are you feeling ok?
- Is it too hot in the room?
- Are you enjoying the workshop so far?
Now, if we transform the above into open-ended questions:
- How do you feel right now?
- How is the room temperature for you?
- What do you think about the workshop so far?
These questions are asking for very similar information, but in very different ways. Consider how the quality of the responses to the first and second sets of questions would differ.
Nevertheless, there are still moments when you might want to ask a closed-ended question for clarity, so don’t worry not all closed-ended questions are bad.
How does asking open-ended questions help the team?
As a manager, when you ask open-ended questions it can:
- Help to understand different perspectives, needs and expectations of different team members
- Help to identify root causes, assumptions and gaps in team communication
- Help to respectfully resolve conflicts, misunderstandings and disagreements
- Encourage team member participation, engagement and feedback
- Generate new ideas, solutions and opportunities for improvement and growth
Tips to get better at asking open-ended questions
It takes practice to get better at asking open-ended questions, but there are some practical tips you can consider:
Avoid questions that can be answered with “yes” or “no”
This is of course the easiest tip — nevertheless easier to say than do.
Start questions using the 5W or H words
- What
- Who
- Where
- When
- Why
- How
But, be conscious with the “why” questions
Open-ended “why” questions can be helpful if you want to understand someone’s thought process or dig deeper into an idea. But, they can make some people feel defensive, so think carefully before using them, especially if you are having a difficult conversation.
Ideally, try rephrasing them into other open-ended questions, for example:
- Why did you do that? → How did you arrive at that decision?
- Why did you think that was a good idea? → What factors led you to go that way?
Encourage elaboration
- Describe — “Can you describe how you handled this situation?”
- Tell — “Could you please tell me more about that situation?”
- Explain — “Please explain why the new system is not working, what is happening?”
Practice patience
Silence is not the enemy. Don’t jump in with suggestions or follow up questions if someone seems to be taking time to answer your question. You’ve asked them something which requires them to think properly for an answer! Be patient.
Avoid leading questions
When you want to learn what someone really thinks about a topic, you want to avoid leading questions that nudge them towards a particular answer. Before you ask an important question — whether closed-ended or open-ended — ask yourself, “Am I encouraging them to respond in a specific way?”
For example, “do you like our awesome new coffee machine?” is a leading question because you have already suggested that it’s awesome. A less leading question would be “What do you think of our new coffee machine?” because it doesn’t put so much pressure on the other person to agree.
Experiment with different styles of questioning
There are different kinds of open-ended questions, for example:
- Probing: “Tell me more about that”
- Hypothetical: “What if they do respond angrily, how would you react?”
- Reflective: “You say you are concerned about the changes. Could you tell me more?”
Depending on the individual, conversation and context, one style may work better than another.
Asking open-ended questions is the first step if you want to be an effective coach in the workplace. It takes practice to focus on keeping the conversation going and the team member talking/sharing/reflecting.
Ultimately, the key takeaways are that:
- An open-ended question is one that cannot be answered with a single word or phrase such as “yes” or “no”.
- Open-ended questions prompt the beginning of a longer conversation by asking questions that typically begin with “What, Where, Why, When, Where and How”.
