Great questions…

• demand answers
• stimulate thinking
• provide valuable information
• place us in  more in control
• get people to open up
• get people to ‘hear’ themselves and discover

They are at the heart of great coaching and influence. We influence more significantly by the questions we ask more than through the statements we make. Although the conventional wisdom often assumes the opposite!

Think about these ways to craft more potent and situation changing aspects of powerful questions…

Potent Questions are the Structured well.

Open questions:  
How might we…
Tell me more about…
What is that about…

Or more fully,   What possibilities exist that we have not thought of yet?

All of these invite exploration, reflection and discovery.

Closed questions have their place though since they bring focus and pressure that are helpful in moving to action…Can you start that tomorrow? When will you begin? Have you decided to do this?

Potent Questions are Scoped well.

Great questions are designed to fit the scope of the situation being explored.
If they are too big they might be interesting but not engage us in moving toward action. If they are way beyond our capacity to act on these kinds of questions can undermine and sense of control and lead to downward spirals.

‘How we might eradicate world poverty?’ is a big question that can leave people feeling powerless to even get started. A question that is well scoped creates a sense of ‘doable’ challenge and stretch without going over the edge of credibility.

Potent Questions are Uncover assumptions well.

Some questions introduce assumptions into the conversation that may not be helpful. How can we address the lack of teamwork in the department?

Perhaps there isn’t a lack of teamwork and the assumption behind this question has just led the conversation in a direction that will not be useful.

Potent questions are clean questions, unencumbered by assumptions or the agenda of the questioner or they are questions where the assumptions implicit in the question are understood and are being consciously introduced into the discussion.