Asking questions is a powerful tool in communications. It helps individuals and organizations achieve a wide range of benefits and often contributes to greater alignment and unity.
Most people speak in declarations and end sentences with a period. As a business communicator, it’s important to understand that statements often halt conversations; questions encourage them. If you’re a leader, you’ll quickly run out of things to say if you always end your sentences with a period. Not the case with questions.
Whether you’re in a professional setting or personal interaction, asking questions helps you and others gain valuable insights, facilitate deeper understanding and foster stronger relationships. Here, we’ll explore some of the benefits of asking questions and how it can enhance your professional communication skills.
Adopt a Posture of Learning… Be Curious
Asking questions helps you gain clarity and understanding. When you’re unclear about a topic, asking questions can help you gain a deeper understanding of the subject. Clarifying questions can also help you to identify gaps in your own knowledge, allowing you to fill in any missing pieces. This clarity often leads to more effective decision-making because you have a better understanding of the options and outcomes available to you and those around you.
The greatest gift is not being afraid to question.
– Ruby Dee
Civil Rights activist, poet, and playwright
I remember sitting in a conference room with several executives who couldn’t reach consensus. Like many business leaders, they were using acronyms because they’re a timesaver. In this case, it as MTTR.
The discussion went on for several minutes, and even got heated at times. While I was early in my career and the most junior leader in the room, I summoned the courage to ask, “What’s MTTR?”
One senior leader said, “Mean Time to Repair.” Then silence… another said, “No, it’s Mean Time to Restore.” Mean time to restore service begins when the outage occurs, and mean time to repair begins when a technician begins to fix the issue. Once the participants realized that they were arguing about two different things, they quickly reached consensus and moved on.
With a single question, I learned two things: 1. a couple key terms used in the industry I supported at the time, and 2. more importantly… the power of questions.
What would happen if you ended more of what you said with a question mark? Exactly! Curiosity invites conversation. But remember that questions without sharing is an interrogation!
Asking Questions Fosters Stronger Relationships
When you ask someone a question, you’re indicating that you value their opinion and want to hear what they have to say. Asking questions builds trust and rapport, as the other person feels heard and respected. In a corporate communications setting, asking questions can also help to build stronger relationships with the leaders, business partners and customers that you support. Asking questions demonstrates your interest in their needs, concerns and desired outcomes.
At the risk of being called Captain Obvious, it’s important that you carefully listen to the answer. Asking questions for questions sake isn’t productive. However, asking follow-up questions based on the response demonstrates genuine interest and leads to deeper understanding.
Related: 20 questions to ask instead of “How are you doing right now?”
Asking Questions Uncovers Opportunities
By asking questions, you identify new opportunities or potential solutions to problems. This often leads to creativity and innovation, as you explore new ideas and possibilities. At work, asking questions also helps to identify areas where there are opportunities for improvement or potential risks, allowing you to proactively address any issues before they become larger problems.
Asking Questions Improves Your Communication Skills
By actively listening to the responses to your questions, you learn how to communicate more effectively. Observe the person’s body language as they respond. You’ll identify patterns in how people respond to certain types of questions, allowing you to refine your approach and ask more effective questions in the future. Listen with your eyes as well as your ears. All this helps you become a better communicator overall, as you learn how to connect with others and convey your message more effectively.
Let’s Get Practical
Over the years, I’ve worked with many leaders. While they all knew what they wanted, I often helped them articulate those desires in a way that would help their team get aligned around their desired outcomes. Most leaders can reach consensus with their teams in principle quickly. However, something interesting happens when you write the desired outcomes down in black and white – conversation, discussions and sometimes debate follows. As the team refines the words, they eventually reach consensus.
Once that work is done, it serves as a keystone for decisions. Does whatever we’re talking about contribute to a desired outcome? If the answer is ‘yes,’ you move forward. If the answer is “no” or “not really,” then you pass. Sometimes you even pass on a good idea because the timing isn’t right to achieve the desired outcomes you agreed with the team.
To help your partner or a team determine their desired outcomes, ask four simple questions:
- What do you want your audience to know?
- What do you want your audience to think?
- How do you want your audience to feel?
- What do you want your audience to do?
Tools We Use: To help you capture what you hear, download the Desired Outcomes template.
Asking Questions is a Powerful Tool
Asking questions provides a lot of benefits. Whether you’re a corporate communications professional or leading a team, you’ll gain clarity and understanding that will foster stronger relationships and uncover new opportunities. The benefits of asking questions are undeniable. By incorporating this approach into your communication strategy, you’ll become a more effective communicator and strategic business partner. Additionally, you’ll achieve greater success in all your professional and personal endeavors.