Communication Skills:

Face to Face Communications

Effective Questioning
Workbook

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STUDENTS TAKING THIS ONLINE COURSE
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 Effective Questioning

INTENDED AUDIENCE

No previous knowledge is assumed.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Intended Audience ......................................................................................... 2

Key to Symbols used in the Workbook ........................................................... 2
Using the Course ............................................................................................. 3
Open and Closed Questioning ........................................................................ 4
Strategic Questioning ..................................................................................... 8
Questioning Simulation ................................................................................. 13

KEY TO SYMBOLS USED IN THE WORKBOOK

QUESTIONS EXERCISES
Exercises to be done now.

EXAMPLE TIPS
Handy hints.

ACTIVITIES NAVIGATION
Activities to be done now. Directs you to other relevant
sections of the workbook.

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 Effective Questioning

USING THE COURSE

Mastery Test % Covered

You can use the mastery test to assess

your understanding of the topics you This icon is found at the top left hand
have covered in the course. You will corner of the screen in the Title Bar. It
only be tested on those parts of the indicates your position in the current
course that you have already examined. section and can be used to help pace
yourself through the course.

Bookmarks Self Assessment Quiz

For longer courses there is a Self

Assessment Quiz, which helps you
decide which parts of the course you
will benefit from. The quiz is a
sequence of questions. Depending
The bookmark enables you to return to on your score, you will be advised to
your last position in a section. skip or do a module.

If you choose a section that you have At the end of the quiz, you will see a
visited previously, you will be asked if map of the course with your
you want to Start Again or Resume. If recommended items highlighted.
you choose to Resume, you will be These recommendations are
returned to the point at which you left represented on the main menu with
or to the nearest appropriate point. the above icon. If you exit the quiz
before the end, you will not receive
any recommendations.

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 Effective Questioning
Open and Closed Questioning

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Summary

n Open questions are effective at generating a free

flow of dialogue.

n Closed questions are effective at nailing down

specific facts.

n Use a balance of open and closed questions to

help you pace the direction and flow of
information.

n Use a questioning funnel to help in problem

solving.

What color do you prefer? Well it depends on the

occasion, I won't wear
black to a wedding -- or
red -- but I would wear
yellow or pink...

We have blue, green and

lavender -- which color do
you prefer?
Blue.

Communication Skills: Face to Face Communications 4  2000, McGraw-Hill Lifetime Learning

 Effective Questioning
Open and Closed Questioning

Which of these are open and which are closed?

OPEN CLOSED

Could you tell me what you enjoyed about your last job?

What do you feel were your major successes?

Why did you leave?

What position did you hold?

How many people worked for you?

How much budget did you control?

What happened?

Did you plug it in before it exploded?

Was anyone hurt?

Where did you buy it from?

When did you buy it?

Would you like a refund or a new microwave?

A=O, B=O, C=O, D=C, E=C, F=C, G=O, H=C, I=C, J=C, K=C, L=C

Communication Skills: Face to Face Communications 5  2000, McGraw-Hill Lifetime Learning

 Effective Questioning

Open and Closed Questioning

Write down your suggestions. When you have finished, turn the page for our suggestions.

Situation 1

You're leading a meeting which is going well. 3 or 4 suggestions for the use of the staff cafeteria have been proposed.
One of the participants is being very quiet and you would like to draw him out and get his opinion.
Would you ask him a closed or open question? Why?

Situation 2

You're trying to build rapport with a potential client - what balance of questions should you ask?
Why?

Situation 3

A member of your team has come to you with a problem in meeting a deadline.
What balance of questions would you use to find out what the problem is and generate a solution?
Why?

Communication Skills: Face to Face Communications 6  2000, McGraw-Hill Lifetime Learning

 Effective Questioning

Open and Closed Questioning

Suggestion 1

Closed questions are usually easier to answer than open ones and are less likely to make the person feel
on the spot.
Try asking him a simple, closed question - avoid those which could make him feel his judgment will be
called into question.
e.g. Option 1 looks good. How many of your people would it involve?

Suggestion 2

Closed questions, such as "Did you find us easily?", are easy to answer and can help break the ice,
but to find out more about the customer's likes and needs you should move onto open questions.

Suggestion 3

Starting with open questions such as "What's the problem?" or "Why is that?" will net a wide range of
reasons ... and, if you listen actively, watching for body language and tone, you may find out more
about the problem than the other person actually says.
For example, the person may skirt the fact that another member of staff is not making a proper
contribution. By probing further - with closed questions - you can establish how much impact this is
having.
Armed with the facts, you'll have a better chance at approaching the other person positively and
working out a solution.

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 Effective Questioning

Strategic Questioning

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Summary

Use questions to
n Check your understanding of facts.
n Check your understanding of feelings and motives.
n Build empathy.
n Defuse anger.
n Help people discover things for themselves.
n Encourage participation.

When you ask a question, you are in charge of the direction of the conversation.

Communication Skills: Face to Face Communications 8  2000, McGraw-Hill Lifetime Learning

 Effective Questioning

Strategic Questioning

Which of these is a poor way to check your understanding of this statement?

"We didn't get the contract."

a. We didn't get the contract?

b. Did we price it too high?
c. Did we do a poor proposal?
d. Did we do a poor presentation?
e. Did our competitors undercut us on price?
See answer below

We didn't get the contract.

Did we price it too high?

No, they postponed the whole

project until next year.
That's a shame.

Yes, Trudi is really upset

about it.

Don't parrotphrase when you really want to paraphrase.

additional information.
a) is the poor choice because it doesn't demonstrate that you have evaluated what has been said and doesn't elicit any

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 Effective Questioning

Strategic Questioning

Use questions to check the other person's understanding. Which of these are good questions for checking under-
standing? The plane leaves at 10. That means check in by 8 at the JAL terminal. The car will be by to pick you up
at 6.

a. Did you get all that?

b. Did you understand that?
c. How do you feel about being ready by 6?
d. Is that OK with you?

a) and b) and d) are questions which can easily be answered with an unthinking yes or no. c) demands a bit more
thought and checks the listener's understanding of the time he or she must be ready - it's a better choice -
especially if it's said with a touch of humor.
AVOID being seen as patronizing at all costs.

Use questions to defuse an angry customer.

Use questions to encourage the person to let off steam.

Listen to find out what the problem is.
Use questions to clarify the details of the problem.
Use questions to find out what solution is acceptable to the customer.
Use questions to encourage participation.

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 Effective Questioning

Strategic Questioning

Use questions to encourage participation.

It may be tempting when you have your own opinion or know the answer, but ask questions instead.

Ask for opinions or suggestions - you'll stimulate their brain cells and you'll make them feel valued.

When you know less about the subject than the other person, this will also contribute to your learning.

Use questions to help people discover things for themselves.

Telling someone how to do something is never as effective as letting them discover it by themselves. You can help
this process to happen by asking questions.

Quite often you may already know the answer or have enough experience of a similar situation to know what
questions to ask. This is often the case when you are coaching or mentoring other members of your team.

NEVER phrase the questions in a patronising way - people can see through that approach.

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 Effective Questioning

Strategic Questioning

The result of telling ....

Wartogski Wild

Don't waste time going

through the obituaries Why not?
again, OK?

So what, is that
We didn't get any decent my fault?
clients out of it.

We're not exactly tripping over C

No of course not - it just notes at the moment, I was just trying
wasn't very productive .... to generate a little business. A dead
person could mean a live person who
isn't satisfied with the nature of the
dead person's departure ...

The result of asking questions ....

Did we get any leads by going Let me see. There was Mr. Carson but
he just wanted company, and Miranda
through the obits?
Dodd, but she never paid her bill and
Mrs. Kells, only her sleeping angel
turned out to be a cat ... No, we didn't
get anything worthwhile.

So, should we
keep doing it?
Nah, I'm afraid it's a
time waster.

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 Effective Questioning

Simulation

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Summary

Here's your chance to practice using open and closed

questions, by guiding the salesperson who is trying to
sell Wartogski a car.

Keep in mind thatWartogski:

■ Has little money to spend on maintenance.
■ Doesn't want the car in the shop too often.
■ Does want to get out of tight situations in a hurry.

These are the key learning points to remember as you work through the simulation:

Open questions are non directive.

Open questions encourage dialogue and probe for feelings.

Closed questions are directive.

Closed questions yield more specific information.

If you ask a "Yes/No" question, you might get the answer No!

Communication Skills: Face to Face Communications 13  2000, McGraw-Hill Lifetime Learning