The questions you ask determine the answers you get in business – and in life in general. But to get the right answers, it’s not just whether you ask questions but whether you ask the right questions the right way – in other words, whether you employ critical thinking, according to Harvard Business Review contributor John Coleman.
How much information you gain, or fail to, depends on how your question is posed.
Here are the strategies employed by companies such as Apple and Tesla, reports Kelly Main for Inc.
Open the door for problem-solving
According to HBR’s Coleman, you want to ask questions that require critical thinking. To do this, you need to create space for active problem-solving. This not only eliminates the short, and largely uninformative, single-word response, but it forces the respondent to open up, giving you a depth of understanding that you wouldn’t likely get otherwise.
For example, Coleman says that instead of asking a straightforward yes-or-no question such as “Is this market stable?” frame the same question as, “If the market were unstable, why would that be?”
Drop your angle
The human mind is wired to seek and identify danger. This process naturally involves looking for signals of risk, something that a question with an angle that doesn’t help you can do. And if it’s not helpful, the mind might assume it might be harmful.
Take the approach used in science and angle your questions to try to prove your hypothesis wrong, not right. Without an evident angle, your questions are received more innocently, and are more likely to yield an open response.
Ask for details
Draw information from others by asking questions as if you already know the answer and simply want to hear more details about it. This is a favorite hack used for parents. They might say, “I heard about last weekend. How did that happen?” And more often than not, the full story will be divulged.