Good day to all of you, thank you for engaging with me, Ceema once again on a topic that
is so important but something that people don't really pay attention to. I want to take
this opportunity to tell all of you that whether you are at work, at school, running your business
or doing the daily chores, asking the right questions will help you get what you want.
A lot of people ask questions but get discouraged or even angry, when they don't get the desired
answer. I believe if you ask the right question, you will get the right answer. In other words,
your communication skills will go from average to great just by being good at asking the
right questions. So today we're going to learn all about asking the right questions and being
effective in doing it. So while we are at it, please like this video, subscribe to our
channel and do not forget to press the bell icon, so that you don't miss on regular updates
of videos like this. So I wanna wish you all the best as you've tuned into the right place
to get the best learning experience.
Now to gain the right answer, you must ask questions which are thought-provoking. An
effective question is always thought-provoking because you make the person who is answering
give you detailed information after very careful consideration of what he or she really thinks.
So these questions are what I call, what questions or how questions. So questions that begin
with a what or a how. For example, if you were taking an interview, you can ask a potential
candidate a question like, what are the biggest challenges you face when you have to deal
with multiple accounts. A question like this will give you a clear understanding of the
strengths and weaknesses of this person. At the same time, you will also get to know of
any technical challenges that need to be worked upon for that particular job profile. So it's
really one question but helping you get multiple answers and a clearer understanding. I would
recommend that you try not to use the why questions very often because it can make people
very defensive, as the question may sound a little too direct.
Now we are constantly trying to solve issues or problems, right? So we ask questions relating
to the facts around these issues or problems. However, I've realized that if you are asking
questions, allow the person you are questioning to be a part of the problem-solving process.
Don’t play the detective, don't be Sherlock Holmes. This means that your questions should
not have you make judgements or assumptions. Say, for example, your department at work
has lost the sale of a huge contract to a competitor company. Now you wanna understand
where the problem really lies. What went wrong? So instead of just asking who made a mistake
or how things went wrong with all the planning? You could engage the people of your team in
the process of problem-solving. You can ask one of them, what do you think the problem
is? When you ask a question like that, there is no room for judgement. Also, the person
answering will trust you enough to give you more information that you may require. This
also helps you see the problem from someone else's point of view.
Now what a lot of people don't know is that effective questioning doesn't mean that you
do all the talking. It means that you have to also effectively listen. A lot of people
don't listen enough whether it comes to personal relationships or work relationships. They
just wanna ask all the questions but listening is an integral part of asking the right question.
So if you are a new employee, on your first day at work, you may begin with asking certain
what or how questions that we've learnt about before. But after having done that, please
listen carefully, take in all the information, start listening. This will help you ask more
leading questions to get the right way of doing things in your job. Also when you listen
attentively, the person who is answering you feels good, respected and valued and this
works wonders in personal relationships as well.
Now clarifying is the direct result of listing attentively. Clarifying is repeating what
you have heard and asking if you have heard it correctly. You can only clarify facts if
you have listened properly. Clarifying helps you ask questions that come to the core of
a situation. It gives you almost all your facts. Say, for example, your partner has
had problems with making an online payment. Now there is a good chance, she's told you
everything about how she's tried to do it but couldn't do it. So after having listened
to her attentively, you can clarify what she said by asking. So you're saying that you
tried using both our accounts to make the payment and that this payment was attempted
before 5 pm and I also understand that you received some kind of an error message. Is
this correct? Clarifying questions like this or more probing will make people volunteer
to give you more detailed information. This is also very important for effective questioning.
Now if you want to be great at asking questions, always be curious. This helps you ask questions
with an open mind. It avoids any kind of assumptions. In fact, you should use curiosity even when
you think you know the answer. If you know of an employee who comes late to work every
day. Don’t assume they don't leave their house on time. Instead, you can ask what are
the different methods of transportation they could use to come to work based on where they
stay. now this kind of a question will help you get information on how close they live
from the workplace and what efforts they've put until now to reach work on time. That’s
what effective questioning is all about.
Now after, you learnt everything you've wanted to know, this is the time you should now offer
possibilities based on what you think. This has to be done at the end of the questioning
sequence. These are questions that make you recommend a possible solution to any situation.
So you can ask the person you are interviewing, something like, based on your past work, we
would like to see your performance for the first quarter. Do you think it is possible
to give is two new clients by the end of November? I'm sure this shouldn’t be a huge challenge
based on what we've learnt about your capability. As you can see, a question like this is pretty
much close to arriving at the solution. It’s also more of a rhetorical question which always
gives you the answer yes. There is no room for a no, in the answer that you are seeking.
Well, I’m confident that these tips will not only make your questioning effective but
you will end up being so good in communication in general. So please apply what we've learnt
at tell me how it works for you because I know it will. I'll be back with some more
lessons but before I go, please, please don't forget to like this video, subscribe to the
channel and click on the bell icon; you do not wanna miss on updates of videos that will
only help you. See you soon, take care and keep smiling.