Questions, one of the most important things
in your toolkit to help engage
and uncover and discover things
and connect with people.
We're often told
we should be asking Open-Ended Questions
as opposed to Closed-Ended Questions,
but I've always had a bit of a challenge with that.
Because what actually is an Open-Ended Question?
In this video,
I’ve got something to share with you
that might make it a little easier
to ask Open-Ended Questions.
Stay tuned.
Hi, I’m Campbell Such.
This Is Mind Bite Thursday.
Your weekly dose of the Human Edge in Technology.
This week, questions, and in particular,
Open-Ended Questions.
I’ve always had a bit of a challenge with
Open-Ended Questions.
Closed-Ended Questions are pretty obvious.
There’re anything that
that you can answer yes or no to.
But everything else is a little bit
kind of more nebulous and open.
What I've found is that there's a way to
kind of wrap a set of questions around
a particular type of question.
That might make it a little bit easier
for you to know the right thing to do
to ask an Open-Ended Question.
Open-Ended Questions tend to take two forms.
One is Interrogative Lead.
and the second one is
Verb Lead.
Interrogatives are
what, where, when, how, which, why.
And Verb Lead Questions start with various forms of To be
or some other verb.
Are you going out?
Is it going to rain today?
Those are both those by start with verbs.
The advantage of Interrogative Lead Questions
is that they almost always end up with a question
that isn't a yes or no.
Whereas, Verb Lead Questions can easily end up.
So, you've got the Yes/No Questions
which are obvious thing.
You've got the Verb Lead ones which can be either or.
The Interrogative ones
almost always are open-ended questions.
There's a few but it makes it a heck of a lot easier.
So, the key is to ask Interrogative Questions
because they are far more likely to be open-ended
if that's what you want to achieve.
As opposed to the Closed-ended questions.
So, what is it you're trying to achieve?
How will that make a difference?
Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
So, some verb led questions would be,
Is that what you really want?
Are you going to do that now?
Isn't that something you should really consider?
You can see that they kind of tend towards
the tend towards the Yes/No Questions.
Whereas the Interrogative Questions are much more open.
The key after you ask any question,
but in particular with the interrogative questions,
as to then
listen to the answer
and ask the next question
based on the information
that you get.
And that makes
the other person
feel heard.
And it will help you
to get to wherever it is
that you want to get to.
There is one caveat on using Interrogative Questions,
and that's the question “why:”
Using the Interrogative “why”.
Questions that start with “why”.
The challenge with “why” is
it tends to make us
it's goes probably way back to our childhoods
when you've done something wrong
and your parents said to you,
“Why did you do that?”
And we end up,
it tends to be negative
and we tend to either be on the back foot.
We tend to feel it's we've been accused of something
and we end up in a defensive mode.
Instead of using “why”,
you can change it
and use a phrase starting with “what”.
Which is, “What was the reason?”.
So, instead of saying, “Why did you do that?”
you could say, “What was the reason for that?”
or “What was the reason you did that?”.
And it's still looking for the same information
just as an engenda that same
negative withdrawal reactive thing.
So, just to sum up.
Questions are a great way,
as we all know,
to connect and to engage with other people
and to get information that we need.
We tend to be told not to use
Closed-ended questions
which sometimes are really valuable
if you just want to get a yes/no answer.
But more often than not aren't.
And then there's this nebulous thing
which is, ‘What's an Open-ended Question'“.
The easiest way to think about it
is if you use the interrogatives,
what, why, when, how, where, which
with, with the question
and remembering that “why” can be one of those ones
that just have to be a little careful with
can really help you ask questions
that are far more Open-ended
that will get a response that isn't a Yes/No.
And then follow up the question by
listening carefully and with follow-up questions
based on what they've said
or to use the, “Tell me more”
to get more information
or mirror what they've just said
in the last two or three words of the last sentence
with an inflection on the end.
Something to try.
Something to ponder.
Hopefully some really good value for you.
If you'd like more information
or videos like this
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Links below the video.
And if you'd like to see
whether I might be able to help you
with wherever you are and your career
and your your aspirations to help grow
and accelerate your career going forward,
reach out to me through the link below
or on the website
and you can book a 30-minute
complimentary, free, low-key,
no pressure, no obligation
strategy and coaching session.
See whether there might be a fit.
I can understand a bit about you.
You can understand a bit about me.
And whether or not there might be some benefit
for both of us
in going forward with a connection.
How I might be able to help you.
And then you can make the decision.
Completely up to you.
So, that's Campbell Such.
Mind Bite Thursday for this week.
Over and out.
See you next week …