Questions That Get Results

Innovative Ideas Managers Can Use to Improve Their Teams' Performance

Paul Cherry, Patrick Connor

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780470767849
• eBook ISBN: 9780470925560
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Business

Ask the right questions and get improved, sustained employee performance

Since technology has made it easy to access, share, and distribute company data, many managers avoid live interaction, instead relying on emails, text messages, Web-based seminars to manage their employees. But although technology has changed, people have not. There is still a need for effective face-to-face communication; managers need to have the ability to ask the right questions and use the answers to find solutions.

Questions That Get Results is an innovative, powerful resource that provides managers with the questions that lead to real answers for motivating employees, minimizing conflicting priorities, maximizing working relationships, building trust, holding the team accountable, coaching for greater performance, selling ideas, creating change, hiring the best candidates, and negotiating solutions to internal and external conflicts.

• Each chapter profiles a manager who is struggling to communicate, an otherwise successful leader who is simply missing an element in their managerial toolkit
• Following each profile are practical tools that will assist any manager faced with a similar situation
• Together the authors train approximately 30, 000 professionals per year

Increase your effectiveness and bring out the best in your employees by learning the Questions That Get Results.

Chapter 1

Questions That Get Results

Have you ever been in a meeting where the participants ramble on, talking over and around the topic(s) on the agenda, and the conversation goes nowhere? Usually in this situation, one of two things will happen. You will either be lucky enough to have an effective manager who will step in early and ask the right questions that lead everyone to the heart of the issue, or you will be cursed with a bad manager who lets the rambling go on and on before he or she eventually says, “Okay, we have to move on now.”

Commonly, people believe that the ability of highly qualified managers to ask the right questions at the right time is an innate skill, something that cannot be taught. In fact, such managers prepare in advance. They spend time learning which questions to ask and when and how to apply them appropriately to each new situation. They craft pertinent, relevant questions long before they have a need to use them. Great managers develop their skill sets so that they can motivate, coach, cut through the fluff, and hold people accountable. Utilizing the right questions at the right time helps them do that.

Patrick once attended a board meeting at which one of the participants had been talking around a problem for 45 long, tedious minutes. Then, another board member arrived late and joined the discussion. He asked two or three pointed questions that immediately uncovered the causes of the problem and offered several possible solutions. Not only did he mercifully end the other board member's monologue, he also successfully steered the discussion from the problem stage to the solution stage. Who knows what would have happened if he had not been able to make it to the meeting? Patrick might still be sitting there, listening to the long-winded board member go on and on.

Throughout this chapter, we will discuss several types of questions that can be used to get better results, whether for the purpose of focusing a discussion, weeding out an unproductive team member, identifying the issue, holding up the implementation of an important plan, or revealing an executive's criteria for success.

Using Questions to Solve Problems

There will be occasions and circumstances when what you have to tell others is not in line with what they want to hear. For example, let's say you face the challenge of presenting a new idea to your employees; obviously, you have a lot to lose if you go about it the wrong way, especially if the idea is controversial or apt to cause discontent among the ranks. Sometimes the best way to make sure a new concept is accepted is to ask your employees their opinion on it before unveiling the full-blown plan to them. Employees usually know what they need in order to get their jobs done; therefore, they are in a better position than anyone else to know how a new plan or product will help or hinder their work. Your challenge, then, is to ask specific questions that will get them thinking hard about exactly what they need, as opposed to asking generic questions that will surely yield only generic responses.

In our research, we have found that managers tend to ask the same questions of their employees, regardless of the industry. These questions are often well intentioned, but garner little useful information:

• “How's it going?”
• “What's happening?”
• “How are you coming along with (the project, task, job, customer, etc.)?”
• “Do you have any questions?”
• “When can I expect ?”
• “What do you need?”
• “What do you have for me?”
• “Is there anything I need to know?”
• “How'd you like that (meeting, training, information, person, etc.)?”
• “Why don't you touch base if anything comes up?”
• “How can I help?”

The problem with most of these questions is that because they're vague, employees tend to give vague answers, containing little or no substance. Unless an employee is self-motivated to open up to a manager, these questions will not provide insight into an individual's true state of mind or the very real issues he or she might be facing.

For example, let us look at the last question: “How can I help?” On the surface, it sounds like a good open-ended question. If an employee is having difficulty at work and is asked that question, he or she might respond with genuine feeling, saying something like, “I have two important deadlines to meet this week, and I know I will not be able to get everything done on time.” The trouble is, most of the time a question like “How can I help?” is answered superficially—for example, “Oh, I'm fine, but thanks for the offer.” Many employees are unwilling to admit they need help. They are afraid that doing so will convey the message that they are unable to handle their workload. Or they don't believe that their manager's offers to help are genuine. Either way, a generic question like this too often is going to lead to a generic answer, one of no use to anyone.

Descriptive Questions

One of the best ways to ask questions is to use what we call “descriptive openers.” These are phrases that can initiate dialogue and motivate people to open up. Using these phrases makes it possible to craft questions that elicit as much information as possible. In the sample questions here, the descriptive phrases are in bold:

• “Can you take me through each step of the process you have implemented so far?”
• “Will you please describe for me how you think we could improve this process?”
• “Can you clarify for me how this idea will meet our requirements?”
• “Will you please share with me which systems, programs, or people are helpful, and which are a hindrance?”
• “Can you explain to me what has transpired so far?”
• “Will you please help me understand your thoughts on this project?”
• “Can you walk me through your timetable for implementing these changes?”

The best way to illustrate the effectiveness of these questions is by example. In the first scenario, Kristin, the manager, uses generic questions to ask an employee about meeting a deadline. In the second, she uses descriptive questions to garner much more information.

Kristin: Sheila, I was wondering how things are going with the Schofield project?

Sheila: Everything is going fine.

Kristin: Can I help you with that at all?

Sheila: Thanks, but I've got it under control.

Kristin: Okay, so I can expect it on my desk on Thursday?

Sheila: Yup, that is not a problem.

Now, coming away from this exchange, Kristin would probably feel as if she were doing a good job, checking in with Sheila and making sure everything is going according to schedule. She might even pat herself on the back for offering to help and confirming the Thursday deadline. The problem with these questions, however, is that Kristin did not obtain any actual information from Sheila as to the status of the project. All she knows is that, according to Sheila, everything is “fine.”

Now let's see how this situation might play out when Kristin uses descriptive questions, which are again highlighted in bold.

Kristin: Sheila, I want to talk to you about the Schofield project. I know it is really complex and that there are a lot of pieces to put together. I'm checking in to see how things are going. Can you take me through each step of the process you have implemented so far?

Sheila: Well, I have amassed all of the research and now I am waiting for the summaries from my assistants.

Kristin: Okay. Have you written up the five-point plan yet?

Sheila: Well, actually, I have not because, as I said, I am waiting for the summaries.

Kristin: Can you take me through your timetable for implementing these changes?

Sheila: As soon as I have the summaries, I can write the five-point plan.

Kristin: Will you help me understand how it is you are sure that the project will be ready by the deadline, considering that the Legal Department needs three to five days to review the plan after you have written it?

Sheila: I guess I didn't budget time for Legal into my plan.

Kristin: Can you explain to me how that happened?

Sheila: I think two things happened. One, I needed my assistants to summarize the research, but they were busy helping Fran with her project, which was due last week. Even though I gave them the task to complete, I did not specify a time frame for when it had to be done. Two, it has been a while since I worked on a project that needed approval from Legal. I guess I forgot how much lead time I had to give them.

As Sheila's manager, Kristin would obviously feel quite differently about this exchange than the one in the first scenario. Note that the situations are the same; it is only the information gathered by the manager that is different. As a result of using descriptive questions, Kristin discovers the true state of the project and can then offer the assistance Sheila clearly needs to finish the project on time.

Descriptive openers such as these strongly encourage whoever is being asked the questions to give substantive answers. In the past, many of us were taught to ask questions that started with “who,” “what,” “where,” “when,” “why,” and “how.” These interrogatives have their use, of course, but too often they allow the respondent to be evasive, if that is his or her intent. Here are some examples of what appear to be good questions, followed by the unsatisfactory answers they tend to elicit:

Question: Who do you have working on this project?

Answer: Oh, I have the whole team working on it.

Question: What do you need to get this finished?

Answer: I have everything I need. I have it covered.

Question: Where are the specs I need?

Answer: I am almost done with them.

Question: When can I expect that report on my desk?

Answer: Any day now.

Question: Why have you missed your deadline?

Answer: I have been really busy; it won't happen again.

Question: How are things going on this project?

Answer: Things are going great.

As you can see, even a well-intentioned manager who is genuinely interested in what is going on with his or her employees might not get worthwhile information by asking these questions. That is why we suggest using descriptive openers when asking many different types of questions (see below for examples). They demand more from the respondent than other types of openers.

Compare-and-Contrast Questions

Asking compare-and-contrast questions is an effective way to learn more about your employees, your counterparts, and the top executives at your company. They also enable you to uncover how preferences and needs change over time and which factors are most important to decision makers.

Compare-and-contrast questions use words and phrases such as the following:

• Differ
• Compare
• Versus
• Evolve
• Rank from most important to least
• Oppose
• Contrast

Throughout this section, we describe several types of situations where compare-and-contrast questions work best. These include: managing internal relationships, implementing change over time, and determining criter...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Questions That Get Results
• Chapter 2: Questions That Manage Your Team
• Chapter 3: Questions That Delegate
• Chapter 4: Questions That Coach
• Chapter 5: Questions That Motivate
• Chapter 6: Questions That Hire
• Chapter 7: Questions That Uncover Goals
• Chapter 8: Questions That Manage Across
• Chapter 9: Questions That Manage Upwards
• Chapter 10: Questions That Develop and Sustain External Business Relationships
• Chapter 11: Questions That Manage Your Career
• Chapter 12: Questions That Assess Opportunities
• Chapter 13: Questions That Manage Your Relationships with Your Kids
• Acknowledgments
• Index