What if the Questions You Ask Actually Kill Your Productivity and Reach?
As educators we all love the moments that we see light bulbs go on in the classroom. It is no different with adult learners. We experience a lot of these “ah-ha moments” during Multiplier leadership workshops while working through the art of the question. Crafting questions that extract the greatest intelligence from others is no easy task. In fact, it’s hard! We challenge workshop participants to move up the rungs of the Question Value Ladder, a tool that helps us see how our questions influence the range of response that might be returned to us. The higher the question is on the value ladder, the better the question is at multiplying the intelligence of others. For example, on the lowest rung of the ladder, you’ll find “Closed Questions,” where the range of response include a simple Yes/No, or one word answer; then we escalate up to top rung, the Challenge Question – one that pokes at the fundamental assumptions driving the behavior of the individual or organization. As we make our way up the ladder – Open, Leading, Guiding – our audiences brilliantly supply example after example. The examples are free flowing and then something interesting, and sadly predictable, happens. This is our first reminder that all of us stand to benefit from exercising our question asking muscle more frequently, and in a more targeted way.
A participant raises their hand, proudly proclaiming that they have crafted an amazing, stake-your-reputation-on-it, challenge question. Then, they shout out: “Have you considered training?” ….