Asking Great Questions


 * "The important thing is not to stop questioning." Albert Einstein.

Consider how God ask questions with a difficult discipleship situation in.

In Jewish culture, asking the right question is considered as an art. That's why, when being asked, the rabbis often answered by asking back. Jesus did this himself as well.

Questions by their very nature allow individuals and teams to be more receptive to adapting, changing, and growing.

What is the most important skill of a leader? Many cite the ability to ask the right questions. However, "right" is very context-depending here: at a given time, in a given culture, to a given person/audience, with a given goal.

Great Questions

 * Cause us to focus and/or stretch.
 * Create deep reflection.
 * Challenge taken for granted assumptions that prevent us from acting in new and forceful ways.
 * Are difficult to answer and may take courage to ask.
 * Lead to breakthrough thinking.
 * Contain the keys that open the door to great solutions.
 * Are fresh questions raised in "conditions of ignorance, risk, confusion, or when nobody knows what to do next"
 * Are supportive, insightful, and challenging.
 * Are un-presumptious and offered in a sharing spirit.
 * Are selfless, not asked to illustrate the cleverness of the questioner or to generate information or an interesting response for the questioner.
 * Open up the problem owner's view of the situation.
 * Open doors in the mind and get people to think more deeply.
 * Test assumptions and cause people to explore why and how they act.
 * Generate action.
 * Great questions are asked at the time when they will generate the most reflection and learning?

Adapted from Optimizing the Power of Action Learning, Michael J Marquardt, ISBN 0891061916, By John Peachey.

Open Questions
These give a high degree of freedom in how to respond.
 * What kind of things do you enjoy doing?
 * What comes easily to you?
 * What dreams or desire do you have?
 * What do you want?
 * What things satisfy or re-energize you?
 * What excites you?
 * What kind of expectations do you have about your life?
 * What would you like to do when you finish DTS?
 * What are your abilities?
 * What kind of training would you like to receive?
 * Where would you like to see yourself in five years?
 * What would you say are some of your key strengths?
 * Tell me something about yourself that made you feel great?
 * What would you like to do if there were no hindrances?
 * What is your heart beating for?

Affective Questions
Invite people to share feelings about an issue.
 * How did you feel about your presentation?
 * If you had to choose a colour to describe your feelings about your team, what colour would that be and why?
 * What was your initial reaction?
 * What was your gut reaction?
 * What emotion did it stir inside you?
 * What word would best describe that emotion?

Reflective Questions
Encourage more elaboration.
 * You said she annoys you, what do you think leads to that response?
 * You said you were stressed, what do you find difficult to do when you are under stress?
 * Can you help me understand what is going on in you?
 * What did you mean when you said that?
 * What do you think were the three key points of the lecture and why?
 * What do you think was the cause of that reaction?
 * How can you explain the change in the atmosphere of the group?
 * Does the situation remind you?
 * What exactly happened?
 * What is it in you that makes you feel that way about that person?

Probing Questions
Cause the person to go into more depth or breadth.
 * Why is this happening?
 * What did the situation trigger in you?

Fresh Questions
Challenge basic assumptions.

(These questions mostly have a yes/no answer. They need to be rewritten.)
 * Must it be that way?
 * Has this ever been tried?
 * What is a YWAM base, anyway?
 * Does the Holy Spirit need us in order to show himself?
 * Can somebody be a Christian without knowing it?
 * "Jesus had the power and charisma to build a financially prosperous and spiritually exciting ministry and to let His followers share in the fun. Why wouldn't He do it?"

Questions That Create Connections
Systems perspective. Even if the answers to these questions are often very subjective, they can help to get a clear picture.


 * What might be the consequences of these actions?
 * May it be a cultural tendency?
 * Compared to the last time you did this: did you make the same mistake?

Clarifying Questions
Result in further descriptions and explanations.
 * Are you saying that...?
 * Could you explain more about the situation?

Explorative Questions
Open up new avenues and insights and lead to new explorations.
 * Have you thought of... ?
 * Would ... have anything to help with that?

Analytical Questions
Examines causes and not just symptoms.


 * Why has this problem happened?
 * What are the needs that weren't met?
 * Could it be a cultural misunderstanding?

Closed Questions
Can be answered with yes or no, or a quantitative (number) response.
 * How many people will be affected?
 * How much will it cost?
 * Did you meet your quality criterias?
 * Do you agree with this decision?

Leading Questions
Encourage or force the person to respond in the way intended by the questioner.
 * Don't you think you should have...?
 * You thought I wouldn't notice, didn't you?
 * Jesus: "Did nobody condemn you?"
 * "Adam, where are you?"

A negative example (how leading questions can be abused):
 * The Snake: "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

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