Ask Better Questions

Improving each other’s performance, whether through coaching, pairing, as someone’s copilot, or via one-on-ones, is very important in every organization. But what kind of approach do we need as a coach, manager, pairing partner, or copilot? What kind of questions do we ask? In my research, I was fortunate to find some methods that offer great inspiration and are useful when focusing on positive organizational change.

Appreciative Inquiry

The method of Appreciative Inquiry states that inquiry is the engine of change, and that traditional problem-solving processes in human systems have a tendency to worsen the problems they are trying to solve. The method states that “objective” inquiries are impossible and that all social analysis is inherently biased by the perspective of the observer. [Bushe, “Foundations of Appreciative Inquiry”]

In Appreciative Inquiry, the idea is to stop focusing on “what is wrong” and instead wonder about “what is possible”. It tells us that people co-create their organizations through stories, and that to improve organizations we must therefore improve our conversations. Appreciative Inquiry states that an inquiry into a human system will automatically change that system, and it claims that organizations grow in the direction of the questions that people ask each other. (For example, asking a person about her happiness could cause her to feel either happier or unhappier.) Appreciative Inquiry also holds that sustainable change requires a positive attitude and positive relationships.

The benefits of a positive coaching style, as opposed to a more traditional find-problems-and-fix-them style, are backed up by neuroscience. [Stillman, “How to Be a Better Coach”] Instead of negation, criticism, and dissent, Appreciative Inquiry tries to foster positive change by bringing out the best in people, strengthening the affirmative capability of the organization and building momentum around a shared purpose. [Cooperrider and Whitney, Appreciative Inquiry]

I dedicated a significant part of my first book, Management 3.0, to complexity topics, including the observer influencing the system, the problem of vicious feedback cycles, enabling change through storytelling, and seeing organizations as networks of relationships. Though explicit references to complexity science are missing, the articles about Appreciative Inquiry certainly seem to breathe complexity thinking all over. We would do well to consider some of its principles in our efforts to improve our personal coaching, one-on-ones, pair working, and copilot sessions. This means focusing on positive dialogues and tapping into the potential of participants while being aware of the influence of the observer.

Powerful Questions

Given that we should inquire into an organization in a positive way, it would be helpful to know what kind of questions we should ask. To learn more about this, we can turn our attention to the concept of Powerful Questions. [Kimsey-House, House and Sandahl, Co?Active Coaching] A powerful question stimulates curiosity and reflection in a conversation: it leads the participants toward creativity, energy, and forward movement; it helps to channel attention and focus; and it has a tendency to invite further questions. My own very first powerful question, satisfying all these criteria, would be, “How can we make our questions more powerful?”

We can make our questions more powerful by using why, how, and what instead of who, when, where, and which. The first set of question words invites deeper discussions than the second set. We can keep the scope of our questions realistic and our insights actionable by covering a part of the system that is still within the participants’ circle of influence. And we can modify our questions so that they challenge rather than hide our underlying assumptions.

For example, the following question is not powerful:

• Who is responsible for the failures of this organization?

The question starts with the narrow interrogative who, it has a scope that is far too wide (all failures in the whole organization), and it assumes that someone is to blame. Instead, with a few small changes we can make the question more powerful:

• Why does our team feel that the organization is failing?

This new question starts with the more powerful why; it narrows the scope to what the team is able to deal with (its own attitude); and it challenges the assumption that the organization is failing at all.

By asking questions that are more powerful, an organization is able to engage people’s thinking about complex issues and shift away from lamenting about past problems to inquiring about ideas for a possible future. As creative networkers we have to develop the organization’s capacity to be inquisitive, to learn, to adapt, and to seize opportunities for change. We can do that by creating a climate of discovery, suspending judgment, exploring beliefs, connecting ideas, widening perspectives, honoring contributions, articulating understanding, and sharing collective insights and actions. [Vogt, Brown and Isaacs, The Art of Powerful Questions]

And by shortening our sentences. :-)

Jurgen Appelo is Europe’s most popular leadership author, listed on Inc.com’s Top 50 Management Experts and 100 Great Leadership Speakers. 

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References

Bushe, Gervase. “Foundations of Appreciative Inquiry: History, Criticism and Potential” <https://bit.ly/156KFwF> AI Practitioner, February 2012, Volume 14, Nr 1. Print.

Cooperrider, David L. and Diana K. Whitney. Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2005. Print.

Kimsey-House, Henry, Karen House and Phil Sandahl. Co-Active Coaching: Changing Business, Transforming Lives. Boston: Nicholas Brealey Pub, 2011. Print.

Stillman, Jessica. “How to Be a Better Coach, According to Neuroscience” <https://bit.ly/1n944bs> Inc., 3 March 2014. Web.

Vogt, Eric E., Juanita Brown and David Isaacs. The Art of Powerful Questions: Catalyzing, Insight, Innovation, and Action. Waltham: Whole Systems Associates, 2003. Print.